Hi everyone -
Our original plan was to complete all of the boat repairs and upgrades by April 9th and be on our way. Boy were we optimistic. It is now a week later and we are still a couple of weeks from getting wet. The picture to the right was taken on April 5th and shows some of the old stuff that we took off the boat so we could install new items. It was a nice place to rest.
Our original plan was to complete all of the boat repairs and upgrades by April 9th and be on our way. Boy were we optimistic. It is now a week later and we are still a couple of weeks from getting wet. The picture to the right was taken on April 5th and shows some of the old stuff that we took off the boat so we could install new items. It was a nice place to rest.
We have hired a company that is based here in the yard to paint the hull. They are all
Russians and are interesting to talk to. They have the boat prepped but but have been hampered by high winds. Hopefully it will calm down in the next few days. Here is a picture of one of them working on the paint prep.
We just received a set of charts and cruising guides that we bought from a guy who recently completed the loop. It was two full boxes. I had studied the inventory list before we bought them but I was still a bit overwhelmed by how much material there is. For navigation, we will mostly use some low end GPS chart plotters (Garmin 540S) that we bought and installed plus a nice PC Package (Rose Point) but I feel that you always should have paper charts. Well now we got em!
Here are our various thoughts and feelings-
- This is a lot harder than we thought it would be.
- This is more expensive than we thought it would be.
- It's hard to look forward to cruising because of all the projects that need to be done.
- Any day without excrement splashing on you is a good day.
- St Pete is a pretty nice place to do this. Great weather although it does rain hard.
- Where did our old life go?
- Does Kirkland still exist?
- Why did we abandon our friends?
- What have I done to my golf game?
- Our hotel is our little cave home.
- Too many projects going on at once. Parts are getting lost all over the place.
- Will we ever get out of here? Will it be on the boat?
- Every project we start turns into two or three.
- Hope the truck keeps running.
- There are victories every day but are we winning the war?
Today was an unusually good day. I finished wiring 110 AC outlets in the pilot house (can you believe there was nowhere to power a PC or charge a cell phone?), our carpenter put the new laminate in the bathrooms, we picked up our replacement Lexan hatches and the Russians actually started doing a little painting (although the wind has picked up again). The really great thing today is that no new surprises came to light! This picture is from our fly bridge out to the entrance to Salt Creek. This leads out to Tampa Bay. This is a pretty nice view if you are stuck in a boat yard.
Well that's it for this report. Hopefully we will be able to report that we are in the water by our next report (May first).
Hope you are all doing well. Good bye for now. We miss all of you.
Tod and Linda
As long as you feel you are still going forward, making progress that's a good report. I'm sure it gets discouraging, but doesn't sound like you've had an setbacks, just more hurdles placed in front of you. Just keep moving forward! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWow! Have you heard of Princess, Holland America, or Carnival? That's the way I like to travel on the water. Good luck to you! I look forward to hearing about all your adventures.
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