We have been wanting a hard top on Questeria for a while. I look at videos of people making them and I think it will be too difficult for our situation. We were finally about to give up and replace our canvas soft top bimini when we found a used hard top for sale on Facebook. At first, we thought it wouldn’t fit right but once we got it home, it was like it was custom made.
A Little History
When we got Questeria in 2005, it had a canvas bimini top and dodger. They were worn out, but the frame was good. It was made of stainless steel pipes that attached to brackets that were through-bolted to the cockpit—it was over-engineered.
We lived with it until 2009. Instead of just a dodger, we wanted a full enclosure so we could stay dry in the cockpit. We also wanted to use the more expensive Strataglass so we could see through it.
We called a canvas guy in New Bern, NC. At first he wanted to replace the stainless steel frame with a standard aluminum frame. We wanted to use our existing frame, so he finally agreed to it.
We were pretty happy with it at first, but it wasn’t as waterproof as we wanted. Another issue with it was that we could not remove it without cutting the zippers for the dodger and side curtains.
We modified it so that it could be removed without cutting the zippers. We patched it where it had started to show wear and added a valance to make it more waterproof. We also added screens, using Textilene vinyl mesh, so we could get air and shade. See Questeria Journal 6. for details.
In 2015 we hired someone to make a new dodger out of Makrolon. Makrolon is a polycarbonate sheet that is as clear as glass. Then we were able to keep the dodger down while we were underway.
The header image at the beginning of this BLOG shows it this way when we were anchored in the Bahamas.
In 2018 hurricane Irma strikes the Florida Keys. The bimini, which was already in bad shape, is now completely ruined. At this point we are seriously considering a hard top, but in the meantime, we take it down and patch it. See my previous post After Irma for details.
Present Day
It’s 2022 and we haven’t done anything with the bimini since post-Irma repairs. We get someone to give us a price on another canvas bimini, and she is coming over to take some final measurements, when George calls.
George is Fran’s uncle and the previous owner of Questeria. He knew we wanted a hard top because we have been admiring his on Steel Lady. He was looking on Facebook and saw one that he thought would work for us. He came over to our boat and helped us measure the existing frame.
Once we saw that it would fit, he contacted the guy and we started talking.
The Purchase
This guy, who’s name is also Ron, bought it for his sailboat, but couldn’t get anyone to make a frame for it, so he decided to sell it on Facebook. He had it stored on a small boat trailer, like you would use for a dinghy. We asked him if we could borrow the trailer to get it home and he said “Sure, but the trailer’s for sale too”. George had been looking for a trailer like that, so he agreed to buy it for $200, and we got the hard top for $300.
We drove down to meet him and checkout the hard top. It was about a 50 minute drive. The hardtop is made of fiberglass. There are a few stains and stress cracks, but for the price, it’s in pretty good shape. It has a window in the middle, so you can look at the sails (or maybe it’s a moon roof). It has a rubber rub rail around the outside. At first glance it appeared to be black, but it was white at one time, and had mildewed. It also has an aluminum handrail that is in the right spot for getting on Questeria. There are eight holes in the top, presumably where it was originally mounted.
We paid him for the hard top and George paid him for the trailer. Ron signed over the title to George. We added a ratchet strap to hold down the hard top and hooked the trailer to George’s SUV—we were on our way back to Marathon.
Bringing it to the Boat
Once we got to the marina, George backed up the trailer as close to the dock as possible. We unstrapped it and picked it up to see how heavy it was. Ron told us he thought it weighed about 200 pounds—I think it weighs more.
There were not a lot of people around the marina due to an event in town. One guy saw us, and helped us carry it to the boat. Then a couple more people saw us and helped get it down the finger pier and up onto the boat. We put it on the existing frame—canvas bimini and all.
Hard Top on Existing Bimini—Canvas and All
Installing the Hard Top
The next day, we are pretty much on our own.
New Hard Top Over Existing Canvas
The first step is to remove the old canvas bimini. Fran and I untie it from the frame and remove it. Now, without the old canvas, we can see how it looks sitting on the frame.
Hard Top After Old Canvas Removed
Our stainless steel frame is made up of four tubes that are thru-bolted to the sides of the cockpit. There are bent stainless pipes going into the front and rear tube on each side. There are a crosspieces on the front and rear, each slightly bowed upwards. There are also crosspieces in the middle connecting the front, rear, and each side. These are also bowed upwards. There is also curved pipe across the front, for extra bracing.
The next step is to remove the crosspieces, so the hardtop can sit better on the frame. To do that, we must lift the hardtop. We make a harness by stringing line through the eight mounting holes, and tie the harness to our spinnaker halyard. We also tie lines to the dinghy davits to keep it from going forward.
Our Make-Shift Lifting Harness
With our makeshift harness, halyard, and the help of two neighbors, we are able to lift the hardtop enough to remove all the crosspieces. We lower the hardtop down on the two side rails, strap it down, and call it a day.
Hardtop on Two Side Rails
At this point, we decide that we should put crosspieces in the front and rear. The ones we just removed are bowed, so we have two choices; straighten them or buy new ones. Fran drives around to see if anyone can straighten them. The only person she can find tells her that he would charge about the same amount as it would cost to buy new ones.
The next day, Brenda, David and George come to help. When David sees the crosspieces, he says he can straighten them by hand in the workshop. They turn out great!
We have to cut a few inches from the front crosspiece to make it fit better. We lift the hardtop with our halyard and replace the front and rear crosspieces. We lower it and pop-rivet everything together.
Rear CrosspieceFront Crosspiece
After we get the frame together, the next step is to bolt the hardtop to the frame with u-bolts. This will happen tomorrow.
Bolted Down with U-Bolt
Fran and I are on our own today, but we are almost done. I get some u-bolts and fairing compound from West Marine, while Fran cleans the rust stains from underneath the hardtop. I use six u-bolts, one in the front, one in the back, and two on each side. I fill in the holes with fairing compound. We also caulk around the window where it leaks.
Bruce comes by to look at it. We hire him to paint it the same color as the top side of boat, which had been painted a few years earlier. (See New Paint.) He suggests we remove the rub rail, so we do that, and clean it up. It looks great. You can see it at the top of this post.
We are leaving the next day, and Bruce will paint it while we are gone. When we get back, we will work on the dodger and side curtains. I’ll post about these later.
Last year I wrote a post about living in the pandemic. I ended it saying “things were starting to get back to normal“—I was premature in saying that. Since I posted that, we had a booster shot and experienced the Delta and Omicron variants. After a short period of not wearing masks, we are back to wearing them indoors, in public again.
Less Terrified
We are still in a pandemic, but we have learned a lot since it started—people have adjusted. We have had to adust some holiday get-togethers, but it was not as bad as year ago. We lost one family member to COVID, but other family members recovered and are doing fine.
Most of our family and friends are vaccinated and boosted to the max. Symptoms have been mild for those that got it.
The Good News
I’m not going to jinx things and say that the pandemic is almost over, but I will say that we were not influenced by it as much in 2021 as we were in 2020. We changed some plans, like the Big Barn Dance, but mostly we have been spending time with our grandchildren.
We do our grocery shopping in person, always wearing a mask. We occasionally go to restaurants, but usually sit outside. Some events were cancelled, but a lot of them were not. We had a good year socializing with family and good friends, all of them taking precautions against getting COVID. We even went to an outdoor concert at Wilmington’s new Live Oak Bank Pavilion.
2021 Recap
2021 was not the best year, but it wasn’t the worst year. We mostly did what we wanted—spend time with our grandchildren. Being CLODs (Cruisers Living On Dirt) in Wilmington, NC, we got to see friends. Some were traveling near Wilmington in boats or RVs, others traveled just to see us.
We did some traveling in 2021, but mostly by car. In February, we went to Gambrills, Maryland to babysit Jameson and Grady.
In a previous post, I talked about going to Marathon, Florida, in March, to check on our boat.
In June and July we are in Gambrills, MD and Wilton, CT. Greg, Tiffany and the twins have moved from a one bedroom apartment in New York City to a five bedroom house in Wilton, CT. We go there to help them and play with our grandchildren. Adam, Katie and the boys are in Gambrills, MD, which is on the way. So we stop and play with some of our other grandchildren.
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The first week of August is our annual Lake Week. Last year’s Lake Week was not fully attended because of COVID. This year was better—all the grandchildren, except for the twins, were there. Everyone had a great time. Almost everyone was there for most of the week, even though one person had COVID and had to miss the first two days.
In September, we go to Gambrills and Wilton again. Our babysitting services are in great demand, so we create a shared calendar.
In October we go to Tega Cay, South Carolina to see our grandsons Jackson and Oliver—we don’t want them to feel left out. Then we go to Gambrills and Wilton again.
We get together with all the family for the holidays, but not all together. It would have been nice to all be together on Christmas day, but it we spread it out over several weeks—that’s fun too.
Looking Forward
We start 2022 by babysitting. In January we are in Gambrills and Wilton. After Wilton, we’ll meet Adam, Katie and the boys in Rhode Island for an early celebrations of Ava’s 12th birthday. We haven’t seen her since Lake Week.
After that, we’ll go down to the boat in the Florida Keys for a bit. But, we we’ll return to Wilton for the twins’ first birthday. We’ll most likely stop in Gambrills on the ways up and back.
We have no specific plans after that, until our annual Lake Week in August.
Big Barn Dance
The Big Barn Dance, in Taos NM, was a yearly tradition for us before COVID. In 2020 it was completely cancelled, but we watched it on YouTube. They held one in 2021, but it was very restrictive. You couldn’t buy tickets, you bought a “pod”—a place for your lawn chairs. There was no covered seating. We like to come and go during the day, and decided this would not work for us. Hopefully, it will be back to normal in 2022 and we will go in the RV.
Summary
We spent a lot of time with grandchildren in 2021, and we plan to continue that in 2022. We didn’t spend much time on the boat or RV in 2021 and, as of today, we haven’t planned any trips for 2022—we’ll wait and see what COVID brings, and we’ll make the best of the situation.
A few years ago I wrote a series of articles about planning multi-day cruises. I finished off the series with an example. See Planning Multi-Day Cruises—Example. Since that time, I created a user-friendly GPX tool. So now I revisit that example.
The example walks through finding anchorages, planning a route between them, refining the route, cleaning up the route, documenting the route, and adding it to a chartplotter. What has changed is the GPX Tools that I use to clean up the route and document the route in a spreadsheet. I now have more user-friendly GPX tools.
There are two ways you can continue reading this post. You can go to the original post here and follow it to the heading Cleaning the Route, skipping the section on GPX Tools, or, you can download the route that was created by clicking here.
I open the GPX Tool. I have it installed as a shortcut on my desktop. Alternately, I can point my browser to questeria.info/gpx/.
I click Chose File, and choose the file named WP-OWW.gpx. Then, I upload it to see the contents of the route.
Uploaded Route
I scroll down to the last entry, and see there are 11 waypoints in the route. The names are random, except for the starting and ending anchorages. There are two waypoints in the file that correspond to the two anchorages. I can download a CSV file now, but I want to clean the route before that. First, I set some options.
Setting Options
I click Show Options and the Options panel appears. The first set of options are formatting choices for the CSV file. I set Lat/Lon format to dd mm.mmm and Distance to Naut. Miles. Depth and Time Set are options for tracks, so I leave them alone.
GPX Options
The last set of options are for route cleaning. I check Reorder, Clean Sym, Hide Name and Clean All. I set Num Digits to 3 and Symbol to Waypoint. These are the default options that I used last time.
I click Hide Options to save the values and continue. I set Start Num to 400. This is because my previous routes start at 0, 100, 200 and 300.
Clean Route
I click Clean Route to clean the route.
Cleaned Route WP-OWW
The message says 11 waypoints out of 11 cleaned and Start Num is updated to 411.
I scroll through the route and it looks like the cleaned route from the original example, but I want to redo it using a different option.
Clean All Unchecked
I click Clear to restart the whole process. Then I click Show Options and uncheck Clean All. This tells the GPX Tool to ignore the two anchorage waypoints. I click Chose File, select WP-OWW.gpx, and click Upload GPX as before. I reset Start Num to 400. Next, when I click Clean Route, the message says 9 waypoints out of 11 cleaned, and everything is reordered and cleaned except for the two anchorage waypoints.
Clean All Unchecked
Downloading the Files
Next, I click Download CSV and it downloads a file named WP-OWW_cln.csv to my Download folder and disables the Download CSV button.
Then, I click Download GPX and it downloads a file named WP-OWW_cln.gpx to my Download folder and disables the Download GPX button.
Importing Cleaned Route
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You can now go back to the original example header Importing Cleaned Route, but I do things a litte differently below.
Importing to OpenCPN
I import the cleaned route back into OpenCPN. I delete the old uncleaned route to avoid confusion. I right-click on it and select Delete… I get a message “Are you sure you want to delete this route?”. I click Yes. Then, I open the Route & Mark Manager and go to the Routes tab. I click Import GPX…, and select file WP-OWW_cln.gpx in my Download folder. I get a message that 2 duplicate waypoints were detected and ignored. I now have a route named WP-OWW. I open the route’s properties and notice that some of the original information has been lost or changed. This is caused by importing it after it was exported from HomePort.
I restore it to its original state. I put West Pass in the Depart From field and Okeechobee Waterway in the Destination field. I change Color from Magenta to Default color and click OK.
There are still some differences. The waypoint symbol is now Combo! and appears as circle with a dot. Also, the Show name box is checked for each waypoint. I can manually change each waypoint property, but I can do them all at once with the GPX Tool.
Recleaning the Route
I export the route from the Route & Mark Manager by selecting WP-OWW and clicking Export selected… and save it to a folder. Then, I open the GPX tool and upload the file I just exported.
I click Show Options and uncheck Reorder, and check Clean Sym, Hide Name and Clean All. I also set Symbol to diamond.
Reclean for OpenCPN
I click Hide Options and Clean Route, and Download GPX. Then, in OpenCPN, I delete the old route and import the re-cleaned route as before. It all looks good.
Importing to HomePort
I import the cleaned route back into HomePort. I delete the old route to avoid renaming due to duplicate names. I open HomePort and click on my Route2019 list. Then, I right-click on route WP-OWW and select Delete. I get a message saying “Items will be deleted from ALL lists.”, I click Delete.
To import the cleaned route, I click File and select Import into Route2019… I select file WP-OWW_cln.gpx and click Open. Surprisingly, it doesn’t make a difference if I use the original cleaned file or the one I recleaned for OpenCPN. This is because HomePort ignores Show name and waypoint symbol diamond. It knows about the starting and ending anchor waypoints because I already imported them into Route2019. I select WP-OWW_cln.gpx. It looks good.
To send this route to the SD card, I right-click on route WP-OWW and select Send To… I click on USERDATA, and then OK.
When I have all the routes for my trip, I like to organize them in a spreadsheet. You can use Excel or Google Sheets. I use both. The first step is to get a template. I have a shared template on Google Sheets here. Start by copying it to your own spreadsheet. I’ll name mine Example RouteSheet. The spreadsheet has a template sheet, named RteFormat. The template has six rows of header. The first step is to customize your template. Change speed of 5.5 in cell D3 to your planned average speed, in knots. Then, change your Start, cell C4, to your planned departure date and time, for example “11/21/2021 8:30”. This field can later be modified for each route.
I keep RteFormat sheet as is, and duplicate it to create a sheet for each route in my trip. To start, I click on the RteFormat sheet and select Duplicate. Then I click on Copy of RteFormat and select Rename... I give the sheet the same name as my route, WP-OWW.
I go to my Download folder and open WP-OWW_cln.csv with Excel and I see this.
Spreadsheet
Next, I copy the route information into my sheet. I copy all the cells in columns A through F, starting with row 9, by dragging my mouse from corner-to-corner to highlight the data, right-clicking and selecting Copy. Then I go to WP-OWW sheet, right-click on cell A7, and select Paste. Finally, I type the route name, WP-OWW, in cell B1, the starting point, West Pass, in cell B2, and the destination, Okeechobee Waterway, in cell F2. I update the speed, in knots, in cell D3, and the start time, in cell C4, if needed. The other fields in the header are computed by the spreadsheet; Total distance of 60.04 nautical miles, in cell B3. Total time of 10 hours, 55 minutes and 1 second, in cell F3. End time and date of 11/21/2021 19:25:01, in cell F4.
I’d love to hear what you think about the GPX Tool. Leave a comment to this post if you have any suggestions. I am planning to write more posts about the GPX Tool. You can subscribe below to receive an email notice when new post are available.
I do all this with my own time and money. If you find anything useful, please go to questeria.info/donate.html, and donate something to my website. Thanks!
I had some minor issues with routes that I created for my chartplotter. The method and tools that I use creates random waypoint names. I can fix them manually, but decided to create a tool that can do it all at once. It’s a Perl script called “clnrte”. The first version renamed the waypoints, starting at a specified number and incrementing it for each waypoint. Next, I had it replace different waypoint symbols with a specified symbol name. Then, I had it hide the waypoint names on the display.
Later, I decided that I would make this tool available on my website. There was a problem with this—it was the ease of use.
I wrote Clean Route using a language called Perl. The Perl Language is very good at reading and manipulating text files, which is why I chose it for the Clean Route tool. Perl programs require a Perl interpreter, which can be downloaded for free, for personal use. They are also portable across multiple operating systems, like Windows, Mac and Linux. I already had it installed on my Windows PC when I wrote the Clean Route tool.
The main disadvantage of Perl is that it runs from a command prompt. I spent much of my career running programs from a command prompt, so this was never a problem for me. But I understand why most people don’t want to do this. I provided a “bat” file, so the program could be started from Windows Explorer, but this is not portable and it doesn’t allow for running with different options.
The Clean Route program takes options, which are passed in as command line arguments, in the style of the UNIX shell. If running from Windows Explorer, the default options can be changed by editing the “bat” file. That’s about –3 on a usability scale of 1 to 10.
For documentation, I provided a small “txt” file, or you could run the program with the “–help” flag, as shown below.
>clnrte --help
clnrte (Clean Route) Version: 1.05
Copyright (C) Ron Olson 2014
Reorder waypoints and clean symbols in GPX route files.
Syntax:
clnrte [options] infile1.gpx [infile2.gpx ...[infileN.gpx]]
Where infile1.gpx ... infileN.gpx are route files in GPX format.
Options:
--help or -h - Display this message.
--outfile or -o - Output File (optional), default is infileX_cln.gpx,
(does not work with multiple input files).
--reorder or -r | --noreorder or -nor - Reorder | Don't reorder
waypoint names (default is to reorder)
--start or -s # - Starting waypoint number, if reordering, (default is 0).
--digits or -d # - Minimum number of digits in waypoint name, if reordering
(default is 3).
--cleansym or -c | --nocleansym or -noc - Clean | Don't clean waypoint
symbols (default is to clean symbols).
--wpsym or -w 'string' - Waypoint symbol, if cleaning symbols,
(default is 'Waypoint').
--verbose or -v | --noverbose or -nov - Verbose | Nonverbose mode.
These bits of documentation do not cover how to get started running Perl.
The New GPX Tool
One day, out of nowhere, I had an idea…
The server that runs my website has a Perl interpreter. All I had to do was upload a GPX file to the server, run the program there, and make the output available for download.
I started with my other GPX utility “gpx2csv”, or Create CSV file from GPX file. Since I now have a easier way to specify options, I made some improvements to the CSV tool, like specifying different units of measurements. I also displayed a summary of the GPX file.
This was my first release of the GPX Tool. See my post GPX Tool for a description of the Create CSV part of the tool.
In release 2, I added “Clean Route”. I made some improvements to this utility as well.
Clean Route
Clean Route came about because of the way I create a route for my chartplotter. I start by creating starting and ending waypoints in OpenCPN. I connect the waypoints with a route, and then insert waypoints in between to keep my route at safe depths. The inserted waypoints are automatically named by OpenCPN. When my route looks good, I export it and import it into HomePort. Then I continue to refine it. HomePort automatically names inserted and appended waypoints as well. Refer to my series of posts on Planning Multi-Day Cruises for more details.
The route is slightly changed when exported/imported between tools. While OpenCPN is tolerant of duplicate names, HomePort is not. When Homeport imports a route with an existing waypoint, it appends a digit to the name to make it unique. It can get very messy.
HomePort and OpenCPN share some common waypoint symbols, like Anchor, but most of them are unique. Routes exported from HomePort use waypoint symbols named Waypoint, which is a black dot. Waypoint gets converted to Combo!, which appears as small circle with a dot in the middle, when imported into OpenCPN. OpenCPN lets you specify the waypoint symbol, but the default is diamond, which is not a valid symbol in HomePort.
Inserted and appended waypoints in OpenCPN default to not show the waypoint name, but you can change this by checking Show name for each waypoint. When you import a route into OpenCPN that was exported from HomePort all the waypoint names are shown. This clutters up the display. You can uncheck Show name for each one, or you can use Hide Name to hide them all.
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I added another option to Clean Route. Originally, all waypoint names were reordered and all waypoint symbols were cleaned. I added the Clean All option. If Clean All is unchecked, non-automatic waypoints, like anchorages, are left alone.
Cleaning a Route
To clean a route, start by opening the GPX Tool and setting the Clean Route options.
Click Show Options and check/uncheck Reorder, Clean Sym, Hide Name, and Clean All. Also set Num Digits and Symbol to desired values.
Clean Route Options
Click Hide Options to save and continue.
Click Chose File and select a GPX file with the route to be cleaned.
Clean Route Chose GPX File
The Upload GPX button is enabled.
Clean Route, Upload GPX Enabled
Click Upload GPX to upload the file for processing.
Clean Route, Uploaded GPX File
If there is a route, the Clean Route button is enabled. The Start Num field is set to one past the last waypoint name from the last route that was cleaned. Change it now if desired.
You can also download the uncleaned CSV file, if desired.
Click Clean Route to clean the route.
Cleaned Route
The message tells you how many waypoints were cleaned. Start Num is updated by this amount.
Click Download CSV and Download GPX to download the cleaned CSV and GPX files.
The file name is appended with _cln, but the route name is unchanged. I suggest that you delete the original route from HomePort and/or OpenCPN before importing the cleaned route.
Click Clear to restart any time during the process.
Summary
I hope that you find my tools useful. If you want to try them out, you can download an example route, MAR-FTJ.gpx by clicking on the name. This is a route from Marquesas Key to Fort Jefferson anchorage, in Dry Tortugas. Look for more examples in the future.
Speaking of future posts, you can now sign up to receive a notification when a new post is published.
If you enjoy any of my tools or my website, please consider a small donation by clicking here or on the This website is ad free banner.
I provide tools for boaters and cruisers on this website. I call them “Tools for Cruisers”. Some of these tools are not user friendly, but now I have a solution—a Progressive Web App, PWA, that runs on both my server and your device. I’m talking specifically about my GPX to CSV and Clean Route utilities.
Note: I republished this post to address the version 1.1.1 update of the GPX Tool.
GPX Files
GPX, or GPS eXchange, files are used to import and export GPS user data between tools and devices. Navigation programs like OpenCPN and HomePort use GPX files to import and export waypoints, routes and tracks. GPX files are a type of XML, eXtended Markup Language file. GPX files are text files—you can view them with a text editor or browser, but there is a lot of extraneous information that makes it difficult to see the important things.
GPX Tools
My original GPX tools were Perl scripts that had to be run from a command prompt. One utility creates a CSV, Comma Separated Values, file and the other cleans up a route. Refer to Planning Multi-Day Cruises—GPX Tools for details. You also have to install a Perl interpreter on your device before you can run them.
The program Convert GPX to CSV extracts data from a GPX file and puts it in a CSV, Comma Separated Value, file that can be read as a spreadsheet.
Until now, this utility required a Perl interpreter, like ActivePerl. As a retired software engineer, this is not a big deal for me, but I understand why most people wouldn’t bother. After Perl is installed, you had to open a command prompt and type a cryptic command like …
gpx2csv WP-OWW.gpx
Another program, Clean Route, cleans up waypoint names and symbols in route. This program also requires a Perl interpreter and runs from a command prompt.
Now, you can create a CSV file by entering a URL in your favorite web browser. It brings up a menu that walks you through the steps.
GPX Tool
Start at the top-left of the screen and work your way down. Unavailable options are greyed-out.
Creating a CSV File
To create a CVS file from a GPX file, do the following:
Click Show Help to see help information. Click Hide Help to continue.
Click Show Options to set options. The only option that works at this time is Lat/Lon format.
Click Hide Options to save and continue.
Click Choose File and select a GPX file. You will get a file selection menu. Choose the desired GPX file. The Upload GPX button is enabled.
Click Upload GPX to upload the file for processing. If the GPX file is valid, and contains a route or track, the Download CSV button is enabled, and the GPX file is displayed in a separate pane.
Click Download CSV to download the CVS file.
Click Clear to restart any time during the process.
The CSV files for routes or tracks are different.
CSV File for Routes
GPX Tool Route
CSV files for routes contain the following fields:
wp – Waypoint name
lat – Latitude
lon – Longitude
nm – Nautical miles from previous route point*
feet – Feet from previous route point
brg – Bearing from previous route point, in degrees true
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* Future versions will have the option to show distance in Nautical Miles, Statute Miles, or Kilometers.
The nm, feet and brg values are calculated by the program.
CSV File for Tracks
GPX Tool Track
CSV files for tracks contain the following:
lat – Latitude
lon – Longitude
date – Date of track point
utc – Time of track point in UTC, Universal Coordinated Time*
depft – Depth at at track point (in feet**)
elapsed – Elapsed time since last track point
nm – Nautical miles from previous track point***
feet – Feet from previous track point
kts – Speed in knots***
brg – Bearing from previous track point, in degrees true
* The original version displayed time as local time, as defined in the users device, but now it is in UTC.
