One of my all time favorite things to do when I am in Crystal River is swim with the manatees.
These adorable creatures flock to warmer waters when the temperature in the Gulf of Mexico gets below 68°F. Despite the fact they can weigh in at over 1200 pounds, their stomach and intestines make up most of their mass. They actually have very little body fat for their size. Most of the time, they can be observed eating (10% of the body weight a day) or resting on the bottom. While resting, they only surface to breathe once every 15 minutes or so.
The first time I swam with the manatees was on a charter in King’s Bay. Setting out in the early morning hours, we were treated to a lovely sunrise…
Before dipping into the waters, we were given reminders of manatee etiquette. No chasing, no feeding, you may only touch a manatee if it comes close to you and then, only with one hand. As we floated, it didn’t take long for a juvenile manatee to come investigate…
I was amazed at it’s curiosity. It circled us and nudged in closer…
I happily watched as it fed on the grasses…
Before swimming off into the darkness. Back on the boat, we were treated to a glimpse of the mother and calf…
The next time I swam with them was in Three Sisters Springs. They didn’t seem quite as curious here and spent nearly all the time resting on the bottom…
Manatees have no natural enemies, except man. Every year, hundreds of manatees are injured or killed when their slow moving paths cross boats. You can see the propeller scars on this manatee…
While the manatees here weren’t as curious, some of the fish were…
Now, I’ve swam with them, kayaked with them and watched them from above. I never get tired of happy manatee faces!
HMMH!
Have you every swam with the manatees? What is the most unique creature you have encountered while swimming?
Waldo is over 20 years old and although he is in pretty good condition, but his interior age was really starting to show. One of our goals last year was to make enough money between trees and fireworks to do some remodeling. So it was time to update things a bit.
Out with the old…
Out thread bare sleeper sofaOld blue carpet, more stained than blue!
While I’ve done lots of construction projects, laying carpet is something I’ve always avoided. Removing the old carpet was pretty straight forward. I just sliced an area big enough to get my hand into and started ripping it out. It was actually quite satisfying. First the slide…
Then, the main living space…
The biggest challenge was getting the carpet out from under the slide. There is a 4″ x 13′ steel plate on the leading edge of the slide plywood, once Steve removed it, we could get to the steel plates the slide rollers roll on. By loosening the screws, we were able to remove the rest of the carpet…
I had read lots of articles on replacing flooring in an RV and nearly all of them had one thing in common, be prepared to remove 1000’s of staples. I’m pretty sure the installers get paid by the staple. In a sticks and brick, carpet is held down by tack strips. Not so in an RV, it is stapled along every edge.
In almost every remodel, there is an “Oh crap” moment. Before we removed the old carpet, we had no idea of the water damage on the drivers side…
Ugh!! I was worried we were getting in over our heads. Once OSB gets wet (and stays wet) it begins to deteriorate…
We cut out all of the waterlogged OSB …
We replaced it with marine grade plywood. While we were down to bare plywood, it seemed like a good time to do a thorough cleaning of the walls, woodwork and ceiling. That was when I decided our old, non-working kitchen fan should be taken out. We found a replacement on Amazon…
Then it was time to lay the carpet padding…
So far so good. Now to the part I knew nothing about! Carpet stretching. I’ve seen lots of carpet installed by worker crawling around on their knees, using a knee kick stretcher and while that works great when you are using a tack strip, not so much when you are stapling. The local Taylor Rental had a power stretcher (which I completely forgot to take pictures of) and it was just the tool for the job. I was shocked how much “stretch” there is in carpet! And the word “power” in the name power stretcher is a bit misleading, it doesn’t plug in or use any kind of electricity. Power comes from the mechanical advantage it uses. Once we started actually laying the carpet, it went fairly quick. Luckily, my dad’s neighbor had a crown stapler we could borrow. Stretch, staple, repeat. The biggest challenges were where the carpet meets the kitchen tile…
Where the carpet goes around the pedals and steering column…
And where is meets the stairs…
With the main carpet done, we started on the slide. My biggest concern was what to do with the raw edge. The place we bought the carpet did not offer binding, then I read about Instabind…
Nearly every review I read, suggested running an iron over the adhesive to improve the hold…
Once the binding is in place, you use a hot glue gun to prevent any fraying…
The finished job looks like this…
Then it was time to go shopping!! We wanted a loveseat recliner. I had a very strict set of criteria. It had to be cloth, wall hugging, non-electric, have a center console, be less than 80″ long and the back had to be removable. After visiting every furniture store in the area, we ended up traveling to Ocala, where we went to another dozen stores before finding one we liked. What sucked was, it had to be ordered. Fortunately, we had some finishing touched to do while we waited for it. Like find a desk for Steve…
This area has dozens of thrift stores and we found this desk at one of them. For only $45!!!! What a deal!!! It’s a little darker than I would have liked, but hey, the price was right! Our loveseat ended up coming in a week early and we drove to Lakeland to pick it up (because I refused to pay a $70 delivery fee). We manhandled it through the drivers door and got it set up…
Wow, what a difference.
Originally, our plan was just the carpet in the main part of Waldo, but, on a whim, I went back to the carpet store to see how much it would be for a piece to do the bedroom. We had enough padding left over, so it would only be the price of the carpet. They had just enough left on the roll to do the bedroom and sold it to us as a remnant. $100 cash and carry – done deal!
There are corner tables next to the bed and I decided to modify them. They were total wastes of space because the inside was hollow, but closed off by paneling. I cut the front paneling and added a shelf…
Voila – more storage!
So, now Waldo is completely done and we love it.
Have you ever remodeled your house? What was your biggest challenge?
The Wandering RVer 