Just bought a new used OB for our 14' McKee Craft and went back online to check outboards again and this 2018 2.5 Mercury showed up asking only $300.00?? It's spiting out gas because the carburetor is dirty. Will clean carb and add a inline fuel filter which there is none on these motors? I knew this because my father-in-law has one and his carb keeps getting dirty and sticking.

Going over my planned boat upgrade projects for this coming 2021 sailing season. New Port - O - Potti, Refrigeration?, New Lazerette Shelves, Mainsail Slides/Glides and clips... and who knows what else!

This video takes us from our overnight anchorage off Tavernier Creek east to the Baker Cut off Key Largo on the Florida Bay side. We got a late start but enjoyed the great morning and did some swimming. We did motor over to the Toilet Seat Cut before continuing our sail east on the inside passage.

Florida Keys trip May 2019 product reviews of our solar light and M-16 inflatable belt type PFD's also a short tutorial on how we now pick up a mooring ball line and get tied off to it.

Here we are sailing after just passing under the opened Snake Creek Bridge back out to Florida Bay. We sunset sail east for about a hour and a half to our night anchorage after passing through the Cowpens Cut. We anchored up southeast of the north Tavernier Creek entrance markers in about 7'-0" of water. Where are the seagulls in the Florida Keys? Thanks for watching! Fair winds and Seas! John

Here is our sail from Matacumbe Bight (Florida Bay Side) to Alligator Reef Light via Hawk Channel. We finally get to sail with some Dolphins!!!

Our third installment of our sail of the Florida Keys in May of 2019. This one takes us from Windley Key west to Matecumbe Bight off Lower Matemcumbe Key

Here is the second installment of our Florida Keys Sailing trip from May 2019. We start back at the Hen and Chickens Reef and then sail through the Snake Creek Bascule Bridge. Then we head out into Florida Bay to find a night anchorage location north of Windley Key in a cove like area. Do some fishing, watch the sunset and make our first dinner onboard.

Here is finally the first installment of our 5 Day sailing trip my son Nathan and I took to the Florida Keys in May of 2019. We started in Key Largo's Pennekamp State Park and sailed west to the Channel 5 bridge and then back east. Some of the trip is out in Hawk Channel and some in Florida Bay. We stopped at two reefs off shore and then finally I got to sail with dolphins... what a thrill! Thanks for watching and coming along with me during my different boat projects and sailing experiences! Fair Winds and Seas! John

I go over our Skipper 20's trailer. Note: The top of the bottom horizontal supports drop 4-1/2" at the center of the rollers from the top of the trailers main frame. Rollers about 1-1/2" above the frame where installed. Hope this helps... Fair Winds and Seas! John More notes: I forgot the trailer is 22'-0" from rear frame to center of the ball hitch mount and is 176" from the rear frame to the center line of the front upper roller where the bow rests.

Showing how far I've gotten on the new cockpit drains, thru-hulls and hose relocation project

I'm in the process of relocating my cockpit drains from the bottom of the cockpit to the rear wall so I can mount the thru-hulls for these drains above the waterline at the stern.

Skipper 20 S/V Panache sailing the Upper Keys May 2019

So far nice motor sail east to alligator reef... hope it stays this way!

Reviewing all the work being done to prep the boat and trailer for the trip from New Jersey to the Florida Keys Key Largo - Vaca Key area) for a 6 day sailing adventure on our boat. (The longest I have ever lived on our boat.... we're about to see if it's "BIG" enough?!) ;-) One thing I do know... it's a lot easier to drive the boat to Florida then sail it there, + for the trailer sailor!

The finished the homemade fiberglass Yeti cooler / Ice box and the some final construction video. The cooler works well and I'm pleased how it turned out! Thanks for watching! Fair Winds and Seas! John Now if I could just get Isotherm to donate to me one of their Compact VE150 Refrigeration Systems, I would be glad to share the install and how it works on my small Sail boat... Mini-cruiser! ;-)

On one of our summer family day sails out on Barnegat Bay we found a waterskiing flag which we recovered. Since I had made a towing handle that summer which was on board and we had brought one of the boys foam surf boards I figured lets give it a try. We were on our way home on a late Sunday afternoon with the bay mostly to ourselves so we had plenty of room. We were motorsailing with both sails up... worked a lot better than I expected, if I had my large board it would have been better yet! We also had a great day of swimming, kayaking, fishing and eating too! Video ends with some video of the kids jumping off the bow while sailing... I final did it too in 2017?! I have gained trust in the rest of the families ability to sail, which means pick me up if I'm too slow getting back to the stern boarding ladder ;-) Thanks for watching! Fair Winds and Seas! John

This a video is of the new homemade Yeti type cooler / icebox I'm making for my sailboat. It's formed out of rigid foam, 2 3/8" thick and sealed/covered by West Systems Epoxy on the interior and exterior. Cooler Icebox has just over 1.5 c.f. of storage space. This is the third time uploading this video?! There was a background sound issue at the start I still need to figure out but at least it's gone now. Dang this video editing is fun stuff ;-) I like sailing and building / fabricating stuff a lot more! Thanks for watching! Fair Winds and Seas, John

I go over finding the location and cause of our leak/hole in our boat and how it was repaired with a few other odds and ends included! Thanks for watching.... John

Here is the story of what happened to our Skipper 20 last summer. ie... I almost sank our boat installing a fresh water tank?! It was a very short sailing season to say the least :-( Good news she did get repaired but never was back in the water last summer though. More videos of the repair to follow and new spring upgrades!