Since our last update on April 20th, we’ve been busy! We spent several weeks in Fort Lauderdale getting various upgrades and fixes done to the boat. We stayed at the private dock near the Las Olas Bridge until May 9th, then moved to the 17th Street Marina in Fort Lauderdale for a week while more work was done.
Here is just a partial list of the things we did.
- Had a Bimini designed and installed by Canvas Designers
- Had our Air Conditioning system ducts and drains pretty much rebuilt to stop error codes (one of the only real “defects” on the boat)
- Got a power cord winder (for shore power) installed by ADR Power Systems
- Had a custom metal bracket fabricated for the ladder to the flybridge by YRM System. (This fixed the issue with the new steps going to the flybridge.)
- Investigated a vibration in the port propeller shaft.
- Had our Dockmate system commissioned.
- Installed a video camera system to record our travels.
- Installed a fire protection system in our “basement” mechanical room.
- Had a full fire survey and certification done.
- Commissioned our electronics with a sea trial.
- Had a Hull Shield system (to keep the barnacles off) installed.
- Installed a Dry Bilge system to get rid of any stray water in the bilge. (which keeps the boat smelling good)
- Installed a condensate pump on one of the AC Air Handlers to keep water from going into the bilge. (Probably the only real “pissed off” moment we’ve had from the manufacturer; they should have known better. Safe to say, all future Outbacks will NOT dump condensate water into the bilge!)
- And… A bunch of little projects too numerous to mention (or remember!)
We do want to thank Andrew, John, Brian, and Jeff from Outback Yachts for their support during the fitout and dealing with the issues. They have been great, communicating well, never questioning a fix request, and ensuring that we had the best repair services available for any issues with the boat. There has never been a question; it’s always, “we will take care of it”, and they have. A boat is a highly complex collection of systems; every one is unique, and any issue can quickly escalate into thousands of dollars in repairs. The team at Outback Yachts has been more than supportive through the entire process. We couldn’t be happier with the responsiveness!
On May 17th, we left Fort Lauderdale and headed toward home with our new Outback! We scheduled a stop in Stuart, FL to have our Dockmate System commissioned and get training. On our first day, we went 50 miles to Palm Beach Gardens (where our old boat was commissioned) and had a good night at Old Port Cove Marina. Day two was 30 miles to Stuart and Safeharbor Harborage Marina. Here we had our Dockmate Commissioning and training, with Dave from South East Boatworks. And Ron from ADR Power Systems chased us down to finish (almost) our cord winder. Our boat has a 240-volt system, and they ordered a 110-volt power cord, so while they finished installing the winder unit, we couldn’t finish, as we had the wrong power cord.
Dave of South East Boat Works’ commissioning of the Dockmate System was amazing. It was a VERY windy day, so we went across the bay to a sheltered cove for the commissioning. Dave hooked up his laptop to the Dockmate Controller on the boat, and a team from Poland (over 5,000 miles away) connected remotely via our Starlink Internet system to complete the commissioning. We spent a little over an hour with the team from Poland remotely controlling the boat while Dave explained what they were doing and trained us. It’s amazing technology! The system uses GPS to determine the boat’s position and keeps it in place within 3 feet! It’s great for waiting at bridges or locks. With Dockmate, we can control the boat from a handheld joystick anywhere on the boat. I can stand on the back of the boat while backing into a slip and fully control it with the remote! Amazing technology. This level of control is ususally only available with POD Drives (something that was on our DO NOT WANT list due to the maintenance costs); however, Dockmate has enabled the same functionality using our twin engines and bow and stern thrusters.
All the way home, the boat performed beautifully! It handles very differently than our last boat. It’s 10 feet longer (which makes a difference), a foot wider (something to consider when docking), and about double the weight at 25 tons! When we were commissioning the Dockmate, the team from Poland mentioned that the engines were close together. They hadn’t seen the boat, but detected it by the way the boat was performing. It was an “aha!” moment! I’d been struggling with the turning radius using engines since I started driving the boat, but that one comment made it clear and adjusted my mindset on how to drive the boat.
Once we were done in Stuart, we headed toward home. On the way, we stopped in Cocoa Village, one of our favorite marinas, for two nights, and picked up Bethanny (our daughter) and Max (our Grand Cat). They joined us for the ride back to Palm Coast. We made a stop in New Smyrna Beach on the way, and the NEW Frog arrived in Palm Coast on May 24th!
We were surprised by our friends in the community who lined the marina walls to greet us! Thanks, All! On the way in, we stopped at Palm Coast Marina to top off on fuel and show off the boat to Roe and the crew. One of our concerns was whether it would fit in our slip! The dimensions were right, but we were concerned that, given how large it is, it would look out of place. Well… It is big and sticks out quite a bit, but the community didn’t seem to have an issue with it, so we’re good.
Naming Ceremony
We only had about two weeks once we got home before we planned our departure for our New England trip. When we were home in April, we had new windows installed in our condo. The company is probably the best-of-the-worst. Several of the windows and a door were the wrong size and had to be re-ordered. They were scheduled to come on the Friday before we were set to leave. Long story short, two of the three re-made windows/doors were correct. We still have one missing window.
On Saturday, we had our neighborhood summer kickoff BBQ. It went great! Then, on Sunday, we invited the community aboard for the naming ceremony. We expected 10-12 people to attend, and were honored that 36 people came! (I’m sure the free beer and wine had nothing to do with it! 🥴) It was a great turnout, and we appreciated all the support for our new boat!
We decided to christen/name the boat using a bottle of Jameson’s Irish Whiskey for two reasons. First, It’s my favorite “docking beverage,” and second, Jeff McDowell, our chief engineer at Olson Yacht Group who managed the customization of our Outback Yachts 50 to meet our needs, is Irish and a fan of Irish Whiskeys! Cheers!
We spent Monday and Tuesday finishing packing up the boat, completing a couple of more boat projects, and shutting down the condo for the next 6 months. When we unloaded the old frog, we had 12 cartloads of stuff. Fortunately, I think we only brought back about 6 cartloads! Live and learn!
On Wednesday the 3rd of June, we headed north on the boat for what we are calling our “New England Adventure”. We plan to cruise up the east coast, through the Chesapeake to New York City, then explore new territory for us in Long Island Sound, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, transit the Cape Cod Canal into Massachusetts Bay, and continue up the coast to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. New Hampshire is where Brenda and I grew up, met, and got married. So we’d love to bring the boat up to Portsmouth, our “roots”.
If time and weather cooperate, we would like to continue up the coast of Maine to Bar Harbor. Brenda has put up with me as a husband. Err… We’ve been married for 45 years this year, and we had our honeymoon in Bar Harbor, so it would be great to boat up there. Time will tell!
Watch for our future posts (usually every Monday) on the progress of our trip!
Thanks to all who read our blogs and have sent best wishes on our new boat! We truly appreciate it!
Thanks For Visiting! – Tom & Brenda
