Getting there. Slowly

We have the bases for the davits installed, finally!  Only been two years. I know, what the hell. So adding the supports for the stern rail, to beef it up a bit, will take longer. I appears our measurements were off a tad two years ago. Pretty sad for two engineers, but we're electrical, not mechanical. We'll mount the davits today and supply pictures of our latest accomplishment.

Check out this post  http://blog.svhelloworld.com/2011/03/what-we-learned-about-cruising.html
I like the observations on a first year of cruising.

Got the friggin davits installed. Only took two years. Kato marine probably thought we died, or got divorced, as we never called them for the cross brace measurement. We can't measure for that until the dinghy is lifted. Probably do that in the water. We then have to order the solar panels, and the wind genny.

Davits...finally installed. Not a bad job.

Work in progress. Rain be damned

Sadly, I've been lazy keeping up with writing on this blog. Been a tad busy lately. I was in Detroit for a few days getting trained on Electrical Safe Work Practices. Seems they trust me to insure the safety of our electricians in the plant when working with high currents. Amazingly, for the time I've been involved in electrical work, I've only been zapped a few times, and nothing serious. I remember watching my teacher in electric shop in high school being thrown from the work bench. That was cool. Plus it made me respect what you can't see. He was OK, just a bit dazed. I got hit with an ungrounded laser capacitor once. Thank God it was not fully charged. Might explain some quirkiness though.

The Motor City was pretty cool. Rode the people mover around the city at night. Hit a casino, an Italian restaurant, and a few bars. Felt safe the whole time, and the people were great. Be nice to see Motown make it back from the brink. The people deserve it. Tip....if you're going out to dinner and it's just two guys, don't go to an Italian restaurant together. Go to a bar, where chicks and sports are visible. We were the only losers in there, and I never gave it a thought until they brought us two spoons for a desert that my fellow employee ordered. WTF.

So anyway, work has begun on KellyNicole. I feel now that it will never stop raining, and I might as well just go out there and get as much done as I can while getting wet. The marina put the ca-bash on the bottom paint removal, as they are way behind because of the rain, and some broken equipment. They also killed the tank removal from the v-berth until I can pump it out about 1 million times. Guess I can't blame them. They thought they could just lift it out and carry it out the companionway. Duh, no. If it was that easy why would I pay you three hundred dollars to do it. So sometime this spring they will cut it out. That should be fun. Wonder which one will throw up first.

Oh, happy Easter!

I'm pretty sure the bunny was female...pretty sure.

Melted

Sodus Bay. View from the stern.

Had a good weekend out at the boat getting a few things done. Still pretty cold out, 40's, but we have sun. Sun is good.

She's naked!

No, not Deb, the boat! Way too cold for Deb.
We went out tonight and stripped her winter clothing and she's fully exposed. So we get home and I see on the radar that we have snow coming. Ha, knew that would happen. So after the cover was thrown in the dumpster, we went over to Captain Jacks for dinner. Low and behold, they restocked the taps with some tasty brews! Scotch Ale! Oh boy, I was like a kid in a candy store, or a sailor in a beer store, or a drunk in a ...
So anyway we had dinner, and I had a Scotch Ale, and we saw some familiar faces, and felt like we were back home. Can't wait to get back to the Point for the summer. Good times.

Goodbye Winter

It's Spring! Finally. I would have to say that this winter seemed longer than any in quite some time. We all seem a little annoyed with it all, and some serious cabin fever has affected some of my friends. You know who you are. It ain't over yet, as there is snow forecast for later this week, but just knowing that it's spring, makes brushing off the snow from your car, not so depressing a task as it has been.

There are some major tasks to be started this month on KellyNicole. Number one will be the removal of the giant holding tank. I say giant, because it's one hundred and thirty five gallons. Yes, 135 gallons!  I could drink a twelve pack every day, and Gatorade all night, and still not pump out until the fall. Why would I remove such a luxury? Well, the tank used to be a freshwater tank, and was, for some stupid reason converted to waste by the previous owner. Now, some have said, just clean it and use it for freshwater, but I can't do that. Every time I took water from the tank, I would be looking for a slight yellow tint. No, it has to go. Besides, we need more freshwater capacity than the 80 gallons in the center tank. I plan on actually installing two tanks in that space, and another holding tank of course.

The other task is to remove the old bottom paint and put down a barrier coat. I will have the marina strip, or blast the ablative coating off the boat, and I will apply the barrier coat. I have some experience on our old 25 footer, where I sanded off the paint, and put down interprotect. Was one hell of a job, and I'm hoping all the ablative paint I inhaled doesn't catch up to me before I get a chance to get the hell out of here.That's why the marina can do it. I'll show up after the cloud is gone.

The following are other things I want to to get done this spring:

• New toilets for the new holding tanks
• Replace/repair the injectors
• New batt's
• Davits Installed
• Solar panels Installed
• Windlass Installed

I'm nuts right?  We'll see how it goes. I do have a day job, and that always seems to get in the way of fun. However, we are running out of time. 802 days