Glades Boat Yard

It took some gentle persuasion
to get this guy off the road
so I could pass.

Glades Boat Storage Yard is an interesting place.  It's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere with a couple mile drive off the highway down a very bumpy dirt road. It is basically a field on the edge of the Okeechobee river, with hundreds of boats parked in rows on stands -- many of which look like they've been there for an, um, extended period of time.  Surrounding the boat yard are pastures with cattle and horses grazing so while you're working on your boat you're serenated by the sounds of moos and neighs.  It's a pretty "rustic" place with a few shower stalls and flush toilets but with water that smells strongly of sulphur.  You'd never fill your boat with the water from Glades.  But it's cheap and convenient and one of the most protected places from hurricanes in the State of Florida.  Amazingly, there are some people who have lived at Glades for years, working on old boats up on stands in the dusty work yard.  We prefer to limit our time in the work yard and get launched as soon as possible.

It is not at all unusual
to have cows saunter
through the boat yard.
Watch you step!

Gran Vida. Only accessible by ladder

So, we got right to work.  First job was a thorough enough cleaning to make the boat semi-liveable.  Living on a boat on the hard is a little like camping.  The boat is up on stands, necessitating a ladder to get up and down.  We were plugged in, so we had basic electricity, but with the water not being potable everything for cooking or drinking had to be carted in.  It's dusty, dirty, often noisy and occasionally we get the company of a run away cow wandering through the yard or a paddy left to watch out for when walking at night.

New anchor pulpit

Oooo I see a reflection

The list of projects:  Jeff finished and installed a bee-utiful new anchor pulpit, and worked on getting the bow thruster repaired.  I worked on patching and waterproofing the canvas, cleaning out dirty old cupboards and tool lockers that hadn't fared well in the hurricane, and a whole lot of "go-ferring" for Jeff.  We took turns buffing and waxing the hull and while we did get a lot of work done, we also made a conscious effort to relax a bit, socialize and keep things low stress and fun.


All in all, we spent ten days at Glades.  By then we had had it up to the wazoo with dust and tracking dirt into the boat.  We launched, turned the key and the boat fired right up.  Atta girl.  With friends waving us off we went down the river but were dismayed when the newly repaired bow thruster quit again.  Harumph.  

Friends waving us off

We spent a couple of days at dock at Franklin Lock to fill our water tanks with clean, fresh water and give the boat and dinghy a good scrub.  Once presentable, we putt-putted on down the river to Fort Myers Yacht Basin.


There, we were determined to get that bow thruster going.  For those readers who don't know, a bow thruster is a little propeller in the bow of the boat.  You can use it to push the bow from one side to the other which makes docking MUCH easier.  A mechanic came on board and finally, between Jeff and the mechanic, they figured out and repaired the minor electrical glitch.  Awesome.  I love that thruster!


 We enjoyed visits with friends and after a couple of days pushed off to Cape Coral.  Our home dock for the next six weeks or so.