sv Bella Rose

First Draft Version – Completed 3-19-07

 

Our Unexpected Adventure

 

We had our adventure well thought out. Oh yes, we had a plan. Months of research, reading books, chatting on several internet sites, developing our plan to become fulltime liveaboards. In a nutshell; sell, give away, or throw out our material possessions, buy the boat, stop working, move aboard, spend a year or so upgrading and outfitting the boat for cruising, and then…. leave for shores unknown.

 

It is important to make plans. Only a fool travels from point A to point B without first plotting a course, however, only a bigger fool expects a trip to go as planned. The best made plans need to be adjusted during the trip. As we discovered, make your plans in pencil.

 

We purchased our boat in St Petersburg, FL. After a couple of months, because of marina costs, the threat of hurricanes, and a few other issues we decided to move her. We chose Oak Harbor Marina, Slidell, LA. Bella Rose arrived at Oak Harbor and we moved aboard (fulltime) Monday August 15^th. Two weeks to the day before hurricane Katrina made landfall. One of the main reasons we purchased our boat, a 1981 S2 11.0C was because of her structural integrity (and she had a bathtub). The hull, deck, rigging, sails, the basic “boat” was solid and in good shape. The systems; water, electrical, head, refrigeration, stove, and equipment were either in-op or in dire need of repair.

 

The first week living aboard was hectic. After all, we moved from our land home in New England, to our boat home in Slidell, LA. Everything we owned was in a trailer we towed to Slidell. Moving belongings onto the boat, renting a storage unit for our trailer and worldly positions, we were busy. We started working on our new home and settling into boat life as any new liveaboard would do.

 

Towards the end of the second week it became apparent we were in for a big storm. There was lots of activity in the marina as people talked about and began preparing for the possibility of the developing hurricane, Katrina, coming our way. Looking back, the overall atmosphere was surreal. Full of energy we began preparing too. We began by removing the head sail, the bimini and dodger, and all the loose things on the boat. Naively, at this moment in time we were planning to stay on the boat. After all, this was our home now and storms would be a fact of boat life.

 

Realizing this storm was growing larger by the hour and now with the high probability of a direct hit we reluctantly left our boat on Saturday, 2 days before Katrina made landfall. Foolishly, we thought we would spend a couple of nights in a hotel well inland and then return to our boat to continue on our planned path. Wrong. Watching the TV news from our hotel room in Little Rock, AR and seeing that impressive satellite picture of Katrina completely filling the Gulf of Mexico we knew this was going to be a truly devastating storm. We tried to act like we were on vacation, seeing the local sites, but all we did was worry. In the hotel, in restaurants, everywhere we went, all people talked about was hurricane Katrina. We could not escape the storm no matter how hard we tried.

 

Tuesday morning, the day after the storm, after conversing with friends over the phone and through emails, and watching the news, we came to the obvious conclusion we would not be returning to live at Oak Harbor Marina any time soon. Realizing the seriousness of the situation we decided I would drive Cheri and Jonathan to my mother’s home in Illinois. They would stay there until it would be safe for them to return to the marina. At this moment in time we were unsure if our boat was sunk or not. We phoned our insurance carrier from the hotel room, they told us they were not accepting any Katrina claims for two weeks (this seemed odd, little did we know).

 

We knew if there was any chance of saving our boat I needed to get back to the marina right away. Friday, I left Illinois and headed back to the marina unsure what I would find. I stopped for gas outside of Memphis, TN little did I know this would be my last stop for gas. Nothing was open the rest of the trip. It was very odd driving south on Interstate 55 with little southbound traffic and significant northbound traffic. I remember seeing vehicles stranded on the northbound side of the road, I assume they ran out of gas. The further south I drove the worse the conditions became. Afraid I would come upon a road block I decided to get off Interstate 55 south of Jackson, MS and drive the back roads the rest of the way.

 

I arrived back in Slidell around 5:00pm on Saturday. I ran out of gas about 5 miles from the marina, showing 410 miles on the trip odometer (20 mpg and 20 gallons). I was carrying two five gallon containers of gasoline for my generator, so I poured a little into the gas tank. Officials were just starting to set up check points. Luckily, I made it back to the marina without being stopped. I think I might have had a difficult time convincing the check point guards I belonged there, given I had an out of state drivers license and was driving a vehicle from a far away New England state.

