Jaybee
Cocoa, FL 1984 30+
Hello all! I'm Jeff and Melissa here, first-time sailboat owners! Very excited to get out there but haven't gotten off the docks yet.
We bought the boat with the engine not running but were confident it was a good engine due to the owner having a video of the engine running. Installed new batteries and uh-oh still didn't start. A little bit of diagnosis, a new key switch later and she lives! I had made another thread asking about water "below" the finished TAFG bilge area. We got that water out with an evacuation tool that will later also be used for oil changes and then vacuumed up all the debris we found down there. After that, we have just been cleaning and figuring out the systems.
So that leads to us - in my first life I was an ASE-certified Master auto mechanic, in my thirties I went on to join the Air Force Reserves as a heavy equipment operator while simultaneously earning my FAA commercial helicopter pilot and A&P mechanic certificates. Through a series of events, I've ended up flying airplanes instead and now work for a major airline as a pilot. After my stint in the Reserves and I then joined the Air National Guard as a Weather Forecaster. So... all skills I hope will help us with our retirement dream of circumnavigating! To date, I've only done an ASA 101 course, though I hope to do some more in the near future. Right now we have had to shift gears from plan one to try and get our boat more seaworthy since we happened by a good deal unexpectedly. Of course, a good deal on a boat means lots of work hahahaha. Missy was an office manager, currently just my domestic engineer and gracious enough to go along with my crazy schemes
I think it would be fair to say I have a good base of knowledge to work from but I still have a lot to learn about boats. I hope to use this thread to use all of ya'lls experience in getting our boat seaworthy. We both greatly appreciate any help.
Before we go any further with issues - boat pictures!
We look forward to getting to know ya'll
We bought the boat with the engine not running but were confident it was a good engine due to the owner having a video of the engine running. Installed new batteries and uh-oh still didn't start. A little bit of diagnosis, a new key switch later and she lives! I had made another thread asking about water "below" the finished TAFG bilge area. We got that water out with an evacuation tool that will later also be used for oil changes and then vacuumed up all the debris we found down there. After that, we have just been cleaning and figuring out the systems.
So that leads to us - in my first life I was an ASE-certified Master auto mechanic, in my thirties I went on to join the Air Force Reserves as a heavy equipment operator while simultaneously earning my FAA commercial helicopter pilot and A&P mechanic certificates. Through a series of events, I've ended up flying airplanes instead and now work for a major airline as a pilot. After my stint in the Reserves and I then joined the Air National Guard as a Weather Forecaster. So... all skills I hope will help us with our retirement dream of circumnavigating! To date, I've only done an ASA 101 course, though I hope to do some more in the near future. Right now we have had to shift gears from plan one to try and get our boat more seaworthy since we happened by a good deal unexpectedly. Of course, a good deal on a boat means lots of work hahahaha. Missy was an office manager, currently just my domestic engineer and gracious enough to go along with my crazy schemes
I think it would be fair to say I have a good base of knowledge to work from but I still have a lot to learn about boats. I hope to use this thread to use all of ya'lls experience in getting our boat seaworthy. We both greatly appreciate any help.
Before we go any further with issues - boat pictures!
We look forward to getting to know ya'll
Last edited: