Neil Scheuerlein

1/6/26 Travel from Nashville to San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico Tuesday

This is a very short season. The plan is to get the boat, get it re-rigged, (mast up, sails on etc.) then restocked (food for the three or four weeks that I will be on the boat). Joe & Vanessa Munday will be joining me for the sail south to Puerto Vallarta. Reneé is looking into the possibility of joining us either in Mazatlan or Puerto Vallarta.

I woke up earlier than my alarm 3:45, realizing I was not going back to sleep, I got a shower and then woke Reneé up and finished packing. We stayed at the Drurry hotel, they provide dinner/breakfast and a shuttle ride to the airport. Reneé will drive home later today.

My flight has one relatively short layover in Phoenix. I have about a half hour between landing and boarding so, it will be close. That is okay with me, as I don’t really like sitting around in airports.

The boat has been in the storage yard at Marina San Carlos (marina seca – dry marina) for most of the time since we left it. I had it moved to the working yard a week ago. Some work is being done now. The rigging is all stainless steel and it is being polished, since the mast is down it is easier to have that done. Also the people doing the polishing are the riggers and they will be inspecting it as well to determine any replacement needs. Late in the last season we bumped a rock with the boat, so some touch up work on the keel is being done. Bottom paint will be touched up or redone, a new through hull for the speed probe is in my luggage to be installed before the boat is launched. This is an interesting issue, when we installed the speed probe last year, we put in a new through hull for it. This is a piece of plastic about 3” in diameter that goes through the hull, it is a pipe with a flap inside that the speed probe pushes past when installed and then falls back down. When the probe is removed. This blocks the sea water from coming back into the boat. Well, the flap fell off so it does not block the water. So, instead of getting a cup or two of water in the bilge when we pull the speed probe we get a couple of gallons, this is annoying, but not dangerous. I checked with the company that makes it and asked about just putting a new flap in, and was told I could, but it was significantly easier to just replace the through hull. Oh, and they don’t sell the flap separately. It wasn’t too expensive (about $35, I think). The only time to install this, is while the boat is out of the water. So, now is the time.

I have a Project Manager that I hired for the refit in the yard. He knows the right people to do the work that I need done. This saved a bunch of time when we went into the yard. He cost a bit of money for his time, but so far he has made getting the stuff done a breeze.

Specifically, we had checked with the yard about pulling the mast, they said they could do it, until we were at the yard with the boat and they said, “oops, too tall”. So, we had to hire a mobile crane to come to the boat and pull the mast. He knew who to call and we only had a short delay of maybe a few hours. He knew who to get to make a special part that we needed fabricated. This part was available in the states, for about $800 and would take a week to get it shipped anywhere. Then import duty to get it into Mexico etc. The fabricator he took me to had it done in 2 days, for about half the cost. The biggest advantage with using a project manager is that I don’t have to guess on who to use. Alan Smith lives here, has had a boat for years, is a Boat Surveyor and knows the people who work on boats. I am paying for his experience and knowledge.

Once we get the boat to Puerto Vallarta, we will be in a slip. I will find someone to watch the boat, keep it clean and be ready for hurricane season. Our broker is Bill Bolin, he is in Florida. The reason I picked him is that he was the vice president of Island Packet (the company who built our boat) when our boat was built. He is very active in the Island Packet community, and knowledgeable about our boat.

Regarding Joe and Vanessa Munday, we met them in Santa Rosalia, Baja California Sur (south) during the Covid lockdown in 2020. Santa Rosalia is a small marina with only one dock, and about 20 slips. The rules there said that we could anchor in the harbor for a short stay, make trips to the stores and then leave, or we could get a slip and have to stay until another marina in another harbor said we could come there. We had already had a month or two of anchoring out and seeing no one, or doing anything, so we got a slip. Joe and Vanessa on SV Munday’s off were there as well. In the marina we could hang out at the pool do laundry etc. but we were not supposed to wander around town. We spent about 6 weeks there before finally getting permission to move to Puerto Peñasco and having our boat hauled out.

In 2023, Reneé and I were house/church shopping in Savannah, TN, and living in Fulton Missouri. This meant an 8 hour drive on Friday to Savannah, spend Saturday looking at houses, go to church on Sunday, and then 8 hours on the road back to Fulton. If we attended the same church multiple times, we always chose a different area to sit in, so we would meet different people. We had pretty much chosen our church (Gracepoint) and had been there several times. One particular Sunday we chose a seat in the center towards the back of the church and sat down about 5 minutes before the service began. We started talking to a lady one row up from us and one seat to the right. I described our living on a boat in Mexico and she said, you really need to meet .. then the service started and we could not hear what she said or finish the conversation. After the service, she introduced her brother and she did not give his name, just said he had a boat in Mexico. We started chatting and did not recognize him, nor did he recognize us. We asked his boat name and when he said, “Munday’s off”, Reneé recognized him and exclaimed “JOE!” It is a very small world! We have stayed in touch more now, that we see Pam (the sister) and her husband in church every week.