** Future versions will have the option to show depth in feet or meters.
*** Future versions will have the option to show distance in Nautical Miles, Statute Miles, or Kilometers and speed in Knots, MPH or KPH.
The elapsed, nm, feet, kts and brg values are calculated by the program.
GPX to CSV Options
GPX Tool Options
Latitude Longitude Format
There are three latitude longitude formats:
dd mm.mmm (default) – Degrees and minutes to 3 decimal places.
dd mm ss – Degrees, minutes and seconds.
dd.ddddd – Degrees to 5, or more decimal places.
Distance Format
Naut. Miles (Default) – Distance in nautical miles and feet, speed in knots.
Stat. Miles – Distance in statute miles and feet, speed in MPH.
Kilometers – Distance in kilometers, speed in KPM.
Depth Format
feet (default) – Depth in feet.
meters – Depth in meters.
Time Set
Time Set is used to filter our track entries that are close in time. If the number of seconds between track entries is less than Time Set, only the first will be displayed.
Running the GPX Tool
This tool should work on any device with a web browser, but it works best on a PC. A larger screen makes it easier to use, and many mobile devices have limited support for GPX and CSV files.
To start the GPX Tool open your web browser and go to https://questeria.info/gpx/. You will see the GPX Tool menu. You can look at the help screen, show options or choose a GPX file. Once you choose a file, you can upload it. Once uploaded, the GPX file contents are displayed if file is valid. You can download the CSV file.
You can add the page to your home screen to make it more like a regular app. I have done this on Windows using both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge.
Future plans include cleaning routes.
Summary
I plan to continue making improvements to the GPX Tool. I hope that people will try it and like it. Send me any comments, suggestions and/or complaints.
Most people are familiar with the relationship of distance, time and speed. When you are navigating a boat, you might have to use the formulas to figure out where you are, or you might use them for planning purposes. It’s pretty easy to do with a calculator, or paper and pencil, or just in your head.
The formulas get more complicated when you have to convert between different units, say nautical miles and statute miles. It’s not difficult to do, but there’s always a chance you will make a mistake, especially when you’re doing other things, like driving a boat. I decided to create a special calculator that does all of these things. I call it the DTS calculator.
Background
It started one day, while we were traveling the ICW (Intra-Coastal Waterway) in Questeria. Questeria, like most sailboats is not going to make any speed records, so I have a lot of time to think about things between anchorages, marinas and bridge openings.
We wanted to find an anchorage that we could get to before it got dark in 3 hours and 20 minutes. Our speed, according to our GPS, was 5.4 knots. The distance we can go, in that time, at our current speed is determined by multiplying speed by time (in hours). 20 minutes is 0.333 hours (20 ÷ 60 = 0.333), so my calculation looks like…
5.4 * 3.333 = 17.9982
Since the unit of measurement for speed is knots (nautical miles per hour), the distance is in nautical miles. I’ll round my answer to 18 nautical miles.
Our GPS is set to knots and nautical miles because that is what we learned in piloting and navigation classes.
Knots vs. Miles per Hour
Many sailors prefer knots to miles per hour. Knots is basically nautical miles per hour. One nautical mile is 1.15078 statute miles. (I refer to miles as a statute miles to avoid confusion between statute and nautical miles.) Sailors prefer nautical miles because one nautical mile equals one minute, or 60 degrees, of latitude on a nautical chart.
The term “knots” originates from 17th century sailors, who measured their speed by counting the number of knots in a line that unspooled from a reel of a device called a chip log. (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knot_(unit)). Knots and nautical miles are also preferred by airplane pilots.
Cruising on the ICW
The ICW, or Intra-Coastal Waterway, uses statute miles. Sailors can either change settings on their GPS or convert—we choose to convert. It’s not too difficult. You either multiply or divide by 1.15, depending on which way you are converting. This is another opportunity for making a mistake.
Another thing that makes the ICW different from offshore sailing is that the shortest distance between two points on the ICW is not usually a straight line—the ICW is very curvy. You measure distance on the ICW using mile markers. (Sometimes there are no physical mile markers, but the ICW charts use them anyway.) Guess what? The mile markers are in statute miles.
So, if I want to measure distances on the ICW, I have to use statute miles. But my GPS is set to nautical miles. This means I have to convert nautical miles to statute miles by multiplying by 1.15.
18 * 1.15 = 20.7
So, while I’m able to this with a simple calculator, I tend to make mistakes and forget formulas and constants, so I created a calculator to help me deal with all of this.
Other Factors
I decided that my calculator had to work on my phone, even when I have no cellular data or Wi-Fi. It also should remember what I entered into it last, so I only have to enter things that have changed.
My thinking was that if I enter one piece of of information, say nautical miles, it will convert that to equivalent units of measurement, like statute miles. If I enter two pieces of information, like nautical miles and knots, it will calculate a third value, like time, and convert everything to other equivalent units of measurement, like statute miles and MPH.
One problem with this is that there are three things; distance, time and speed, and if you change one thing, how to decide which thing stays the same and which thing is recalculated. My solution is to blank-out what you want to be recalculated.
As an American sailor, I usually deal only with nautical and statute miles, knots and MPH. But I realize that in other countries people deal with kilometers and kilometers per hour (KPH). I decided to add that to the calculator. It makes it a little more complicated, but hopefully it adds some value.
Location-Distance-Bearing Calculator
Another calculator on my website, www.questeria.info, is the Location Distance Bearing (LDB) calculator. This calculator also coverts between units and calculates a value from two other values. The common value between the two calculators is distance. The units of measurement for distance in the LDB calculator are nautical miles and feet. You can send distance values between the two calculators.
For example, if you want to convert kilometers to feet you can multiply by 3281, or use the Send to Location Distance Bearing Calculator function.
Another use for this function is to calculate a new location using the distance value from DTS with a bearing (direction) and another location.
History of the DTS Calculator
DTS was the first calculator that I created. The first version was created in early 2014 and was written in the PERL programming language. It ran on the server side and only worked when online. It was not designed to run from a phone’s home screen as a mobile web application and there was no About or Send to Loc Dist Brg Calc buttons. There was a Help button, but it was very basic compared to what is available today.
The second major version of the DTS calculator came after I created my four other calculators; LDB, AW, TW and WS. (See post Calculators on questeria.info.) This version was written in the JavaScript programming language, could run when offline and was designed to be able to be added to your phone’s home screen as a mobile web application. The Help button in this this version was also significantly improved.
Application Cache
The mechanism used for being able to run offline is called Manifest-Based Application Cache. The application files (html, css, js, etc.) are saved on the users’ device. The manifest file that specifies what is cached is named dts.appcache, and looks as follows:
This works well most of the time. But sometimes I want to make a change to the calculator. When something changes, I want to reload the changes into my application cache. To do this I must change the dts.appcache file.
The second line of the file starts with “#” and is ignored by the browser. When making any changes, I change the date and version in this line. I added the About button to the calculator so I know if I am running the right version.
Cookies
Early versions of the DTS calculator didn’t remember the values from previous invocations. The later versions accomplish this using cookies.
Sometimes cookies get a bad rap, but they are simply pieces data stored in your device’s browser. (See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_cookie.) The DTS calculator uses 11 cookies, one for each field on the screen and two for the send to LDB function.
When you open the calculator, it reads all the cookies and fills in the nine fields with the values. When you press the Submit button or press enter, the calculator looks to see what fields have changed. Once the conversions and calculations are done, the cookies are updated with the new values.
When you do a Send to Location Distance Bearing Calculator, the cookie for the nautical miles value in the LDB calculator is updated and another cookie named send is set to true. Then the LDB application is started. It reads the value saved by the DTS calculator.
Mobile Web Application Capable
The DTS calculator is a standalone website. All you need to run it is a standard web browser, such as Chrome or Safari. One difference between DTS and a normal website is that the DTS calculator is Mobile Web Application Capable. In other words, it looks more like an app than a webpage when it’s running on a phone or tablet.
Web browsers show things like a URL bar, refresh button, back button, settings, etc. These things are not shown when running as a mobile web application.
Another thing that makes it more like an application is having an icon. The icon for the DTS calculator is a tan box with blue letters “DTS”. When you add the webpage to your phone’s home screen, you will see the DTS icon. I have all my calculators from www.questeria.info in a folder named Calculators, and I can easily see what is what from the icons.
Kilometers and KPH
I’ve been thinking of adding Kilometers and KPH for a while. I finally did it. It made the screen more complicated, but hopefully it will make it more useful.
An added benefit of this exercise was that I found, and fixed quite a few problems with the previous version.
Service Worker
A web developer’s work is never finished. What I mean by this is that things are always changing, and things that used to work, may stop working, or work incorrectly. This is the case with the manifest-based application cache that all my calculators use to work offline.
The function of the manifest file was replaced with something called a Service Worker. A service worker is basically a program running in the background. Service workers can perform many functions, but one is the ability to cache the application like manifest-based application cache.
I have known for a while that manifest-based application cache was deprecated and would be going away. But my last change to the DTS calculator showed error messages.
I changed the DTS calculator to use a service worker. It no longer shows any errors, and seems to work as intended.
There are some new quirks with this version. Service workers will not run if the unsecure URL is used (http:// versus https://). Most browsers will warn you if you are using the unsecure version of the website. Also, the service worker doesn’t always start right away until you refresh the page.
The About button tells you what version of the service worker you have. If you don’t have a service worker, it gives you a shorter version number—4.1 instead of 4.1.6, for example.
It took me awhile to get everything working, but now that I have DTS using a service worker, the other calculators should be easy.
Ad Free
I provide the DTS calculator on my website for anyone—free of charge. I used to try and recoup some of my expenses for the website by having ads by Google. I decided to remove all the ads. They were not generating much revenue for me, and they were slowing down pages.
In their place, I put a link to PayPal so that people donate money. Refer to post No More Ads for more information.
If you find the DTS calculator useful, please consider a small donation.
Installing DTS on an iPhone Home Screen
You can run the DTS calculator on anything with a web browser, but it is really meant to be run on a mobile phone. I will describe how to install it on an iPhone because that is what I have. Installing it on an other smart phones or tablets is not much different.
The first thing to do is open the website https://questeria.info/dts/ on your phone. Make sure you are using the secure version, with “https”. The non-secure version (http) may seem to work, but the service worker caching will not work.
When you go to that URL on an iPhone, you will see a screen like this.
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To add it to your home screen, press the “share” button. That’s the icon of the box with an arrow coming out of the top at the bottom of the screen. You’ll get a screen with lots of option for sharing. Scroll down until you see “Add to Home Screen”.
Pressing this will take you to the following screen.
Press “Add” in the upper right corner. The DTS icon will be added somewhere on your phone’s Home Screen.
To move it to a folder or another place on your Home Screen, press the icon until all the icons are jiggling and have a “-” in the upper-left corner.
Now you can drag the icon anywhere you want. You can drag it into a folder, and then to the place in the folder that you want. To create a folder, drag it onto another icon.
This is what my “Calculators” folder looks like.
Examples of Using DTS Calculator
I made up an example cruise to illustrate the DTS calculator. It is a southbound cruise on the Atlantic ICW, going through parts of North Carolina in a sailboat. The cruise isn’t real, but the places are real. All of these scenarios assume an average speed of 5.5 knots. The start date is October 14, 2021.
When cruising in this manner, we usually start at sunrise and end before sunset. Sunrise is at 07:11 and sunset is at 18:34 local time. I like to use 24-hour format when I’m cruising because it’s easier to add and subtract times without worrying about AM and PM.
Mile Hammock Bay Anchorage
We want to anchor in Mile Hammock Bay anchorage, at statute mile 244.5. There is one draw bridge between us and the anchorage that must be opened. It is the Onslow Beach Bridge at statute mile 240.7. This bridge opens on the hour and half-hour.
At 13:40 (1:40PM), we go under the Emerald Isle Bridge. We know that this bridge is at statute mile 226, so we have 14.7 statute miles to go before we get to the Onslow Beach Bridge. I plug 14.7 into Statute Miles of my DTS calculator and 5.5 into Knots.
The calculated time is 2 hours, 19 minutes, and 21 seconds.
I add this to the current time, and see that we will get to the bridge at 15:59:21. This is pushing it pretty close, because the bridge won’t open for us if we are not there on the hour. Then we will have to wait another 30 minutes for the next opening.
I’ll see what happens if I increase our speed to 6 knots. I put 6 into the Knots field and blank-out the HH field to recalculate my time.
This will get us to the bridge at in 2 hours, 7 minutes, and 42 seconds, or 15:47:42.
We get to the bridge in time, and wait for the 16:00 opening. The anchorage is another 3.8 statute miles. We’ll slow back down to 5.5 knots and plug in the 3.8 Statute Miles. It looks like we will get to the anchorage in about 36 minutes.
We anchor with plenty of time to plan out the next day.
Southport Marina
We want to go to the Southport Marina tomorrow and I want to estimate what time we will get there. The location of the marina is 33°55.013’N, 078°01.718’W. We are currently at 34°33.098’N, 077°19.505’W, which comes to about 51.7 nautical miles, or about 59.5 statute miles. I’ve already mentioned that you cannot use a straight lines on the ICW, so I must subtract the mile markers.
The marina is at statute mile 309, and we are at statute mile 244.5, so we have 64.5 statute miles to go. The curves of the ICW adds five statute miles, or about 47 minutes, to our journey.
Traveling 64.5 statute miles at 5.5 knots should take us over 10 hours and 11 minutes, getting us there at 17:22. But there are other factors which will affect our timing. There are two bridges which must be opened. The first bridge is the Figure Eight Bridge at statute mile 278.1. This bridge opens on demand, so it won’t cause much of a delay. The next bridge is the Wrightsville Beach Bridge. It only opens on the hour. This bridge is at statute mile 283.1, and we are at statue mile 244.5, so I will see how long it takes to go 38.6 statute miles at 5.5 knots.
It will take 6 hours, 5 minutes and 55 seconds. If we leave at 07:11, we will get there at 13:17. This means a 47 minute wait unless there are other delays along the way. We will plan on continuing at 14:00 after the bridge opens.
Another factor to consider are the currents after the bridge. If I look at my GPS, there six current prediction stations between Wrightsville Beach and Southport. They are named; Myrtle Sound, Snows Cut, Upper Midnight Channel, Reaves Point, Horseshoe Shoal and Southport.
My GPS doesn’t show statute miles for the current prediction stations, but I can measure the distance from the closest statute mile marker on my chart. The first station, Myrtle Sound, is before mile marker 195. So I’ll measure the distance and subtract.
I measure it to be about 1.07 nautical miles, so I will convert that to statute miles.
That comes to approximately 1.2 statute miles. I subtract that from 195 and note the Myrtle Sound statute mile marker as 193.8. This is 10.7 statue miles from the Wrightsville Beach bridge. I’ll repeat this for the other five current prediction stations.
The next step is to determine what time we will be at each station to see how the ever changing currents will effect our speed. I put 10.7, the distance between Wrightsville Beach bridge and Myrtle Sound into Statute Miles, 5.5 into Knots and blank-out HH to calculate time.
The result is 1 hour, 41 minutes and 26 seconds. I add this to 14:00, the time we leave Wrightsville Beach bridge, and see we will be there at about 15:42. Now I can open the Myrtle Sound current prediction station and see what the current will be for that date and time.
It shows to be 0.87 knots at 15:42 on October 15, 2021. The direction of the current is in same direction that we will be traveling, so we will add it to our default speed of 5.5 knots to be 6.37 knots.
The next current prediction station is Snows Cut. It’s 2.0 statute miles from Myrtle Sound. To calculate the time to get there, I enter 2.0 in the Statute Miles field and 6.37 into the Knots field.
The time calculates as 16 minutes and 22 seconds. (Note: the DTS calculator rounds Knots to 6.4 after calculating time.) I see that we will be at Snows Cut at about 15:59. I put this information into a table, as shown.
Place
MM
SM@Speed
Time
Curr.
Myrtle Sound
293.8
10.7@ 5.5kt
15:42
+0.87kt
Snows Cut
295.8
2.0@ 6.37kt
15:59
Upper Mid. Ch.
299.2
3.4@
Reaves Point
300.2
1.0@
Horseshoe Sh.
303.0
2.8@
Southport
308.0
5.0@
Distance, Speed and Time Adjusted for Current
I’ll go through the five remaining stations in a similar manner and fill out this table.
When completed, the table looks like this.
Place
MM
SM@Speed
Time
Curr.
Myrtle Sound
293.8
10.7@ 5.5kt
15:42
+0.87kt
Snows Cut
295.8
2.0@ 6.37kt
15:59
+0.57kt
Upper Mid. Ch.
299.2
3.4@ 6.07kt
16:29
-1.32kt
Reaves Point
300.2
1.0@ 4.18kt
16:42
-1.05kt
Horseshoe Sh.
303.0
2.8@ 4.45kt
17:15
-1.06kt
Southport
308.0
5.0@ 4.44kt
18:14
-0.31kt
Distance, Speed and Time Adjusted for Current
The Southport Marina is at statute mile 309 so the final calculation is 1 statute mile at a speed of 5.19 knots.