 

Oak Harbor marina was destroyed by the hurricane. According to the National Weather Service the western eye wall passed over Slidell. The wind and rain were significant but the storm surge did the most damage. Official reports state the surge in the 15 foot range. Personally, I think it was greater than that amount, and then add 6 foot waves.  I made my way to our boat. It was no easy task. The debris was several feet deep, trees, lumber, rooftops, you name it. Boats were scattered around everywhere. I made my way over a tangled maze of floating docks and boats. Amazingly our boat was still tied in her slip. Only one dock line had chafed. There was no water inside. I hunkered down for a well needed nights sleep. A big day lay ahead of me.

 

The next day I assessed the damage. We were lucky our boat was still floating. Most of the boats around us were sunk or a total loss. Oak Harbor had 3 fixed docks and 5 floating docks. We were located on the middle floating dock. Most of the floating docks came off of their pilings during the surge. The two floating docks south to ours collapsed over into our dock. Where there should have been a 40 foot freeway there was none. You could step from 5 dock to 6 dock. Unfortunately, the boat on 6 dock (still in her slip) was pushed under our bow. Her port rail had dug into our bow. The winch punched big holes into our anchor locker. Luckily we were stern into our slip. The rudder was not damaged. There was a little fiberglass damage on the edge of the transom where it pounded against the dock. I am certain our boat would have sunk if we were bow into the slip. There was damage below the water line, mostly on the starboard side where the hull-deck joint of the Hunter next to us rubbed up and down and removed a significant amount of the gel coat. Several stanchions were bent and lifelines broken. According to the “experts” I later found out our damage was only cosmetic. Cosmetic damage I could stick my arm into.

 

Looking for a silver lining, our boat was still floating and it appeared we had no urgent problems to resolve. The boat under our bow later sank and the boat next to us was without question a total loss. Our boat was dry inside. I had a full water tank and a full fuel tank (with the correct contents in each one). With plenty of food onboard, I was ready and motivated to deal with the situation.

 

There were just a handful of people at the marina at this point in time. Dock 9, the last dock in the marina was a fixed dock with 50 ft slips. It was in the best shape of all the docks. Interestingly it was the closest to Lake Pontchartrain. The big boats from this dock were piled up against the apartment buildings. Many with broken dock lines or pilings pulled out and still attached. The main dock was intact. Railings, dock boxes, and finger piers where damaged and/or missing. So the plan was to move the boats over to 9 dock. With our dock lines secure I started my engine and crossed my fingers. I put the transmission into gear both forward and reverse. Everything seemed ok as I had no idea what lurked under the surface of the water, or should I say the debris. To say I was concerned would be an understatement. I was making the big assumption we had no catastrophic below the waterline damage. Determining there was no room to maneuver I ran a line from the bow to a finger pier out from ours and back to the boat. With all of the sunken boats, along with parts of houses, cars and who knows what else on the bottom I began to move our boat. As I very slowly motored out of the slip I had to winch the bow of the boat to make a 90 degree turn. I then motored out and away from the docks hoping I wouldn’t run over anything hidden under the water. I safely made it over to 9 dock and secured the boat in a slip. Whew, enough work for one day.

 

The first couple of weeks it was all about surviving. There were only three of us living on our boats at the marina. No birds, no bugs, no noise, no lights, no nothing. At night the three of us would sit on the stern of our boats and have a conversation at normal volume. It’s a vivid memory I don’t think I will ever forget. Looking back, I’m not sure what we were sitting around waiting for. Maybe we were waiting for the day our families would return. As the days passed by, people would come to the marina and look for their boat or look for friends. Other liveaboards returned to their boats. Within two weeks, the middle of September, activity dramatically increased at the marina. Friends would show up on the weekends with food and supplies. Wildlife started returning to the marina. First the ducks, then snakes (lots and lots of them), and then alligators (little ones and big ones). There were a few insurance adjusters starting to show up to evaluate boats. Debris was being removed, boats were being hauled, little by little progress was being made. It appeared the recovery was well underway. If only we knew then how long the rebuilding process would take.

 

I made a trip over to our storage center to see what I could salvage. Even though our storage unit was a good two miles inland we had about 18 inches of water inside. Boxes of book, clothes, and my tools were destroyed. I even lost a humidor full of cigars I had collected over the last six years or so. I was saving these two hundred cigars for a special occasion.  We learned two valuable lessons. One, it might hurt for a while but you can live without “things” you feel you really need. Two, don’t save things for a rainy day because tomorrow may bring more rain than you care to see! Enjoy them today.

