SLOW PROGRESS AND COLD WEATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As promised………………

Here is the update on our progress or lack thereof on the projects on the boat. We are sooooo ready for this to be over! The boat has been in the work yard now since the week of Thanksgiving. Brian came down the week after Thanksgiving to help Jeff with yanking out the old generator and dropping in the new one (figuratively speaking) and the first part of that did get done that week – the old one did come out. But, as with many projects they don’t quite go as you envision – you find other things that need to be done as well. In our case we knew one of our a/c units had quit working and having no generator in front of them made it much easier to do that work. So – the generator replacement was put on hold til the new a/c unit came in and was installed. While waiting on that we decided it was time to move on to other things, like replacing all the thru-hulls, pulling out the opening ports and installing the new beautiful stainless steel ports which you can see in one of the pictures (we’ve gotten three out of fourteen done), stripping exterior teak of which I’m about 1/3 of the way through (I’m waiting for my skin to grow back over the ends of my fingers), finished wiring up all the new batteries and chargers, stripping off the bottom of the boat (which is done and waiting for warmer temperatures so we can barrier coat and paint), and I can’t remember what else. But there are other projects we haven’t even started yet – don’t ask what they are!

New Years weekend brought Brian back to the boat and he and Jeff installed the new generator – it is another beautiful piece of machinery. I’m posting a picture of the two of them putting it in place. This work would have been impossible without Brian’s help. He is so talented. We were so fortunate that he was able to come down again to help out. Jeff really enjoyed having him here to talk technical stuff with. I can listen when Jeff talks to me about that stuff, but have no idea what he’s talking about – he might as well talk to the dogs about it – they understand as much as I do about batteries, engines, etc.


The thru-hull replacements are almost completed, as we opted for having the yard remove the old ones and put the new ones back in – we just have to connect everything back up.

We are making progress – ever so slowly, although it doesn’t feel like that since there is still so much to do. It is like having an old house – you start a project and when you get into it you find other things that need to be done that you didn’t anticipate and before you know it you have everything apart! We are starting the re-assembly process now. What is slowing us down right now is the cold weather – it’s been in the 20’s in the mornings for over a week now and only warms up to the 40’s and the wind is blowing on top of that! I’m not working outside in that on scaffolding in the shade!!! I need some cheese to go with my whine! The temperatures should be going up by the middle of next week – at least for a few hours a day and hopefully we can move forward with the outside projects.

I think that about brings you up to date. I know this is boring stuff to a lot of you and believe me it's not exciting to write about either, but, that is what we are doing here.

Later alligator!