17-19 March, 2020 Serenity loaded up; time to get out of town

Serenity and crew have pretty much hunkered down and assessed our position, our intentions, risk, risk mitigation and options.  Boat is clean.  We have been pretty successful after several trips to grocery stores to have sufficient stores to make it another month if required.  Nothing fancy, lots of rice 'n beans, pasta and peanut butter.  We have enough cans of fish and tuna to jazz up the pasta, beans and rice.  We were pretty good with dried soups and instant mash potatoes before the dash-rush of grocery stores of this week.

Serenity among the sail boats.

Ortega River Marine has been a safe place we think.  We feel good, have been washing hands like crazy, wiping down the boat and trying our best not to touch our face.  We limit our exposure and keep our distance from all.

 I spent the day yesterday working on the raw water strainer.  It is a quality piece of kit, but it is nearing 40 years old and prone to leaking.  There are two flat circular seals that have been compressed too many times.  The strainer has to be disassembled often and debris cleaned out. A 3rd generation boat yard is a couple of blocks away having an excellent reputation and a well stocked chandlery.  I took a picture on my phone of the ID of the strainer and the older gentleman at the parts counter knew exactly the manufacture.  Unfortunately, they have been out of business for 20 years.  He even had an old catalog and I was able to get original part numbers.  He also found for me two round o-rings which will work temporarily.  I have installed and pressure checked and there was no leakage.  Will keep my eye on them.  The alternative, is to replace the entire strainer with a new production strainer.  Also, will have to replace the intake and supply hoses and clamps.  Both readily available, just not ready to make that elective surgery just yet.

We have discussed parking the boat and returning to the Ozarks.  Coastal Florida is approaching Hurricane season and we hate to leave Serenity so exposed.  We considered returning 300+ miles back south, then taking the Okeechobee waterway to one of the inland storage areas.  However, one location was not taking any new customers and the other probably would.  But, we would be traveling nearly 10+ days to get there.  So, we have decided to press ahead and plan to depart tomorrow on the tide and rising sun.  We will continue northward on the AICW.  We will not need water for at least a week.  We have diesel for 300+ miles.  While several federal, state and county marinas have closed, there remains many private marinas still open and planned to continue being open.  It will either get really bad or improve.  One day at a time.