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The 12 vdc battery arrives tomorrow.

If you own a Mainship 390 and you are finding wet flooring at the foot of your bed, there are 4 possibilities to check.

1 & 2: Remove the mirror at the front-most bulkhead or “headboard” of your bed.

See more pics here:

https://shellerina.com/2021/06/25/at-her-berth-in-erie-pa/

There are two through-hull fittings that can be inspected / serviced there.

Starboard is the drain for your anchor locker, (shown above).

Port is the forward A/C unit’s seawater return.

If either of these plastic thru-hull fittings are cracked, which has been known to happen, then seawater will come in when you are underway. The problem won’t manifest itself “at rest” as the fittings are 12-18” above the waterline.

It is an easy and inexpensive fix.

3: A third source for water showing up at the foot of your bed is a clogged drain hose from the condensate tray under the forward A/C.

If water spills out/over this condensate tray, in minutes it will find its way to the floor at the foot of your bed.

A clogged drain hose is distinctly possible after 20-25 years. Snake the clog from the lower end to prevent MORE water from coming out on your floor.

Clean the interior of the hose and unclog as best you can.

Once the drain hose is working, you have fixed the problem!

Removing the slide-in storage boxes under the foot of the bed will give you all the access you need.

I brought a charged garden hose down to surgically clean the condensate tray, and the aft bilge, pump, and shower sump.

While working on this, consider replacing the shower sump, or cleaning it if it has recently been replaced.

More pics of that sump system:

https://shellerina.com/2025/03/18/new-shower-sump/

Years ago, the cracked through-hull fitting caused this on our boat. It took weeks to figure out the source of the water! AND I know of others who had suffered the problem without knowing “Where is the water coming from?”

4. From Peter G: a leak in my forward wash down hose caused water at the foot of the bed too. Thank you Peter.

Addendum Feb 2026.

After a freezing incident here in North Florida, we discovered #4 to be true. So, now we’ve been bit by 3 out of the four.

Fortunately: These are all DIY projects IMO.

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Sunrise Sunday morning June 1, taken by Capt Jordan via our aft streaming camera.

First time putting some miles on our spare (3-blade) prop. It has some vibration, but otherwise it performed about the same for speed+RPM as the main prop does.

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I thought I solved the forward A/C unit’s problem yesterday by reverse flushing fresh water thru it and cleaning out the strainer. It worked fine yesterday after that. But the circuit breakers tripped twice this morning indicating the problem was still with us!?!?

I ran a gallon of this stuff through a “closed loop” for about 90 minutes. Followed by two flushes with fresh water.

Hopefully this keeps us going this time! If not, a new unit is in order, about $2500.

12k BTU.

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Anna Sirois of Portland Maine.

Day Two

These “animals” showed up for day two at 7:20am.

After yesterday afternoon’s torrents, they said they’d be back to finish today. They were nonetheless pleased with how much they got done before the rain.

Everyone on this “C-Dock” is asking them for a business card, and telling me how impressed they are.

Kevin, Edie Joy, Ray, Shelly on the west end of Jacksonville’s Marina Mile. Ortega River off St John’s.

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Major ” de-clutter” and house cleaning at lower helm!

For years this space has been the collection point for miscellaneous items that did not have a designated storage place.

It is SO nice to see it cleared!

I lucked out and found this first (easily accessible) gasket was crimped or kinked upon installation (probably 25 years ago). Actually, this may have been a mistake at the Teleflex factory where the ram was made.

The hydraulic steering system has had a slow “drip” since we purchased the boat 5 years ago. +/- 1 ounce of fluid was added at the upper helm every 2-4 weeks when underway.

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Replacing this cylinder/ram or removing it to service it, would have been a major project because the nuts backing the four mounting bolts were blocked by both a fore/aft stringer and the starboard fresh water tank.

Being able to find the problem and solve it so easily was serendipitous fer sure!

One of my former & favorite Long Island NY marine parts vendors shipped me the Dometic Seal Kit from stock! Lighthouse Marine Supply, aka https://marineengineparts.com

Here is a pic of a new brass ram before Dometic/SeaStar changed to aluminum construction.

Florida Fuel Polishing LLC

904-767-1103

The reason for this project is we either purchase 2.5 gallon jugs of spring water for coffee, tea, making ice, and drinking water, OR we use the marina’s filtered water at the “free” ice machine.