The result is 10 minutes and 3 seconds, so we should be at the marina at about 18:24. Bridges and currents add over an hour to our trip.
In Conclusion
The example is made-up, but it’s based on real life. One time, I missed the Wrightsville Beach Bridge opening because, I was blindly following another vessel who said on the radio that he slowed-down so he wouldn’t have to wait long. Another time, we were speeding along through Myrtle Sound on Questeria, and decided to pass the Carolina Beach anchorage and go to Southport, only to slow way down once we got into the Cape Fear river.
We’ve never actually used to the current prediction information to plan our time, but it should give us a rough idea of the currents. By the way, I used the Garmin ActiveCaptain app on my phone for two of the screenshots, but my GPS and other route-planning tools have the same capability. For more information see my post Planning Multi-Day Cruises—ActiveCaptain.
I couldn’t think of any realistic examples to show the usefulness of Kilometers and KPH while cruising in North Carolina, but I’m sure that somewhere it will be useful.
I hope you can see the value of this calculator when cruising and load it on our phone or tablet.
I started writing this post in early 2020, during the pandemic. I originally intended to make it a quick post about quarantining, but instead of publishing it, I just kept adding to it. Then I forgot about it until now, so it’s a gigantic post covering over fourteen months of living in a pandemic.
Like most people in this world, we practiced social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was easier for us because we’re retired and don’t have to worry about going to work to get a paycheck.
There were many changes for us over the last fourteen months. Some were good and some were bad, but most were good.
We were on Questeria, in Marathon, FL, when the pandemic started. We stopped going out. We ordered everything online and had it delivered to us at the marina. We passed the time catching up on boat projects, walking and taking dinghy rides.
Florida to North Carolina
Keeping six feet from people was challenging in that environment. We are close to our neighbors in boats and townhomes. There are people in the marina who we have to walk past when we leave the boat. We also have to interact with someone to pump out our holding tank twice a week.
We tried to get some exercise by walking. There is a nice path across the street. Most people we passed kept their distance, but not everyone. So we stopped walking. One of the reasons people were not taking it serious in Marathon was that the cases of Covid-19 were much lower than in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, to the north.
We decided to leave the Keys and drive the RV to Ernul, NC. We prepared the boat; We filled the water tank so the watermaker can flush every five days. We added extra lines. We setup the dehumidifier to drain into the sink. We packed all of our stuff in the car, including clothes, food, paper towels, toilet paper and our portable water softener.
We drove the car to Southern Comfort RV, in Florida City, where the RV was stored. When we passed the checkpoint on the other side of the road, at the 18 mile stretch, they were stopping visitors from entering the Keys.
We got to the RV, and transferred all the stuff from the car to the RV. We attached the car to the towbar and headed out on the turnpike.
We stopped for gas in Fort Pierce. The gas station was empty. We drove on until 8:00PM and stopped in a rest area for the night. We stopped again for gas in St. George, SC and drove to Ernul, NC and parked the RV in its usual location.
On the way up there, we noticed much less traffic than normal—it was mostly semis. We also noticed that gas prices were way down. There were signs in SC saying all visitors must quarantine themselves by law. In NC the signs said stay home. We did—we just took our home with us.
Waiting
One of our reasons for coming to NC, was to help Katie and Adam when their new baby comes in May. We can babysit Jameson, while mom and dad are in the hospital with the newborn. We decided that we would isolate ourselves for two weeks before visiting anybody.
We can watch local TV in Ernul. We start watching news instead of taking dinghy rides—we prefer dinghy rides. We have a few RV projects, but most of the time I spend working on the website and reading.
Road Trip
After two weeks of isolation, we were ready to visit Adam, Katie and Jameson in Wilmington, NC. We had not come in close contact with anyone. Katie and Adam were considered high-risk for Covid-19 because she was pregnant. So they have both been working from home and taking precautions.
On Sunday morning we drove our car to Wilmington. It’s was a two hour trip. On Monday, we watched Jameson while Katie went to a doctor appointment and Adam worked from home. On Tuesday, we ordered pickup from Agostino’s pizza. We got two large pizzas; Eggplant Parmesan (our favorite) and Buffalo Chicken. We also got an order of Garlic Knots. After lunch, we left some pizza for Katie, Adam and Jameson, and drove back to the RV. We had enough pizza for supper, and shared some with James.
Road Trip 2
After another week in the RV, we went back to Wilmington to babysit for Katie’s doctor appointment. She does better, when she is getting more rest, so we decided to stay and help until the baby is born.
More Waiting
We continued helping Katie and she does well and takes advantage of being able to rest.
On Mother’s day we walked on the beach. All public beach parking was closed, but we parked in a Coast Guard lot, because she is active Coast Guard. Restaurants were closed, so for Mother’s Day we bought some fresh flounder, and fried it, along with shrimp, for dinner.
Mothers’ Day at the Beach
A few days later, our 10 year-old granddaughter, Ava, joined us. She was on vacation in Virginia and her mom drove her to Raleigh, so Adam could bring her back to Wilmington. Her school in Rhode Island was on remote learning, so she could attend classes from North Carolina.
New Baby
On May 16 we have a new grandson. His name is Grady Knox. They come home two days later.
Grady and Grandma
Back to the RV
Katie’s mom flies in from Florida for the weekend. The house is already pretty crowded, so we decided to drive back to the RV—about two hours away.
A few days later, we decided to drive the RV to Wilmington. It’s more expensive than our free spot in Ernul, but it’s closer to our grandkids.
There are two places in Wilmington where we keep the RV; the KOA and the Elks Lodge. The KOA is nicer and has full hook-up sites, but it is expensive and less convenient. We are members of the Elks and can get a water and electric site for $25 a night. They also have a dump station. Amenities in both places are limited due to the pandemic.
We stay at a premium site at the KOA so we have room to cook out for visitors. Our granddaughter, Ava stays with us a few nights. Unfortunately, the pool and other facilities are closed due to Covid.
Later on, we move to a cheaper site, and then to the Elks Lodge.
On the way, we stop at one of our favorite campgrounds, Ortona South. This Army Corps. of Engineers campground is taking all precautions possible to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Camping World finally has the front-end cap. Our insurance company, SafeCo, refused to pay for a new piece, even though Camping World said it could not be repaired and must be replaced. They even sent pictures to the insurance company showing that the damage was too great to repair. The insurance company didn’t care, so we had to pay out of pocket to get the RV fixed. SafeCo also refused to go after the woman that rolled into us, so we ended up paying the deductible as well.
No more SafeCo for us.
We leave the RV at Camping World and drive our car to Questeria in Marathon.
Marathon, FL
The boat has been closed up for twelve weeks. The water tank is empty and there is no water hose. The A/C filter plugged up weeks ago and was shut off by one of our friends in the marina. At least we had a dehumidifier running.
We get things back to normal, and do some boat projects.
Four and a half weeks later we close up the boat and drive to Fort Myers to get the RV. This time we pickled the watermaker so we didn’t have to worry about running out of water. We also left a dehumidifier running.
The RV looks great. We have mixed feelings about Camping World. They didn’t fix things they said they would, and things weren’t ready when they said they would be. But, the body shop did a great job. They never got the right awning, so we ordered one from somewhere else and will fix it ourselves
Next we take the RV to Springfield Campground, in Townville, SC. This is an Army Corps. of Engineers campground on Lake Hartwell. We spend four nights, leave the RV and drive the car to the lake house that we rented for Lake Week.
Lake Week
Every year we have a one week family vacation. It includes our six children (three from each of us), their six spouses and our eight grandchildren, ranging from 15 years to 3 months. That’s 22 people, including us. This trip used to be “Beach Week”, but last year we started going to a lake house instead.
This year we are in Martin, Georgia, on Lake Hartwell.
We thought about canceling Lake Week because of Covid, but we decided we would go even if it was just the two of us. As it turned out, we had 14 out of 22 people show up.
Lake Week
Everybody had a great time. We rented a pontoon boat for the week and went swimming and fishing. Of course there was eating drinking involved as well.
After Lake Week, we went back to the RV, in Springfield campground, for three nights. Then, it’s time to move on.
Fort Mill, SC
Our next stop was the KOA in Fort Mill, SC. This is close to our grandchildren, Jackson and Oliver. We have just seen them at Lake Week, but this gives us a chance to spend some one-on-one time with both of them.
Gambrills, MD
Katie and Adam move to Gambrills, MD. They bought a house sight-unseen. They had to pay above the asking price to get this home.
Before Moving Day
We drive the car up there to help them move in. We get there the day before the movers. There is no furniture. We sit on camping chairs. The adults sleep on blow-up beds and the babies sleep in pack-n-plays.
