Getting ready to move again

The mechanic has left.  The only thing yet to do is to pay him.  We are not looking forward to that.  The rebuilt injector pump and injectors are installed and it has changed how the engine is running.  Fortunately the change is for the better.  We now idle much smoother, should have more power and the noises from the v-drive have gone away.  We need to start looking for a weather window to move north.

We have not been idle while we were waiting, at least not all of the time.  We had made some lists of projects that needed to be done when we were back in North Carolina before we headed north again.  We have crossed most of those off.  We replaced the anchor chain; the old one had lost its galvanizing and was beginning to show too much rust.  While working on replacing the chain I got an idea to add an access port from the anchor locker to the chain locker.  We have access to the chain locker from the v-berth but if there is a problem feeding chain in or out we have to move everything in the v-berth to get at it.  Since the v-berth is now storage it involves moving a lot of stuff.  Usually the problem is from how the chain stacks up as it is fed in and since I changed from 150 feet of chain to 200 feet there is the possibility of more problems.  At the time I bought the chain I also bought an 8.5 inch waterproof port.  Borrowing a saw from our neighbor boat I cut out an opening in the anchor locker to give access to the chain below.  It came in real handy when I spliced 100 feet of rope rode to the end of the chain.  We now have the ability to put out 300 feet of rope and chain if necessary.

Our lifeline stanchions have needed to be rebedded for a long time and since it is such a miserable job I have always put it off.  We finally have them rebedded properly and should not have a leak for many years.  Several of our windows were leaking also, so we now know how to take them apart and replace the seal and interior sealer.  Two down six to go.  Our single sideband radio was acting up; we could receive but not transmit a clear signal.  We had it worked on while in the Bahamas but it didn’t get better so we ordered a new one.  We now have a new Icom M802 radio installed along with the connecting cables and all of the other stuff that makes it work.  Running the new copper foil under the floor was a major project in itself.  We also had the bright idea to remove two of the older winches and move the newer self-tailing into their place.  This should help with trimming the sails since it will only take two hands to do it instead of three.

Cori has polished the stainless steel, sealed the exterior teak and has been working on making new sail covers.

There have been a number of smaller projects completed along with the everyday maintenance a boat requires.

Now it is time to go cruising again.  We have been sitting at a dock for too long.  Fortunately, if we had to be stuck at a dock this is not a bad place to be.  We need to catch some good weather to move north since we have plans to be at Ocracoke Island for the music festival and my birthday.