We are ready to begin our next season of travel. We had a list of projects and things that needed to be done before we continued. We have worked through most of the list and are ready to move on.
We were able to get a temporary slip in our old marina which made working on the boat much easier then being out on anchor. Our good friend Vic also gave us use of his car for the many trips to town and the storage unit. Thanks Vic! The top of the list was to repair the floor in Hi Flite. We had two areas that had water damage. The floor in the v-berth had gotten wet and damaged from the water maker and an area in the salon had been damaged from a leak in one of the water tanks. The floor is made up with two layers of plywood, the top having a teak and holly veneer. Water had gotten into the plywood and caused it to separate. I had hoped that I could remove the top layer and replace it. I had planned to use marine plywood and to cover that with another surface rather then use the more expensive teak and holly. There are a lot of new material being used in boats these days. The first problem came when I found that whoever replaced the flooring in the salon had glued it down along with screwing it down. I finally decided that I would cut out both layers in the affected area of the salon and only replace that area. In the v-berth the damage wasn't as bad and I was able to remove the top layer and replace with a piece of marine grade plywood. All of the plywood was given a coat of epoxy to prevent water damage in the future. We were still having problems choosing what to use for the finish layer and decided that we could make that decision later. On another trip to the home store we found a suitable carpet remnant that covered the area leaving enough to redo it if it got damaged. The floor project is complete for now.
Our dinghy is eventually our car and is our means to get back and forth from shore and to go exploring. One day while putting the outboard motor on it I noticed where some cracks in the aluminum transom. After that we used the 3.3 horse motor exclusively. Once back in North Carolina we brought it to the dealer we had bought it from to see what could be done. They submitted a warranty claim and made arrangements for a welder to come to us to make the repairs. Pretty good customer service for a five year old dinghy. It will feel good getting back to using the 15 horse motor to get around.
Cori had a number of sewing project and she was able to set up at our friends Wayne and Louise's house just up the creek to work on those. We now have a cover for the kayak that will help protect it from the harsh uv-rays but now pictures of Hi Flite will not have a bright orange kayak on deck. The fenders have new covers and she was able to help Wayne with one of his boat projects.
There were a number of smaller maintenance issues we took care of. We sorted through most of the "stuff" we have on board and moved some of it to the storage unit. We have a storage unit in the closest town to the marina. Some of it will come back aboard since there are things we will need next winter when we go south again.
With most of the list completed we decided we are ready to continue. We had been in the marina for two weeks and we need to move on. Today, Monday the 31st, we untied the lines again and moved out of the marina. We still need to stay in the area for another week so we decided to move up the river to New Bern. We had a great sail with winds varying from 10-19 knots and set anchor in the Trent river. We will be finalizing provisioning and preparing to move on.
Where are we going this season? We have decided to work our way north to Chesapeake Bay and spend some time there. From there we will head up to New York and work our way up Long Island Sound to Cape Cod with plans to visit Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. We are still debating if we go through the Cape Cod Canal to Boston but feel that will be as far as we go this year. Time and weather will make those decisions for us. As usual we are keeping in mind that "plans are written in sand at low tide" and will be changed many times.
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