We want to use our boat’s fresh water tanks moving forward. (We fill from the dock. It is municipal treated water in *most* marinas. But hoses and marina plumbing do not “improve” the taste!)

Jekyll Island Marina will not be as convenient as Ortega Landing is for free ice and filtered water. So we are going to try this out. We will add a primary filter at the hose as we fill from the dock.

Today’s filter inline, under the galley sink includes an activated charcoal section in the element.

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Today, Lady Betz, arrived here at P32 Ortega Landing Jacksonville FL flying their gold flag for the first time.

Gold does not tarnish or oxidize like many metals. But there is still something especially shiny and bright on the day when a Looper finishes their trek!

Joe & Betsy Boyd shown here (center) celebrated with us all at the swimming pool. In this pic, they are sandwiched between Loopers Marie of Hakuma Matata and Pete of Spring Fling.

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Water Witch Inc

AND

Dometic SeaStar

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First:

Bryan (Water Witch) called me back after I sent a technical support email to that company’s “Contact Us” email address.

Bryan was fantastic with his questions and technical knowledge of his product, and I am confident he will fix my alarm unit in the salon’s new instrument panel.

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Next:

Gary (Dometic – SeaStar) called me today after I emailed his company’s “Contact Us” email address with two technical questions and one attached photo. He said, “I can explain it better on the phone than in an email. So, I decided to just call you!”

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These two gents have no idea how satisfied and thrilled they made me feel with their outstanding customer service.

Hat’s off to them and these companies. They have earned MY loyalty.

BoatZincs.com

Part# A-25

$31.83+tax+ship= $42.78 total

All the other zincs on this boat are “standard fare” which most every boat yard / supply will stock.

7/16” socket was used on the nylox nuts. 316 s/s Nuts & washers were in good shape so I re-used them.

I considered this 3D space as being totally wastedz, so all I needed was a custom shelf to put the new printer on along with its supplies. (The printer is roughly at eye level.)

It does not restrict airflow coming through the A/C duct-register, and the bunk is still 100% usable (if we were not using it for storage.)

The concave outside wall required cutting & fitting the shelf into that space. It took some fancy cutting as none of the angles are 90° … before cutting I transferred, by pencil, all the angles to my sheet of plywood.

FYI:

Home Depot or Lowes will cut their plywood (a 48×48” sheet was +/- $25) to square angle measurements. So I had them cut mine to 36”x20”, which I then brought to the boat, drafted the final angles on the plywood, and then cut to the final dimensions. (I have a small handsaw aboard.)

A bit of stain helps it fit in with all the interior woodwork.

The printer is an HP Envy 6555e; we use its WiFi capability to connect to it.

Every night they go home to “sanitize” their tip money! … As I say, professional money launder-ers!

These guys are two of the most appreciated guys on the Port32 Marina Crew; we love to see them arrive every Wednesday morn.

I had some business to attend to in the Sanford FL area (Ham Radio Outlet), so I took the opportunity to do some recognizance of potential future marina stops.

The spring-fed St Johns River flows south to north. Sanford area (near Orlando) is to the south on Lake Monroe.

Just north of Lake Monroe is Boat Tree Marina. Very well protected; reportedly a capital improvement plan is underway this season for some new docks.

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They do have some slips rented out, but unfortunately zero availability for transients and new customers.

There is a bit more to the St Johns River further south from here. But most cruisers are satisfied with the trek to Lake Monroe.

Information about the many fresh water SPRINGS that feed this river can be found here:

https://gardenandgun.com/feature/voyage-st-johns-river/

This whole Avondale/Ortega/Lakeshore part of JAX combines to form a favorite geography for the best restauranteurs to land and subsequently attract the most curious and discerning palates.

“Highly recommended… our eight thumbs are up.” Bring friends with confidence.

Bonus for mariners: Mesa is walking distance from Port 32-Ortega Landing Marina!

Shelly’s “Chili Chili Bang Bang” got this year’s FIRST PLACE!

Omar, Kathy, and Shelly with their trophy spoons!

It was SOOooo much easier and faster to simply replace old for new!

Highly recommended!

The aft bilge pump and switch was also replaced. Everything is clean & new!

Linda and her family, John, Stephen, and Sarah came and visited us in JAX for a couple of days. Here we all are after polishing off a meal at Longhorns.

Hot tub tomorrow!

They safely drove here from Maine in 3 hops, and veered around damaging winds and resulting traffic as violent weather came across the middle of the country this weekend.

