Leaving this week for Bonita Springs. Got us a little spot just off the Imperial River. House with dock! Yay! Looking forward to running around the area in my Riva eating Chris Craft Dory! All new by Olde Cleanslate himself; New hull paint, stainless rub rail over the existing rubber rub rail; new swim ladder off the transom; new Bimini Top from Great Lakes Skipper ( made for Mako) ; new high low ( self adjusting ) bass boat butt helm seats ; new NFB helm and cable . Still a work in progress. More progress next winter. Now it’s time to rack up some engine hours ! Hands up! Tools down!
New steering wheel also with grey rubber. I’ve seen a lot other Dory’s with varnished or whatever teak combing boards/gunnels…. Unless you want a broken ankle / leg, they should be left natural so when they get wet you won’t fall on your transom when you plant your foot on the boat from the dock to get on board. If the teak meets your feet, leave it be, grip B the key…
VHF antenna stays where it’s at for now…lol. No time to remount it and get it nice and straight out of the way of the Bimini… so my photo via IPhone, I had to flip them 180 in order to post right side up. Helm is acutely starboard not port., etc.
Oh , and re-chromed “badges” as some of my YFs mates would say. Yup it’s Backwards here, but not here-here.. lol.
I was enjoying the "DEVRESER" parking spaces. Now, you need to stop here for an extensive fresh water rinse in your engine on your way home. Nice cool, fresh, tannin acid and through internal engine rinse. BYW, I still have some island coconut rum that David dropped on us a few weeks ago. Got to drink it up before it looses that bathtub aroma..
I appreciate it . Sounds good ! we’ll see I still have to get there first! Not sure if my time will allow.
Josie tells me there is a setting in your phone that F's up the pictures like this, some mirror option.
Had a superb trip! Two weeks of sunny, warm, breezy weather. Low humidity. Zero rain. Road trip down and back went very well. Old boat performed better than ever (about time !! Lol) used it almost every day. Had fun annoying The double and triple outboard Everglades and Whaler boat owners in the back waters ( they didn’t think the old Chris could tag along so well ) Learned a lot about SW Florida water way from Gordon’s Pass ( Naples) up to Sanibel Island . Ran most of the Inlets or “Passes” as they seem to be called and the back waters all in between. Quite shallow at times in the back waters along with very narrow channels. Lots of manatee slow speed zones. But that turned out to be a good thing help conserve the fuel and take in the sights. Three feet is deep, for the low tide in many spots. Some parts of the channel no more than 20/30 yards wide. Pretty much waters for small vessels only. I’ve grown a bigger distain than ever for pontoon boats tons of them buzzing around. Had a great little house( Half of it surrounded by a nature preserve) with a perfect slip for the old boat. Our small lagoon was deep and we were at the very end of it 4 to 5 feet at low tide and 3 feet at the dock on the low tide. Did a lot of Beach/boating. Found two nice little areas just inside two of the passes where we could beach the inboard boat , and set up on the beach for the day. Pretty vacant during the week. Weekends they weren’t so good. We were able to find quite a bit of that old Florida vibe. Pleasant people and scenery. CR , my friend. Sorry we could not stop by. Just not enough time . I did get to flush my raw water cooled engine on the fine fresh water Delaware River in Philadelphia before putting the boat away for a few weeks.