 

Cheri and Jonathan were anxious to get back so they booked airfare into Baton Rouge (New Orleans was closed). About this time hurricane Rita started developing. Here we go again. Our boat had several holes in her, she was tied to a weakened dock with loose or missing pilings, and mountains of debris were everywhere. There was no way I was leaving our boat this time around. Concerned about our boat, we asked the insurance company what to do. Finally, the day before Rita hit they gave us permission to do emergency repairs. Thanks, but too late. Conditions had deteriorated to the point it would be dangerous to work on the boat. Thank goodness for duct tape! Rita was a strong, but much smaller storm. She made landfall on September 24 and passed well to our west. We had approximately 30 knot winds (with higher gusts), very little rain, and roughly a 4 foot surge. The finger piers were under water but the main dock was not. Because of Rita, Baton Rouge Airport closed, Cheri and Jonathan were diverted to Mobile, AL. So instead of driving 100 miles west I drove 100 miles east to pick them up. It was a happy reunion. I wasn’t terribly thrilled for them to live in the third world conditions that existed, but I was definitely glad we were back together.

 

Because of the difficult living conditions, all of us at the marina became very close and dependant on each other. Oddly, life was developing into a routine. It’s interesting what living in such hardship will do to people. There was a lot of story telling. There was a bit of alligator watching. Some of the time we would walk around and attempt to find treasures. For example, we located a picnic table for the dock. I found a house plant buried in the debris. It was only a clump of dirt with two small leaves. We still have it on our boat as a reminder (I have repotted it twice). We would anticipate the weekend cookout on the dock. Maybe we would have jambalaya, or spaghetti, or some type of barbeque it didn’t really matter. What mattered was we were all there together. In one moment we would feel the pain of some people’s loss and the next moment we would be laughing and joking with each other.  Amazingly, people were in good spirits. Truthfully I don’t think anyone could bear the harsh reality of how bleak the situation really was. 

 

As the days continued to slip by church volunteer aid centers were being set up around town. Soon other relief groups, private and public, set up distribution centers around the area. Word of mouth was our main means of communication. Someone would return to the marina with information on a good site to pick up much needed ice, or water, or the location of an open gas station. The local grocery store wouldn’t open until December.

 

Now into October, more than a month after Katrina, and realizing it would be a long time before we settled with the insurance company I decided to repair the boat myself. After all, I am a self sufficient independent do it yourself kind of guy. I commandeered a section of floating dock to use as a work platform. The most important priority was to repair the holes in the hull. The first step was to make the big holes bigger. I cut out and removed the damaged, delaminated hull. Next was the messy job of grinding fiberglass, flaring and shaping the holes (making them even bigger holes). With the holes properly prepared they were cleaned and readied for laminating. I used West Systems epoxy because it was readily available and their pump dispensing kit is very easy to use. I took my time and repaired one hole at a time. I repaired the bow holes first then I repaired the transom. With the holes repaired we felt a bit more comfortable (safe). The next project was the large “rub” area on the starboard side. It was above and below the waterline. I secured the main and jib halyards, using additional line, to a tree and winched the boat over until the damaged area was above the waterline. I thoroughly cleaned the hull and sanded the area. It was now late fall and getting cold. The cold temperature made the epoxy take forever to harden. I faired the area and used barrier coat additive on the final coat below the waterline. The hull was now repaired.

 

Repairs were being made at the marina. Around the middle of November, all of the liveaboards were asked to move to the St. Tammany Yacht Club Dock. We were asked to move so the dock could be repaired. There were a total of five boats on “Zero” dock. We moved our picnic table and grills. Still without shore power and now we were without water. We found a working outside faucet on one of the apartment buildings. It took lots of garden hoses but we managed to run water down the dock. Before we knew it the calendar said December. We had no idea how long we would be staying at this dock.

 

Something else I vividly remember during this time was how quickly rumors spread through the marina community and the fear and panic they caused. Because we lacked any modern communications and emotions were always running on high, the slightest comment or event would set people off. Rumors of looting, dead bodies, the marina closing, and all the liveaboards being kicked out are a few examples.