Addendum

St. Patrick’s Day

I met Anthony at the local hardware store, Jacksonville FL.

Spring is coming!

I asked him if he could re-screen our sliding screen door with a finer mesh to keep out No-See-Ums. “Phifer has a 20×20 grid screen which keeps them out. [Normal screen is 16×16 mesh.]

I have the good stuff in-stock!”

Within hours he was at the boat to take the frame, and returned it all fixed up with the new stuff installed!

While on the bridge or outside, Catnip Spray (a natural herb) also works!

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.htm

Repels: No-See-Ums, mosquitoes, green-head flies, etc.

Available at: Petco, PetSmart, Chewy, Amazon, and Walmart.

Pleasant smell and feel on skin too.

Capt Gene of Galene and Capt Ray of Shellerina gave testimony to the state senators of the Transportation Committee today.

RE: Senate Bill 594 anchoring restrictions in FL ports.

A month ago, on February 1, I started swimming laps again. I did almost 1/4 mile (4x 4 lengths of a 25 yard pool.)

Today, I did 7x 10 lengths +2, to go over a mile!

Not bad to recover one’s wind in 1 month’s time!

Addendum Sunday 3/2

3 reps of 20 + 11 for another mile!

Addendum – June 2, 2025

Historic success for Ukraine military prowess!

Books and movies will come from this.

“31-81” is reportedly THE official lifestyle brand adopted by several merchants with shops on the island.

The reason for moving from Port 32 Ortega Landing is yacht insurance and hurricane seasonal restrictions. We will still have our car, and access to the facilities at Ortega Landing. I expect visits to friends, that hot tub, pool, laundry when we are in JAX for doctor and dentist appointments. We will skip the cruising all the way to Maine and/or Canada for this summer.

Half your wood and half your hay, you should have on Candlemas Day.

Halfway point between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox.

https://shellerina.com/2022/02/01/february-1/

Aka Groundhog day.

I guess for us cruisers, it means we should have at least half of our winter projects completed by now!

Today’s project: install larger lights in two places where we really needed it. Galley sink and in the Head.

$22 (w/ sales tax) for two LED light fixtures, galley & head.

From the manual:

Addendum

March 19, 2025

While the original propane stove served us well for 4.5 years, and a reconditioning project went great a couple years ago, the oven continued to have issues.

Shelly makes a great home made pizza; the air fryer isn’t large enough for a whole “ZA”. (Though its great for reheating the left overs).

So the 25 year old range was replaced today.

This stove, found on Amazon is the closest physical fit that we found. It was only ($538 delivered) 25% of the cost of the top quality brands like Force 10.

The Admiral is very happy!

Shelly and I both grew up with propane, as a chef it gives her more control over the heat. Most Mainships were finished with electric ranges. We are so glad we found one with a propane integrated system on-board.

Addendum Sunday 1/19/2025

Our first home made pizza:

Our friend and dock mate, Kellie Norrgard, in front of the “shingle” across the street from European Street Cafe.

Ray sought her help with a medical condition of chronic neck pain. Meds, PT, etc. was simply not making the marked improvement he sought.

This was the first time Ray ever got a professional massage therapy session. “Now, hours later, my neck is feeling great!”

Thank you Kellie! We’ll be back.

https://healingartscollectivejax.comhttps://healingartscollectivejax.com

And, related post:

https://shellerina.com/2024/12/14/happy-birthday-kellie-dock-mate-here-in-jax/

Addendum

Wednesday’s sunset 1/15/2025 off the stern of Shellerina.

We’ve got some pool days coming up!!!

https://www.instagram.com/share/BALiailT4_

Blowers are SO important in gas inboards or stern drives.

Hillside Cabins

Linda Klein notes the lake is starting to freeze there.

Happy Holidays to you and Erik Norrgard of Islander!

https://svislander.com

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Wigs and other paraphernalia were “in” for this great party at Port 32 Ortega Landing’s beautiful captain’s lounge.

Shelly & Erik!

Thanks for inviting us to help you celebrate your BD!!!

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ADDENDUM DEC 4

We could not get that parameter to work with the more expensive/advanced unit even working with great tech support at Citimarinestore.com staff.

That energy saving option is more important than the WiFi option… since we will attempt to run this system on solar energy. The “soft start” hardware option is also acquired, and it may be installed tomorrow or the next day.

All the “pot luck” sides were outstanding! So much to be thankful for. 30 plus attended.