Great Loop Chronicles Part 26
Marine
- Sponsor
- OPTIMA Batteries
- Location
- Gulf Shores, AL
The Great Loop Chronicles will be an ongoing series, following the travels of OPTIMA Batteries staffer, Jim McIlvaine, as he travels America's Great Loop, a 6000+ nautical mile journey around the Eastern United States.
Our arrival at Saunders Yacht Works in Gulf Shores, Alabama was not a surprise to them. I had been checking in with them periodically, since we left Iuka and needed to forward the dinghy davit stanchions to them. What I learned after arriving was that the big business for Saunders was prepping tournament marlin boats and we arrived during their busy season. Thankfully, marinas tend to look kindly on liveaboard boaters and those on the Great Loop and work us into their schedule as best they can.
Saunders was prompt in coming out the following day to work on the stanchions. I've never owned a boat of this size or a dinghy of any size, so I had no idea if the stanchions were challenging to install, if the old brackets needed to be replaced, etc... As it turns out, the stanchions amounted to two metal rods that easily connected to the existing transom brackets and two loops on the dinghy- something I could've done myself, although there was a bit of adjusting to get the dinghy to sit at the optimal angle.
The gray area became the connecting points on the dinghy. When it was originally brought to the boat in Tennessee, the dealer attempted to glue what looked like a stanchion attachment to the dinghy, but the glue wouldn't hold. The tech at Saunders indicated he had witnessed failures of those glued-on mounting points and recommended I reach out to the dinghy manufacturer, to see if securing the stanchions to the metal loops that were mounted on the inflatable hull by the manufacturer was a viable option. I haven't done that yet, but I don't know that the failed glue job offers any hope of a better alternative.
I don't look at it as a long-term situation anyway, as we plan to sell the boat as soon as the loop is completed and the next owner may want a different dinghy and/or mounting system. That left one other outstanding issue to tackle- the Purasan system. The Purasan system is installed on the aft head and "purifies" waste so it can be legally discharged in the appropriate waters and you don't fill up your holding tank.
My Purasan wasn't working and there was vast speculation as to why. When I called the Purasan tech line, they were very helpful in identifying a starting point- a blown 10-amp fuse. I replaced the fuse, but it blew again right away. That indicated a potential issue with one of two motors powering the system. At that point, it made sense for me to hand that trouble shooting over to professionals. The question was when this late addition could be squeezed into Saunders' schedule?
I told them we weren't in a rush, so if it took a day or two for someone to look at it, that would be fine, but if it would spill into the following week, we'd probably get going. We were working on the timetable of meeting Edwin Evers in Florida for the Gulf crossing and we could make our way to the departure marina in just a few days time. Until then, Saunders had nice showers that were available during business hours and a 24-hour bathroom that was a bit of a hike through the boatyard, but not nearly as long as some of the others we'd experienced.
In the meantime, Gwendolyn and the kids enjoyed the beach, we took the kids to a local go-kart track and made quick friends with the Fridays, who had reached out to us on the Nebo app, when they saw us pull into Saunders. They generously loaned us one of their vehicles, so we could make a supermarket run and we ended up spending an evening with them at their RV. The friendliness and generosity of everyone we've encountered continues to amaze me.
A few days after the stanchions were installed, a tech was able to take a look at the Purasan system. It seemed clear it would be a more involved project that required some replacement parts including some new upgrades Purasan had developed for their existing system. Purasan also indicated some of the hardware was consumable and needed to be replaced periodically, which no one prior had either known or thought to tell me. Saunders would work on putting together a parts list of what was needed and I could consult with Purasan as to which of their dealers further along our route could handle the work. In the meantime, the head still worked, it just needed to be pumped out periodically and we were ready to move on. We planned a short run the next day to Palafox Marina in Pensacola, Florida. You can read about that here.
Our arrival at Saunders Yacht Works in Gulf Shores, Alabama was not a surprise to them. I had been checking in with them periodically, since we left Iuka and needed to forward the dinghy davit stanchions to them. What I learned after arriving was that the big business for Saunders was prepping tournament marlin boats and we arrived during their busy season. Thankfully, marinas tend to look kindly on liveaboard boaters and those on the Great Loop and work us into their schedule as best they can.
Saunders was prompt in coming out the following day to work on the stanchions. I've never owned a boat of this size or a dinghy of any size, so I had no idea if the stanchions were challenging to install, if the old brackets needed to be replaced, etc... As it turns out, the stanchions amounted to two metal rods that easily connected to the existing transom brackets and two loops on the dinghy- something I could've done myself, although there was a bit of adjusting to get the dinghy to sit at the optimal angle.
The gray area became the connecting points on the dinghy. When it was originally brought to the boat in Tennessee, the dealer attempted to glue what looked like a stanchion attachment to the dinghy, but the glue wouldn't hold. The tech at Saunders indicated he had witnessed failures of those glued-on mounting points and recommended I reach out to the dinghy manufacturer, to see if securing the stanchions to the metal loops that were mounted on the inflatable hull by the manufacturer was a viable option. I haven't done that yet, but I don't know that the failed glue job offers any hope of a better alternative.
I don't look at it as a long-term situation anyway, as we plan to sell the boat as soon as the loop is completed and the next owner may want a different dinghy and/or mounting system. That left one other outstanding issue to tackle- the Purasan system. The Purasan system is installed on the aft head and "purifies" waste so it can be legally discharged in the appropriate waters and you don't fill up your holding tank.
My Purasan wasn't working and there was vast speculation as to why. When I called the Purasan tech line, they were very helpful in identifying a starting point- a blown 10-amp fuse. I replaced the fuse, but it blew again right away. That indicated a potential issue with one of two motors powering the system. At that point, it made sense for me to hand that trouble shooting over to professionals. The question was when this late addition could be squeezed into Saunders' schedule?
I told them we weren't in a rush, so if it took a day or two for someone to look at it, that would be fine, but if it would spill into the following week, we'd probably get going. We were working on the timetable of meeting Edwin Evers in Florida for the Gulf crossing and we could make our way to the departure marina in just a few days time. Until then, Saunders had nice showers that were available during business hours and a 24-hour bathroom that was a bit of a hike through the boatyard, but not nearly as long as some of the others we'd experienced.
In the meantime, Gwendolyn and the kids enjoyed the beach, we took the kids to a local go-kart track and made quick friends with the Fridays, who had reached out to us on the Nebo app, when they saw us pull into Saunders. They generously loaned us one of their vehicles, so we could make a supermarket run and we ended up spending an evening with them at their RV. The friendliness and generosity of everyone we've encountered continues to amaze me.
A few days after the stanchions were installed, a tech was able to take a look at the Purasan system. It seemed clear it would be a more involved project that required some replacement parts including some new upgrades Purasan had developed for their existing system. Purasan also indicated some of the hardware was consumable and needed to be replaced periodically, which no one prior had either known or thought to tell me. Saunders would work on putting together a parts list of what was needed and I could consult with Purasan as to which of their dealers further along our route could handle the work. In the meantime, the head still worked, it just needed to be pumped out periodically and we were ready to move on. We planned a short run the next day to Palafox Marina in Pensacola, Florida. You can read about that here.