Another Busy Week on the S/V Iron Jack

This past week Bill and I went on two buying trips... on Friday we drove south to Palm Bay where we bought a nice, little-used, 3.5 horse, Mercury engine for our dinghy. It needs a new carburetor but Bill found one on ebay and it should be arriving early next week. That should save time when I have to go anywhere in the dinghy as my rowing skills are less than stellar!
Saturday we crossed the state where we stopped in Cortez to pick up our new-to-us boom gallows which is going to save Bill from knocking his noggin every time he goes into the cabin or out on deck!
While on Florida's west coast, I looked at a few houses in the Bradenton area. A couple of them looked like good deals but none of them screamed "Buy me, now" at me.
We stopped at the Regatta Point Marina and had lunch with fellow Sailmonster.com members WoBaby (Lisa) and SoNJSailor. Good food with good folk, who could ask for more?
After lunch we headed back east, making a stop at Fred's (Bill's brother) house in Orlando to drop off a few cans of Wolf brand chili... it seems that it isn't available in this part of the country! Since it's Fred's favorite brand, we decided that he was more than welcome to what we had. Stopped in Cocoa for dinner at a Mexican restaurant, it was very good and only slightly different from the Tex-Mex we are used to.
Sunday was a quiet day, Bill spent most of his time on another boat in the marina helping the owner do some engine work. I spent most of my time continuing to cram too much stuff in too little space. We also trial fitted the new boom gallows... with a few minor alterations and a little welding it should do a great job!
Monday, Bill and I pulled a role reversal.... he packed his stuff away in the starboard lockers and drawers while I went out on a buying excursion for provisions, one of which was a TV antenna with amplifier.... Bill went out and attached it to the signal flag halyard, hoping that the height would give us good reception. Turns out that the best place for it was on the deck right by the port hatch... we are now using the steel hull of Iron Jack as a giant antenna... whatever works!
Tuesday my car had to go into the shop where the right front wheel hub and bearings were replaced in record time for a reasonable price... WOW is the car quiet now! After getting back to the boat Bill cut down our new boom gallows to fit and it is sitting in place so that we can be sure it's perfect before we make it permanent.

Today was a BIG DAY for me... I had my first go at tiller steering Iron Jack. Took her down the canal to the Indian River and under the nearby bridge, turned around and came back to the marina entrance where I handed the tiller back to Bill so he could put her back in the slip. I wasn't ready for that experience quite yet... and may not be for some time. My last experience with tiller steering was MANY years ago on a MUCH smaller boat (12' Boston Whaler).