Thanks!...and stay tuned.

While we are making preparations for one last, hopefully more enjoyable, run down the Chesapeake and east coast, I wanted to take a few moments to say thank you.  We have received a overwhelming amount of support via the blog and email since I announced the unexpected change in plans.

As I guess is often the case in a public forum like this, there are a few that seem to feel it is necessary to point out how you were wrong and they would have done things differently even though they don't know or understand the whole story. Fortunately, in the cruising world, those types seem to be few and far between. That is the thing about the cruising lifestyle, the people out there doing it or dreaming of doing it are simply the best.  To those, I give my sincerest thank you for all of your support.

In other news...

Plans continue for our trip south and move back to land. I'm letting my wife decide the itinerary and timing and expect we will be taking off in the next week or two. In the meantime, believe it or not, there are a few minor things that need to be done on the boat.  This time they are not really necessary for safety as they are desirable for sale.  This has given me the chance to check out a couple stores in nearby Annapolis.

Our first stop was Bacon Sails.  Known for a large inventory of used sails, they also have a large selection of other used and new equipment.  The store is somewhat similar to Sailors Exchange in St. Augustine, but they have a bit less inventory and, well, less junk.  I actually went in looking for, among other things, a replacement handle for one of the hatches.  Somehow I managed to break the handle at the thickest part (I can only assume this is an old manufacturing defect). I didn't really expect to find the old Goiot handle so I was completely flabbergasted when I showed an employee the broken handle and he pointed to 3 baskets and said he thought he saw one in one of them.  Sure enough, we found it and it was even a never-used part.  Not a bad find for $4.

We also stopped by Fawcett. It is a West Marine like store with better prices.  I ended up picking up a cabin fan to replace a noisy and anemic fan we currently have as well as a couple other odds and ends.

I've added entries for these two stores on my Better Marine page. Well worth the stop if you are in the area.

The past week has been a heat wave here on the Chesapeake, so one good thing about being at the dock is we have air conditioning. Stay tuned...we will be heading out sometime soon.

First Days of Boat Ownership

Closing occurred late in the day, and with all the traveling, we were pretty wiped out so we just went to the hotel, checked in and crashed.  I guess technically, that was day one, but it didn't feel like it to us so I'll call day one the actual first full day of ownership.

The first thing we do after breakfast is go to the boat and take a bit more detailed inventory of what was left on board.  We weren't exactly sure what, if anything would be left behind by the current owner so we figured we would be doing a combination of cleaning and shopping the next couple days...just not sure of the ratios. There were a few things I figured the owner might leave but did not.  They said all the "boat related" stuff was included...but I guess that is a matter of interpretation.  Other than the dehumidifier, handheld VHF radio, and binoculars, it was all small stuff anyway so no worries.

We spend the rest of the day shopping for "boat things" and "home things" so we can spend time on our boat.  We hunt down some sheets (good thread count on sale at KMart...yea) and a mattress pad and pillows for one of the bunks. We find some dishes at a local thrift store next to the store we were heading to that looked nice, roughly matched the interior, and were $3 so we got them in case we got ambitious about dining aboard. We need to investigate a few gremlins (the power for the lights in the starboard forward berth and head now seems to have disappeared....another item for "the list") so we stop by Harbor Freight for a couple throw away tools (I have a bunch of better tools at home but how do you explain a bag of tools to the T.S.A....um...no sir, I don't intend to take the airplane apart in-flight but thanks for asking), an air horn from a local sporting goods store and a flare kit from the local West Marine so we would be legal  (remind me not to shop at West Marine when it can be avoided...the prices seem worse than most aviation prices). Oh, and we can't forget a couple cleaners (my broker recommended vinegar and water for a decent light duty cleaner for mold and mildew). By that time it was getting late, so we had dinner and returned to the hotel.

The next day we do a bit more shopping (it is amazing the things you have at home and forget you need until they are not there...like scissors...gee...would love to get into the annoyingly tough plastic packaging everything seems to come in these days) and spend most of the day cleaning up the boat. The vinegar and water really seemed to do the trick...after the initial vinegar smell dissipated. We also got some upholstery cleaner for the cushions in the berth. After cleaning them, they had to dry so again no sleeping on the boat tonight.  The interior is cleaning up well.  I know my broker prefers more wood but so far we are happy with the ease of cleaning the plastic surfaces.

We also continue to explore the contents of the outside lockers.  Extra lines and fenders, the classic orange life jackets, and other assorted items.  In the rear lazarette above the battery compartment we find most of the spare engine fluids (oil, coolant, transmission fluid, etc.) and the spare filters I had hoped were on board but hadn't located until now.  In the propane locker we found the propane and the bottles...kinda wished the propane was in the bottles but apparently something leaked (yet another item for "the list"...and I guess that rules out cooking for now). I also need to refresh my memory on identifying the inspection dates on these bottles as I think one certainly looks like it might be in need of inspection.  In what was once the liferaft locker (we knew it wasn't aboard) we found a couple more life jackets, a couple type IV throwables, some mosquito netting, two old pairs of swim fins that went straight into the trash can, and a gizmo I hadn't seen before...

This gizmo is used to fresh water flush outboards.

It's a bit of a treasure hunt.  Just a few small surprises like the one above. The important thing here is to remember what we have and where it is.  To that end I am shuffling some stuff around so "like" items are in the same location.

Oh, and at my brokers request, we had to stop by the local liquor store so we could have a celebratory drink on the back of our boat in his absence (we are to have drinks with him as soon as he gets back from the boat show). We get the ABC store brand rum and some Sprite and have those drinks. It was OK...but I cannot recommend the ABC house brand rum...unless you need some lighter fluid (or perhaps it was that in our rush we got the diet soda...in any case, the combination was not the best).  But we did sit down for a bit and just enjoy the fact we were sitting on OUR boat.

We finally retire to the hotel and try to get some sleep, but we have an early start in the morning as we have hired a captain/instructor to help us move the boat up the ICW to its new, temporary home.