 

During the cold winter months I worked on the boat projects I had originally intended to be working on. I upgraded the batteries and cables, I replaced the entire fresh water system (except the water tank), I relocated the original bilge pump and added a second bilge pump, I installed an inverter, I replaced the Perco battery switch (off, 1, both, 2) with a Blue Sea DC parallel panel, I installed a Xantrex Link 20 battery monitor, a TrueCharge smart charger, new VHF radio and antenna, I replaced the in-op refridgeration with a Norcold unit, I replaced the in-op head with a Jabsco unit, and I probably added or replaced a few other items. It is amazing what one can accomplish with so much time and nothing else to do! Later on, to complete the additions, I added a Garmin GPS and a Raymarine autopilot.

 

When the weather became nicer I got back to working on the exterior of the boat. I finished and painted the transom. We purchased vinyl lettering for the vessel name and hailing port. I straightened the bent stanchions, replaced the lifelines, and added netting. Bella Rose was looking like a sailing vessel again.

 

A big project was the damaged cap and rub rail on the starboard side. I spent a lot of time thinking of how best to repair this damage. Cheri “suggested” I was procrastinating not thinking. Planning takes time, lots and lots of time. I spoke with an expert and did significant research. Removing the entire cap and rub rails on the starboard side, along with the headsail T-track seemed like too big of a project. After all, the damaged area was less than two feet. I elected to only replace the damaged area. I fabricated a piece of oak to replace the damaged rub rail. Using 5200 as a sealer I screwed the oak piece to the hull. Then I fabricated a piece of teak to replace the cap rail and bonded the new teak to the existing teak with epoxy. Then I sanded everything smooth, painted the oak black to match the rub rail and varnished the new teak to match the existing teak. Problem solved and it didn’t cost me a significant amount of money.

 

Around the middle of July, 2006 we moved back over to the repaired and rebuilt 8 Dock (formerly 9 Dock). We now had a slip at a real dock. With water, a security gate, dock box, and electricity. Yippy! After nearly 11 months we finally had electricity. On the surface things seemed to be improving.

 

It’s odd, but I don’t remember much from July through December. This period of time is all just a blur. Now that one of the docks was finished and the marina was officially open, all of us thought the marina would make a speedy return to normal. For those of us living everyday at the marina the progress was disappointingly slow. A bright spot, my two daughters came to visit us for a couple of weeks in August. We spent some time in the French Quarter in New Orleans.

 

Cheri and I realized we were not living life like we wanted. Heck, we weren’t living life at all. We weren’t making decisions, we weren’t having fun, and we weren’t even dreaming anymore. We were idling in neutral, just existing. Upon this realization, I got kind of mad at myself. How could I have let this happen? It was time to move on.

 

On January 13, 2007 (Saturday), a good friend and I moved the boat to Turner Marine on Mobile Bay. Cheri left for Maine (Jonathan was already in Maine) that same morning. We took our time, stopping at night, and arrived around noon on Monday. Two days later the boat was hauled and placed on stands. I sanded the entire hull from the rub rail to the bottom of the keel. My plan was to do the bottom paint first but as luck would have it, the paint had to be ordered and wouldn’t be in for a week or so. I did a few minor repairs below the waterline, replaced an old in-op gate valve and thru-hull, and cleaned the prop. Next I painted the topside of the hull. Originally I was going to leave it all white. With time to pass waiting for the bottom paint I went ahead and painted a boot stripe and cove stripe. I’m glad I did because she looks so much better. On a cold rainy day I changed the packing in the stuffing box. It was all dried up and I needed to tighten the nut every time I ran the engine. Finally, I painted the bottom and installed a couple of zincs. Done! I didn’t think this day would ever get here. On Feb 6, a Tuesday, we dropped Bella Rose back into the water. Cheri and Jonathan returned from Maine on Feb 10 (Saturday). Again, we were back together as it should be.

 

It is now mid-March, nearly 19 months after Katrina, we are in the process of having a new enclosure made. As always, I have a list of minor projects to complete. When will I be done? When will I just sit in the cockpit and have a drink with nothing else to do? To date, we have not received any money from our insurance company. Because of this we have spent a good chunk of our cruising kitty on the repairs. Anyway, as soon as our enclosure is finished we will move on. Why? Isn’t it obvious, because we have a plan!

 

 Rob