Joe and Vanessa are selling their boat in San Carlos, and have agreed to help me move our boat to PV. This will be a great help. There are some things I don’t do alone, like swim, sail/boat, hike etc. So, having them go along helps and keeps me from having to get someone else to join me.

I have started a sore throat. Coughing and post nasal drip.

May 17th, 2025 Saturday (Puerto Peñasco to Savannah and the “REAL WORLD”)

Published 05/24/2025
This is the last post that I plan to do for this blog.
The boat is on the hard, in the working yard to finish up some repairs, it should be moved to the storage yard at Marina Seca in San Carlos by late May. (As of May 24 when I am writing this, it has not moved yet, even though we have asked and no work has been done in a day or longer). Our trip home was long.  May 16 Friday Driver from San Carlos to Puerto Peñasco
May 17 Saturday drive from Puerto Peñasco to Lordsburg NM 365 miles
May 18 Sunday Lordsburg NM to Roswell, NM 309 miles
May 19 Monday Roswell, NM to Amarillo, TX 213 miles
May 20 Tuesday Amarillo, TX to Fort Smith, OK, 439 miles
May 21 Wednesday Fort Smith, OK to home 402 miles

When we got to Amarillo, we visited Tracy and Danele from SV Parable who we sailed with in Mexico this season. They have grandkids visiting them (8 year old twins, boy and a girl). I got my beard braided. We had a great time with them and then continued our trip.
We arrived home early afternoon, and did a little unpacking then went to church for an ice cream event and a bible study then home.
As I said this is the last post for this blog, we have had 6 seasons on the boat, starting in 2019 with getting the boat in San Diego and doing our first shake down cruise up to Monterey, and back to San Diego. Then South to Mexico. The first season we went to Puerto Peñasco and left the boat on the hard. This was the first experience we had with leaving the boat without shore power for any length of time, and when we got back the house bank battery was at 3 volts, which meant we had to replace it. This was an expensive proposition and difficult as there were no electrical technicians in the area. I worked with another cruiser and he was able to do the work that was beyond my abilities. We upgraded to LiFePO4 (lithium) batteries and replaced the inverter/charger. When we left Puerto Peñasco, we said we were never going back, as it was dirty and dry and a long trip north/south to get there and leave etc. Of course that is not how things worked out.
In our next season we headed south and eventually wound up spending the Covid season in the Sea of Cortez, it was a very quiet season with very few other sailors. We took an outstanding side trip to Copper Canyon riding the El Cheppe train from Los Mochis this was a week out of our sailing adventure. We spent 6 weeks in Santa Rosalía (our favorite marina in Mexico) and eventually wound up back in Puerto Peñasco.
The next season we headed south and eventually got to Puerto Vallarta and discovered Banderas bay. This was our favorite place to sail and bring visitors. We left our boat here for the hurricane season and got new sails and running rigging (the ropes that go with the sails). We did more upgrades and repairs to the boat.
Somewhere in here, the stock market tanked (2022) and we decided to go back to work for a year to replenish the cruising kitty. So, we had a friend come to the boat and sail with us back to Puerto Peñasco to put it on the hard for the year of 2023. This was a long fast trip with very little sailing (35 minutes, I think). We worked in Missouri and while both of really enjoyed our jobs, and made a difference, we really did not want to work so, back to sailing! During this year, we sold our house in Florida and bought our new house in Savannah, Tennessee.
2024 saw us rigging the boat and sailing south from Puerto Peñasco to Banderas Bay, Puerto Vallarta. We left the boat in Paradise Village in Puerto Vallarta (this was the second or third time we did that) for Hurricane season. Late in the year a decision was made regarding Reneé’s mother Bonnie to have her come and live with us in Tennessee. I want to be very clear, Reneé and I had discussed this possibility many times over the last 10 years (or so), especially when we were sailing. What would we do when the time came for he mom to move in with one of the kids rather than go from assisted living to the next level of care. The answer was always that we would have a house and sell the boat and she would move in with us where ever we were. This meant that 2025 was our last season of sailing.
At the end of 2024 we bought an enclosed cargo trailer, two axle, 7’x16’. We towed it to Puerto Peñasco, we evaluated towing it to Puerto Vallarta but the crime situation in Mexico, made that look like a less than ideal drive. We parked the truck and trailer at the boat yard in Puerto Peñasco, then took a bus to Mexicali and flew to Puerto Vallarta. We got back to the boat in Paradise Village with a plan to sail north to Puerto Peñasco.
We really enjoyed our last trip north sailing as much as we could, hiding out from the high winds and visiting with friends along the way. I had been talking with one guy on an Island Packet 420 for a couple of years on Facebook, but we had never actually met, even though we were both sailing in Mexico. This year we continued to miss each other by a days sail or maybe a couple. We eventually wound up in Santa Rosalía in neighboring slips. Our next passage was to San Carlos and the end of this saga.
We spent a few days at anchor in Lalo cove near San Carlos then a week in the marina at San Carlos getting ready to haul out.  To answer the question of how we wound up in San Carlos this time, consider the following:
– [ ] We had a part that had to be replaced before selling the boat (the mast collar plate at the deck that the mast goes through). This required pulling the mast out of the boat.
– [ ] Boat yards that could do this work and the pros/cons to each one:
– [ ] San Diego – a long bash against the current and winds up the west coast and very expensive
– [ ] Ensenada – almost as expensive as San Diego
– [ ] Cabo San Lucas – expensive and not hurricane safe so while the work could be done we could not leave the boat there for hurricane season
– [ ] La Paz – expensive and not hurricane safe
– [ ] Puerto Escondido – (this is about 1/2 way between La Paz and Santa Rosalía) not hurricane safe, and no reputation for work in the yard
– [ ] Puerto Peñasco – hurricane safe, relatively easy access to parts in the states, NO technical support and not necessarily able to re-tension the standing rigging for the mast (if I was doing the work this would not be an issue)
– [ ] San Carlos – hurricane safe (just out of the hurricane zone as required by the insurance company), good yard, good references and a friend recommended a particular ex-pat local (Allan Smith) that knew how to get things done on boats in San Carlos
– [ ] Mazatlan – not hurricane safe, no reputation that I was aware of for this work
– [ ] San Blas – not hurricane safe and a couple of years back they went bankrupt and left several boats stuck on the hard with no way to get back in the water
– [ ] La Cruz (Puerto Vallarta) – hurricane safe and able to do the work, BUT the guy who would be working on the mast is the same one who we bought our sails from (expected 3-5 months, took about 9 months the delay was mainly him not checking on what the hold up was), and had our life raft repacked (expected 2-3 months, took about 8 or 9 months, delay was again a lack of following up). More expensive than San Carlos.
– [ ] I was told that the part was no longer being made, so that meant that I had to get one made from scratch.
– [ ] Mack Yacht Sails in Florida said that if they had the old one in hand they could make a new one for about $950 in about 2 weeks. So, get the old one off, ship it to them and in two weeks they ship it back. Since the boat is in Mexico that means paying sales tax in the US and duty when it crosses the border into Mexico.
– [ ] The ex-pat in San Carlos said he “knew a guy” in San Carlos that could make it, probably for less.

