Lynne | 
10 29th, 2008| 
So yesterday Brian was able to get the engine started… hooray!! and I drove to Rhode Island to pick up our mainsail… also hooray!! Stopped by for a visit at North Sails with my friend Jay, and got a tour of their loft… extremely cool!
In the interim, Jocelyn Towing (the boat launch company) called us back to say that they could slot us in on Saturday, which is both a bummer - no launch on birthday- and good, since it gives us a little more time to get some more things wrapped up before we’re launched.
Today’s wrap up items were the running of the engine (with cooling in place), the final install of the rudder (kinda need that) some additional battery installs, new blocking system for the roller furler and for the vang… all in all a pretty productive day, despite the frigid temp.
Oh, and if I do say so myself, the new floor looks amazing! Mark did a fantastic job getting it to match up with our existing floor, and three coats of varnish later - more to come in warmer climates - the salon is looking quite lovely again!
Tomorrow… more slowmaker (solar panel arch) and perhaps the wind generator install?
In other news, we’re done the floor prep work and will likely varnish it today (Friday). Brian should be able to finish the battery installation today. We’ve installed new chocks and cleats on the bow yesterday. Our anchoring system should be greatly improved and very easy to use.
We’re not quite ready yet, but beginning to talk about when we’ll launch. We’ll likely take the boat to Salem, MA where we’ll have a dock we can sit on for [up to] a couple weeks as we finalize things and pack up. It looks like our best tide window for launch is between next Wednesday and Sunday.. the earlier the better. Targetting next Wednesday might greatly help us prioritize our remaining tasks :) Wow.
Let’s see, tasks at the top of the list:
- finish electrical - batteries, reinstall alternator, solar, wind
- finish floor painting
- finish rudder and propeller installations - pretty quick we hope
- Engine work - finish fluid change, fuel system + bleeding, electrical wiring to instrument panel
- install boat computer, autopilot
- Pick up/install main sail
- go up the mast??
- cleaning/packing
Installed new flooring on the entire starboard side in the salon and galley. We fastened the strut and have nearly completed that job, also. Brian will probably varnish the floor on Monday.
We installed new teak handrails today, aka “holy shit handles”, and are in process of engine alignment for driveshaft/propellor.
Right now, this site is mainly photos of our boat projects that we’ve been working on this summer. When we begin our trip (in early November), we’ll use this site to blog about our experiences.
We’re hoping to be ready to depart within 2-3 weeks time, but we have a number of not-so-small projects still in progress:
- Interior work: Lynne has been hard at work upgrading the livability of the boat and has done some great improvements. New flooring is going in, and we’re finishing up some cabinetry to improve our options for storage/organization of our stuff.
- Driveshaft/propellor. We think in about 1 day’s time, we’ll finish installation and alignment/tuning of our propulsion system. We’ve replaced many parts.
- Electrical work: Solar panels and wind generator installation is nearly complete. Brian has several days work remaining installing new house battery banks, installing a new alternator, and generally improving the electrical wiring of the boat.
- Freezer: Brian is currently awaiting parts for the icebox. A few days of construction and 1 day of installation, and we’ll have our freezer box complete! Finishing this project will allow us to install our new propane stove and will eventually get us to the point where we can do the final cleaning pass of the interior (notably, this task will remove fiberglass dust, the truly nasty stuff that has infiltrated every nook and cranny of the interior).
- Exterior work: We’re finishing up our anchor improvements. We have a couple pieces of deck hardware left to install, things like cleats/chocks/etc. We have new teak handrails that should go on pretty quickly.
- Miscellaneous: Install boat PC, install new depth sounder + GPS mapping unit, install SSB radio, …
Brian’s last day of work is this Friday, Oct. 17. We hope that progress on these projects will be accelerated over the next couple weeks.
