Working on the boat

It has been two weeks since we moved onto the boat. We have not left the dock yet for multiple reasons; A) There are some repairs we would like to do before we start sailing, and B) our insurance will not cover us because we do not know how to sail. Technicalities I say! Actually, we need to have 40 hours of sailing experience (with a certified Captain) before the insurance covers us to sail alone. We have all winter to resolve all of the above so we will be starting our real sailing adventures around May of next year.

In the meantime, days are not being wasted. There is a long list of things on the boat to fix or upgrade. Some were as minor as adding rubber boots to the battery terminals or adding some LED lighting to dark spots inside. Jobs are being done as best I can (yes, Kerri does some fixing too) and fixing things on an old boat is just my kind of work; very analog. And wouldn’t you know it, these things are designed from the get-go so everything is accessible for easy repairs. Of course, when I say “accessible” I do not mean it is easily accessible, but anyone determined enough will eventually be able to contort themselves into a compartment in such a way to be able to reach that hidden screw.

One repair we were able to get accomplished by a pro was to replace the old and rusted bob-stay rigging. It was explained to us as the one part of the rigging that takes the most stress, so it was an urgent fix. The gentleman we called upon to fix this for us turned out to be the very same guy that replaced the mast and all the rest of the stainless steel rigging on our boat just a few years back. This was news to us – real good news – as we had no idea that such vital, and extremely expensive, parts were so recently replaced. As you can see, Moose kept a watchful eye on his work.

The weather has turned on us however. It is extremely cold each night, and more than half of all the days have been wet. This prompted us to try the diesel heater one afternoon, after a through cleaning. It worked well up until I messed with the flue and caused the heater to burst into thick black smoke which quickly filled the boat. The problem with these heaters is there is no “full stop off”. One simply has to turn the knob to off and then wait for the fuel to burn itself out. It was a lot of smoke. Sorry, no pictures we were in full panic, but Kerri did get the following picture of me fixing (I hope) one of our deck leaks that originated from under a dorade box (silver snorkel looking thing on a wooden box… basically just an air hole). The rain is coming tomorrow so my work will be tested immediately.

Other than the working, Kerri has been on a shopping frenzy. Our broker, who’s office is here at the marina, didn’t know what he was getting into when we told us to just have our packages shipped to his office. The Amazon boxes of all sizes came in a steady flow for over a week. And then there was a full day shopping at the local department stores for even more gear. I don’t know how many pillows are needed on one boat, but she is definitely going to test just how many will fit. We have so many pillows, but the boat is starting to look and feel like our very own home.