As I said above we wound up in San Carlos. The first time we saw the value of Allan was the day we hauled out, Carlos Rigging (three guys) showed up as soon as we were on the hard and started working on getting the mast ready to pull. Of course the yard took one look at our mast and said “No we can’t pull that mast, it is too big.” (even though they had said they could). Allan got on the phone and contacted “a guy” who had a mobile crane and he arrived the next day and pulled our mast (this was less money than the yard was going to charge!). The next day we took the old plate to the guy that could make it. This guy has a shop in Guaymas the next city south, about an hour drive. He had a mast from a sailboat that had been bent that he was fixing and a tank that he was welding for someone else. He looked at our old plate (cast aluminum) and asked if we needed it tomorrow. We said no, (it actually took him from Wednesday to Friday to get it done). He made it out of plate aluminum and the price was about $250 USD. Allan charged us $75 an hour for getting the right people at the right time and price. At this point, I believe we are money and time ahead having him as a project manager. One of the other expenses at San Carlos is the cost of having the boat on the hard. If there is work going on then the boat has to be in the working yard at $30/day. If the boat is just being stored the price $250/month (about $8.22/day). Since we had keel work being done (we found a rock this season) we had the keel open and drying out, the plan had been to let it dry for a week or two while other work was being done, we changed that to let it dry out in storage for a couple of months so we stopped the working yard expense on Thursday 5/22. 10 days in the working yard. The mast is down and ready to be moved and the boat is ready to go to the storage yard as well. We have paid our bill at Marina San Carlos (all the slip time, the haul out and the seca (dry) working yard).

Back to Savannah, Tennessee, we are home, and will go get Bonnie (Reneé’s mom, who his 89) in the middle of next month. We are evaluating buying a second house here in Savannah. A very long story that I am not going to write about here. We have also invited my mother to come live with us. She is 92 and living independently in California. We don’t know how much longer she can do that, nor how much longer she could handle the trip from California to Tennessee, nor for that matter how much longer she will live. My grandfather (her dad) made it to 96 and spent his last few years in a rest home in California and was pretty unhappy most of the time that he was there). We expect to be home for the foreseeable future.