More RVing
Next, we go back to Ernul, NC. We gave up on Camping World installing a new awning. They kept ordering the wrong part, so we ordered one online and had it delivered to Ernul. The first one was damaged, but the second one was okay. We watched a YouTube video and installed it ourselves, with help from James.
It turns out great. It looks better than when we first bought the RV five years ago.
Next, we go to Holden Beach RV Campground in Holden Beach, NC. This is a very nice campground. It isn’t right on the beach, but it’s only a short drive away.
Erika and Johnny joins us for a night and we go to the beach.
Grandpa and Johnny at Holden Beach
We wanted to go to the beach, but we also wanted to look at houses in the area.
Then, we go to Paynes Creek campground in Hartwell Georgia. This time we want to look at some lakefront property. We don’t see anything that we like, so we just hang out at the lake.
Then, we go back to the Fort Mill KOA to visit Jackson and Oliver again.
Next, we go back to Wilmington, NC and stay at the Elks Lodge for three nights.
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Then we drive the RV 22 miles to Winner’s RV Park, in Carolina Beach. It’s our anniversary, and we thought in would be nice to be close to the beach. This RV park is about a ten minute walk to the beach. This is perfect for us.
On our anniversary we drive to Good Hops Brewery, about a three minute drive in the car, and have some craft beer. This is the first time we have gone to a brewery or bar in a long time. Masks are required unless seated at a table. We get a table outside.
After that we order flounder stuffed with crabmeat to go from Cape Fear Seafood Company and bring it back to the RV.
We find a house in Wilmington, NC that we like. We make an offer and it’s accepted. We take the RV back to Ernul, and park it for a while.
Back to Marathon (for a bit)
We leave the RV and drive down to Marathon to check on the boat. We pack food so that we don’t have to stop except for gas and restrooms. We leave early, so we can get through Miami before the traffic is too bad.
We don’t plan to spend much time here. We are just here to check the boat and get some stuff for the house. We get a free dining room table and chairs from our friends. So we install a trailer hitch and rent a small covered U-Haul trailer.
Tropical Storm Eta is expected to pass through the area. We ask friends to keep an eye on Questeria and leave in a hurry, a couple of days before we planned, so we don’t want to drive a car, towing a trailer through a tropical storm.There is one important thing that we forgot which will come back to bite us later.
We make it to Ernul with the U-Haul trailer. The storm passes through the Keys, turns and becomes a hurricane, but thankfully, doesn’t do much damage to Marathon.
CLODs
After 15 years of living on a boat and RV, we move into a house. I read somewhere that “once a cruiser, always a cruiser”, so now we are officially Cruisers Living On Dirt, or CLODs. We have not given up the boat or the RV. We just added another option, which happens to be closer to all the grandchildren.
Our Home on Dirt
Speaking of grandchildren, we find out that my son and his wife are expecting twin girls in May.
Our main reason for wanting a house was to have a place where family could visit. But the pandemic is not letting this happen as much as we want.
They are asking people not to gather in large groups for Thanksgiving. We drive the car to Maryland and stay with Katie, Adam, Ava, Jameson and Grady.
The weather in Wilmington is nice on Christmas Eve. Erika, Steve and Johnny come over and we sit on our screened-in porch wearing masks. Erika is extra cautious because she is working with elderly Covid patients. We exchange gifts and they leave. We spend Christmas day by ourselves.
A couple of days later we drive towards North Myrtle Beach and meet Audrey and Ryan at a park. Again, we wear masks and exchange gifts. They are not working directly with Covid-19 patients, but Audrey works at a bar, serving people who may have Covid-19.
We have our final Christmas celebration on New Year’s Day. Adam, Katie and the kids drive down and stay with us. Alicia and the boys drive up and stay with Shannon. We have all been careful to not get exposed to Covid-19 and everything turns out great.
Vaccines
Our next goal is to get vaccinated. We are both over 65, so we are in the second category, after healthcare and frontline workers. We want to make sure we are fully vaccinated before the twins are born.
Appointments are filled quickly, but we both get appointments on January 27. We get our second dose on February 17.
Marathon (Again)
We want to check on Questeria, in Marathon before the twins are born. We leave Wilmington on the morning of March 17. We have packed food and drink for breakfast and lunch. We don’t have to stop, except for gas and restrooms. We plan to stop on the way for dinner.
We are over halfway there and we get a message from Greg that the twins were born. Tiffany had preeclampsia and was admitted to the hospital. She had to have a C section at 33 weeks. Arie Grace was 3 lbs. 12 oz. and Zoe Arabella was 3 lbs. 13 oz. They were both put in the NICU, but were doing well. Tiffany was also doing well.
We look for a place to stop for dinner where we can eat outside. It is spring break and St. Patrick’s day and every place is crowded. We end up driving all the way to Marathon and waiting for an outdoor table at Sparky’s Landing. We have corned beef and cabbage, and Irish beer.
After that, we go to the boat. The topside is filthy so we have to cover it before we can bring stuff from the car.
Once we go below, we find the one important thing that we forgot the last time we left. We left food in the freezer, and the circuit breaker tripped. There wasn’t anything really important in there, but now it smells really, really bad.
Fortunately, the weather is good and we can open up the boat and air it out. We get most of the odor out by rinsing with bleach water. The bleach water soaks through and ends up in the bilge, where we vacuum it up. We also use baking soda and Non Scents Refrigerator deodorizer.
We stay for a couple of weeks. We visit with some friends, who are not vaccinated, but have been careful. We also do a little work on the boat.
We drive back to Wilmington on April 1.
New York, New York
Greg and Tiffany bring Zoe home on March 31. Arie comes home on April 2. They have purchased a house in Connecticut, but won’t close until May 7. They are in a one bedroom apartment in New York City. We decide to take the RV up there so we can see them. We make reservations at Liberty Harbor RV park for five nights starting April 16. We also make reservations at the KOA near Adam and Katie, so we can stop and visit on our way back.
We get the RV ready. We get the oil changed and the propane tank filled. We start the refrigerator and freezer and pack up our stuff.
We are ready to leave the next day, when we hear from Erika. She says that Johnny’s preschool teacher was exposed to Covid and that Johnny has to quarantine. We are vaccinated, but we are concerned about holding premature babies that soon. We change the Liberty Harbor reservation until after Maryland.
On April 20 we drive the RV from Ernul to the KOA in Doswell, VA. We leave the next morning and get to the KOA near Katie and Adams around noon. Perfect timing for meeting Jameson after preschool.
We have a good time visiting. Ava is on spring break and we go to the aquarium one day and walk around Washington, DC another day.
On Saturday, April 24 we drive the RV, with car in tow, to Jersey City, NJ. It is quite stressful. The streets are crowded with traffic, but it’s even worse with the makeshift outdoor dining areas on both sides of the street.
Arie, Zoe, Grandma and Grandpa
We get to the RV park around noon and it’s pretty vacant. There are only about three other RVs there. The last time we were here was July 2017, and it was packed. At that time we did not tow a car, but that was fine, because we used public transportation.
We don’t want to use the subway this time because of Covid. We drive our car into Manhattan, where they live. It is $16 toll through the Lincoln or Holland tunnels. On the weekend we find parking on the street. Fortunately our Honda CRV just barely fits in the spaces we find. On the weekdays there is no free parking to be found. We pay $23 to park for ten hours, or less.
Driving in NYC is pretty stressful at first. But by the fifth day we know our way around pretty well.
We spend most of our time holding and feeding babies.
Adjusting to Pandemic
Everyone has had to make adjustments for Covid-19. Our anxiety decreased as the pandemic went on and more information was known about the virus.
Grocery Shopping
Many grocery stores were already set up to provide delivery and curbside pickup before the pandemic started. We never used these services because we prefer to pick out our own stuff. When the pandemic started we were terrified of going into a store so we started taking advantage of these things.
At first, in Marathon, we ordered our groceries online from Publix, and had them delivered to the marina. We would wipe down tables in the common area with sanitizing wipes. Take everything out of the bags, wipe them down and put them in our own bags.
In Ernul, we were 13 miles from the closest grocery store. Even farther from one with online ordering. We were too far for delivery, so we ordered our groceries online and picked them up curbside. Our choices were Harris Teeter and Walmart. We chose Harris Teeter the first time.
At first, Harris Teeter’s online system had a lot of problems.
With the increased demand in online orders, time slots could be several days later. This means the apps should be flexible—let you, add delete and make changes to your order. The Harris Teeter app did not allow for that at first.
Most of the time the stores don’t have everything on your list. The Harris Teeter app did not allow for substitutions. Sometimes the shopper would call you to ask about substitutions, but other times they would just leave things out.
Our next online order was from Walmart. It’s no surprise that Walmart is better equipped to do online shopping. We didn’t have to wait as long for our time-slot, and we were able to make changes until the morning of the time slot. They notify you through the app if they are out of an item and have to substitute it.
