SOLD

This will be the last entry in this blog.  Island Fever has a new owner and a new purpose in life.  I sold her to a guy who guts older vessels and turns them into slave ships.  No, just kidding.  He actually runs several sailboats from Cartagena  to the San Blas Islands and to Linton, Panama during the backpacking season.  Backpackers & orthers pay $450 per head for a 2-3 day sail including meals, fees, and all the the barf bags they need.  He can put 7 of them on my boat and run one round-trip per week, making over $12000 per month for 6 months out of the year. 
As for me, I'm flying back to the USA on the 12th of Jan.  I didn't know if a buyer would come thru as quickly as this, and now that the boat is sold I get to enjoy Panama for two weeks.  With air-conditioning!!
Will I buy another sailboat?  Probably, but nothing like Island Fever.  I may buy a smaller boat and sail her around the Sea of Cortez, or I may just charter one when I need to get my feet wet.  But I will certainly keep getting my feet wet for several years, health permitting.
So, friends, thanks for following my midadventures and I wish everyone the best.

Buena suarte,

Bill 

Abandon Ship!!

ABANDON SHIP!!!
I'm walking away from the boat! 
 It's too much money and work for too little reward.  The boat has deteriorated significantly just sitting in this environment for 2 years, and remaining here will only cause it to deteriorate more unless someone is here to do continuous maintenance. Plus all the water that leaked into the boat from the rain coming in thru the leak around the mast boot and a leaky porthole filled the bilge and was over an inch above the cabin floor.  I don't know what condition the engine and transmission are in, as the water in the bilge came up to the oil filter at the bottom of the engine, which is above the transmission. 
 All in all it just isn't worth fixing up and sailing all the way to San Carlos.  I can buy a smaller and newer used boat in San Carlos which I can single-hand and either leave in San Carlos or trailer back to AZ, all for less than it would cost me to put this one back into reasonable sailing condition and sail it to San Carlos.
 So I'm going back home to AZ in early Jan.  I've had the boat for 7 years and got 5 years of good sailing out of it and had some wonderful adventures and saw lots of interesting and beautiful (and not-so-beautiful) places, so it was a decent expense.

Bill

I Came, I Saw, I Cried!!

I finally got back aboard Island Fever.  Flew into Panama City, arriving late Tuesday night.  Rested for a day, then got the bus to Colon.  However, couldn't get to the marina because the roads leading to the canal were all impassable due to heavy rains, so had to spend the night at a hotel in Colon (AKA the enema insertion point of Panama).  Today the roads were passable, and after a $20 taxi ride I arrived in the middle of another downpour. 
I almost wish I hadn't come.
The boat has been severely neglected.  The exterior has streaks of greenish mold, and every surface in the inside is black with mold.  The bunk and seat cusions are unsalvagable due to rot, the stove is unsalvagable due to rust, and that wasn't the worst!  There was water reaching 2 inches above the cabin floor!!  A check of the engine room showed that the engine does not appear damaged by the water, but I will have a mechanic check it out before trying to start it.  I'm sure there will be some electrical problems caused by immersion of some of the wires.
Before you ask if the boat has a leak, it is on the hard, not in the water.  However, there is a leak where the mast rises thru the topdeck, as that is the only place I found water entering the boat as I stood inside the boat with water over the top of my Nikes and watched the steady drip while it poured outside.  Just goes to show how water can accumulate when you get 12 oz per hour for 5 months.
Yes, I'm pumping out the boat.  It will need a few days to dry before I can do much else except start attacking every surface with beach and paper towels, which will be my mission tomorrow and Sunday.  Next week I'll start on replacing the bed and seating cushions, and finding a way to seal the leak. 
Yes, I did take pictures, but I'm too embarassed by the boat's condition to post them.
More once I have a better picture of how things are going.

Runners take your marks.....

OK OK so I'm still in Arizona, but I'm now two weeks from a 7 Dec arrival back in hot and humid Panama. The rainy season ends in December, so I'll be able to work on the boat.  Expect it will take at least 2 weeks to clean and prepare it for the real work I have to do, such as install new porthole windows, install a refrigerator, install a new autohelm, install a new cabin sole (that's a floor, for you landlubbers), and a hundred other repairs before relaunching.  The boat is currently on stilts in a storage yard at Shelter Bay Marina, which is located at the old US Fort Sherman, across the bay from Colon, Panama (the Caribbean side of the canal).  As for my crew, which consists of my brother David and hopefully a third member (one of David's friends), I have no idea where they are. 
My plan is to try to get all the work done by the end of Dec, launch in early Jan, and get thru the canal by mid to late Jan.  Once we get thru the canal, we'll spend one day at the Pacific side in Panama City, and then head out for Mexico.  It's about 3000 miles.  We can make about 100 miles per 24 hour day, so it will take about 30 sailing days to cover the distance.  Allowing for multiple port calls for refilling the fuel, water, and pantry,  and for recovery from long hauls, I anticipate the sail with take 4 months.  (If you did the math, you noted that the average speed while sailing is about 5-6 miles per hour).
OK, that's probably all the boring you can take at one sitting, so I'll sign off for now. 
You can email me at wtucker4@hotmail.com or islandfever41@msn.com.
You can see an article with a schematic of Island Fever at the following website:  http://www.gulfstarownersclub.com/documents/GS41sSep72YachtingMag.pdf

30 Sep 2010
Today was my last day of work, and I'm now gainfully and gleefully unemployed.  This is my first attempt at establishing a blog, and a test of the system.  It will remain dormant for several weeks, as I will not head down to Island Fever for about two months.  Island Fever is currently in Panama, probably green with mold from the awesome humidity, and will require at least a month of preparation before sailing.  Once there my blogging will become more regular.