In the meantime, we plan to put our boat up for sale in the fall. The plan is for me to get the necessary parts and get them back to San Carlos by October, then when the boat is re-rigged sail it to Puerto Vallarta and put it in a slip and list it for sale. We are hoping the market is better by then. After the boat is sold we will consider our next boat. We still want to do the Great Loop, (Up the east coast from Florida to New York, into the Great Lakes south at Chicago to Paducah up the Ohio river to the Tennessee river then down the Tennessee river to Pickwick lake (about 15 miles from our house) down the Tenn-Tom and Tombigbee waterways to Mobile bay and into the gulf and around Florida to complete the loop). To do that trip will require a very different boat, shallow draft and much shorter mast (meaning not a sailboat). So, the search for that boat is in progress, but no plans to buy until we sell Make Me Laugh Again.

When we start the process of actually looking seriously for that boat and get ready for the loop we will start another blog.
In the meantime, our email addresses are below, feel free to drop us a line to find out what we are up to.
Neil neils1958@gmail.com
Reneé 4scheuer@gmail.com

Some of the sights in Roswell, New Mexico

May 16th, 2025 Friday (San Carlos Marina Seca ‘DRY’ to Puerto Peñasco)

Published 05/24/2025
Up at 5:30, breakfast, bible reading shower and finish packing.
Then out to get in the car. We agreed on a small car for 11,000 pesos. About $550 USD. It’s about 350 miles, we were going to get a one way rental, but not available. At 7:45 our ride was there. Oops! He wants to bring his mom, we have a bunch of stuff, part of why we are not taking the bus. We filled up the trunk, and one side in the back seat. She was in the front seat and we were crammed in to the middle and passenger seat in the back. I said No. We drove past their house and dropped her off. While I didn’t really like doing it, this wasn’t what we agreed on. Our first option had been a small car from the rental agency with a driver for 10,000 pesos. We didn’t think we would fit so, we asked about a larger car, it was 11,000 pesos for a mini van. We would have had to go to Guymas to prepay (by taxi) so we asked this cab driver if he would do it for 11,000 pesos. (1000 pesos is about $50 USD).

May 15th, 2025 Thursday(San Carlos Marina Seca ‘DRY’)

Published 05/24/2025
Up at 6 am, breakfast, bible reading, then off to get stuff done.
We got the price for the plate ($230 USD, Compared to $950 from Mack Yachr Service in Florida).
We are having the rigging inspected, as well as all the hardware. So far, we know that we need a new rubber boot and tape 2 stand off blocks (pulleys on a base that get mounted to the plate). No doubt there will be more.
We have been going back and forth on options regarding selling the boat (either here in San Carlos or Puerto Vallarta), or moving it to Tennessee, to do the great loop, which would require changing the mast. We got an estimate for moving the boat across Mexico of $29,000. So, I estimate moving the boat all the way to Tennessee and changing the mast etc. probably close to $100k. Boats are expensive.
That price sounds high, but we are selling our boat, and won’t come out ahead financially anyway. We are going to have at least Reneé’s mom (possibly my mom as well) living with us for the rest of their lives (her mom Bonita is 89, my mom Gayle is 92). We plan to buy a trawler for the great loop, and upgrade it to our satisfaction which means a bunch of money also.
At the end of the discussion, we agreed to sell it starting here in San Carlos.
I called Island Packet about the mast rubber boot, who referred me to Rig-Rite for mast parts. I had previously gotten the mast model number from Bill Bolin (he was a VP at IPY when our boat was built, and he will be our broker when we sell). So, when I called Rig-Rite they were able to help me find the right place on their website to find the pieces I need (the rubber piece is almost $700!) they also sell the plate we are having made (also about $700, and it’s cast aluminum. I am happy getting this piece made for about $230!).

This piece of plywood and the cinder block are covering the hole that is where the mast came out. Hopefully it will keep the rain out.

This sign was on my way walking back from Marina Seca to the air BnB

Just another sunset, possibly our last picture of one in Mexico…. boo hoo…

May 14th, 2025 Wednesday(San Carlos Marina Seca ‘DRY’)

Published 05/24/2025
Up at 6 am, no not to do anything, just a habit. Breakfast and bible reading, then over to the boat. We spent some time distracted talking to other people. Reneé walked to the boat parts store and bank, I went to the boat.
Reneé came with the fuel additive. They didn’t have enough for our tank, we have 160 gallons of diesel, that takes 5 bottles of additive. About 10:30 Allan was there to take me to see Luis to make the collar plate. I also coordinated with Alejandro to fix our keel after hitting a rock.
A lot of things got taken care of in fairly short order.
We were back in the Air bnb for lunch. Then out for an early dinner with Lanie and KC on SV Hawkwind for beer and dinner we were back by 5:30.