Walmart sends an email and text message when the order is ready. You respond through the app and tell them you are leaving. The app uses the GPS on your phone to notify them where you are and estimate an ETA.
In Florida, we even bought our liquor online and had it delivered. North Carolina law does not allow for that, so we had to go inside the store.
Eventually, we became comfortable shopping in the stores again and gave up on online ordering.
Shortages
Like most people, we experienced shortages. We don’t watch the news, so it came as a surprise to us. We first noticed it when we looked for sanitizing wipes. The shelves were empty, but we found a package hidden in another part of the store.
We use special quick dissolve toilet paper on the boat and RV. We had already ordered some in bulk, so we were okay. We had paper towels stored on the boat from our Bahama trip, so we were okay there too.
We had a small supply of hand sanitizer, rubber gloves and sanitizing wipes on the RV. We were careful not to waste them. We even had some N95 masks that we had purchased for sanding and painting.
Ordering Take Out Food
At first, many restaurants shut down completely. Some of them opened up with some kind of take-out service. Some allowed for ordering online, others required you to order by phone. Some, but not all, provided curbside pick-up options. At first, we were very nervous about going inside to pick up our food. We eventually adjusted.
Getting a Haircut
I generally wait too long between haircuts. I was thinking it was about time to get a haircut in March, when they asked everyone to stay home to flatten the curve. By August, my hair was really long and I was ready to cut it all off. But instead, I ordered a hair cutting kit on Amazon, and had Fran cut it. She did it once more, then hair cutting places started opening again.
Covid-19 haircut
Now, I don’t have a good excuse to let my hair grow too long.
Getting Back to Normal
The other day the president and most governors lifted face mask requirements for fully vaccinated people. We have been fully vaccinated since mid-February, and most adults we know are now fully vaccinated.
I feel odd walking into a crowded store without a face mask—just the opposite of how I felt a year and a half ago.
The pandemic has been stressful for everyone, and I’m glad we are starting to get back to normal. We feel like we missed a year out of our grandchildren’s lives. We missed holidays and birthdays and even the ones we didn’t miss, were not a hundred percent of what they would been.
It has not all been bad. We have three new grandchildren and almost all of our friends and family have survived, and are healthy.
I started writing this posta while ago, but I was waiting to publish it until I took some pictures.Well, that didn’t happen. I’ll explain why later.
Our Mack Pack sail cover got messed up in Hurricane Irma. It was in bad shape before, but Irma left it unrepairable. We got a new sail cover in 2006, but then we saw the advantages of the Mack Pack and lazy jack system, and purchased one in 2009. We had a lot things to fix after Irma, so we used our previous sail cover.
Two years later, and we are ready to get another Mack Pack sail cover. We see that Sailrite sells a Sail Pack kit and decide we can make one ourselves. After we purchase the kit, we look at the instructions and instructional video, and discover that we have to modify our lazy jacks. They instruct us to cut them shorter, remove them from the boom and attach them to PVC pipes in the sail pack—we don’t want to modify our lazy jacks.
We call Mack Sails and get a price for a new Mack Pack. It’s a little more than what we spent for the kit, so we decide we can copy the old Mack Pack and make our own with what we have Sailrite. We’ll have leftover material that we can use for other things.
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One difference between the Sailrite design and the Mack Pack is that the Mack Pack uses grommets. We have a Pres-N-Snap grommet tool, but on closer inspection we discover that we need bigger grommets. We buy stainless steel grommets, a grommet die and a hole cutter. We have, or reuse other needed hardware.
The finished Mack Pack turns out great. It’s not perfect, but except for us, nobody will notice. Even though our original Mack Pack was custom made for us, we made some adjustments, and the new one fits even better.
There are no pictures yet because of Covid-19.Maybe not directly, but Covid-19 was a factor. I was also to blame, because I thought I had more time to take pictures of the sail cover. We started this project before Covid-19. We were staying on Questeria when it started and they asked everyone to stay home to flatten the curve. We thought it was too crowded in the marina to practice social distancing, so we decided to take off in our RV. Before we left, we tied up the sail cover in case of a hurricane. We have been back a couple of times, but we haven’t untied our sail cover yet. I didn’t want to take pictures with the sail cover tied up.
I started this website in 2005. I did it for two reasons. One reason was to share our experiences as new boaters and cruisers. The other was that I wanted to build a website from scratch. This website has come a long way since I started hosting it on an old PC in a spare bedroom. I’ve written everything myself, except for the WordPress code that I use for this Blog.
I’m happy to keep it up and share with my fellow boaters, cruisers, website developers, and even RVers, but it costs me about $126 a year for domain and hosting expenses. I tried advertising on the website to recoup some of that. The ads were provided by Google AdSense, and are supposed to be relevant to the content of the site. But they take up space and bandwidth and use additional data. Also, we have made less than $30 over the lifetime of the website—we decided to try something different.
I removed the ads and made a link for donations. If we get more than we need, we will donate the excess to a good boating cause. If you find this website useful, please consider a small donation—anything will be greatly appreciated.
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P.S. I know I haven’t posted anything for a while. We have been busy with things other than boating and RVing. I’m working on a few things that I’ll post when they’re ready.
Anyone who reads these blogs has probably read about us fixing deck leaks. For example After Irma and First Post of 2017. We fix them and they come back—it’s an ongoing process. In this post I talk about fixing leaks after coming back from our holiday RV trip.
We removed a lot of our interior before taking Questeria to the boatyard in October. For example, we took all the cushion covers to the laundromat and threw away the foam—anything that could hold odors. (See Cushions and V-Berth Mattress.) We also removed walls and threw away insulation. We used puppy pads to soak up rainwater. Then we put her back in the water and left until February. When we got back, we prioritized our To Do list—the item: Fixing deck leaks made the number one spot.
We have been doing this for a while, and have learned some techniques that work. We use butyl tape to bed hardware, use G/flex to seal cracks and we started using the balsa dowel method to fix leaking stanchions. (See After Irma, Water Damage and Mold.) But, there are some things that we haven’t addressed for a while, like rebedding the chainplates and recaulking the toe rail. We also had a piece of toe rail that was broken.
Broken Toe Rail
In 2008 we replaced part of the toe rail on the starboard side. (See Journal 3, Projects.) There was a broken piece on the port side that we put on the “round tuit” list. There are two chain plates coming out of the broken piece, so we decide it is time to replace it.
Fixed and Broken Toe Rail
I decide to only replace a small part of the toe rail. I cut the toe rail with a circular saw along the edge of a stanchion, so the seam will be less obvious. I have to remove one of the side stays to remove the old piece. I have a piece of 1″ teak board that I ordered in 2008. I resaw it to a smaller thickness using a band saw. Then, I trace the old toe rail and cut the new piece with the band saw. Next, I cut the holes for the chain plates and drill holes for the screws. Then, I fit and shape it with a rasp and sander. I caulk it, screw it down and cover the screws with teak plugs.
It takes a lot of time and labor, but I am happy with the way it turns out.
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Rebedding Chainplates
I haven’t addressed the chainplates since we were in the boat yard in 2006. A couple of them have started to leak. Last time I filled holes with thickened epoxy and rebedded the covers with polysulfide caulk. This time I use G/flex and butyl tape. Most of them looked pretty good after that much time, but I rebedded them all anyway.
Recaulking Toe Rail
Questeria‘s toe rail is a series of teak boards running along the gunwales of the boat. There are gaps under the toe rail at various places on the inside and outside. There is a teak strip under the toe rail on the outside. Water runs under the toe rail on both sides and comes into the boat through the many screw holes.
Before we caulk, we have to remove as much of the old caulk as we can. We also want to remove any remaining Cetol® while we are at it. The challenging thing about this is that we have to hang upside down over the gunwales to do this. There are also stainless steel strips attached to the outside edge of the toe rail. We put these there because there are no other rub-rails. We remove a section, as we work on it.
We finally get all the old caulk and Cetol® removed. We can get to some of the starboard side from the finger pier, and we get to some of the port side with the dinghy—we do the rest hanging upside down, using a mirror. Next, we put masking tape around the gap. We use a mirror to help see what we are doing.
We use white caulk on the inside, and brown caulk on the outside. We find out that the easiest way to get the caulk in the gap, is to use a syringe. Except on the outside of the port side, where I sit in the dinghy and use a caulk gun. After that, we push it in with a finger and refill any gaps. We use a mirror to check our work. One thing we learned is that we must remove the masking tape before the caulk dries.
It was a lot of work, but it looks good when we’re done. When the caulk has cured, we thoroughly wash and rinse the boat and check for leaks inside. All is good! For now, anyway.
