With less than two weeks left before out foreseen departure date things seem to be coming along nicely. The interior of the boat has been cleaned and organized and is awaiting its first load of stores. We plan to hit up the grocery store tonight for our first shopping trip. These trips are both fun and dreaded at the same time. I enjoy the shopping part, but I dread paying the bill at the end. There isn't enough planning or calculating in the world that can prepare you for trying to buy enough food for 6 months. We have a well thought out list of all the supplies we think we will need and always second guess when we get to the store: should we get another 5 pounds of rice? do we have enough canned meat? How much toilet paper do we really need? Do we really need another pound of m&m's? The only aisle we really really need to spend time in is the chocolate aisle. As two self diagnosed chochoholics running out two weeks into a six week passage spells disaster and a very long four weeks. I've already scoped out my secret hiding spots where I can hide the good stuff and I won't have to share with Kevin, unless it comes in handy for bribery after he is out!
There are really just three major things that need to happen on deck before we take off: finish the windvane, finish the varnishing and finish painting the cockpit. After those three things happen we will be more or less ready to take off. Of course we could spend the next year working on the boat 7 days a week and never run out of things to do, but we'll just finish the things that HAVE to be taken care and get on the road.
We have been able to get the boat out a few times in the past week for a sail! Once to test the new windvane. It works like a beauty! We are so excited to have this new piece of equipment and will be able to sleep easier knowing it is steering the boat! The second time was for the Wednesday night beer can races. on an average week there are only about five boats that participate. However, none of them have a windvane, wind generator or outboard hanging of the stern. Even with all that we didn't come in last, so all in all it was a successful day of racing! It helps that it was a beautiful evening!
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Go All Blacks!
What an amazing night to be in New Zealand!! It was so much fun to watch the rugby world cup at East Pier especially since we won! Go All Blacks!!
Friday, October 21, 2011
Progress?
The boat is back in the water now. The new Monitor windvane hanging off the back of the boat, almost complete. We just need some good weather to go out for a test sail before we put the finishing touches on. We also put a fresh antifouling on the bottom, and even had the prop finished with "propspeed"(antifouling for props and shafts). While the boat was hauled I discovered a hole in the water trap for the exhaust.(main engine cooling system) Thankfully I found it and we were able to get it welded up and reinstalled with new anodes without losing much time.
With the boat floating we are again working on putting the interior back together, shedding a few pounds in the process. When we left seattle we loaded everything we thought we might need for cruising on the boat. Now with a little bit of experience(and some new technology) we have decided that we don't need so much stuff on board(100lbs. of books..really?) This will make room for some other items we think are necessary for the next leg of the cruise; A drogue, a third anchor, and a water bladder.
We are currently hoping the weather improves enough that we can get our outside projects complete, namely touch up painting and varnishing(the fun stuff). Regardless of weather, we are planning on participating in the local wednesday evening beer can racing. Even if we aren't the fastest boat on the course, I do believe we get some style points for racing with: A dodger, a windvane, an outboard hanging on the pulpit, 300ft. of anchor chain, solar panels, wind generator, and all the other things that boats have when you cruise them around the world, that boats don't ever have when you are racing!
With the boat floating we are again working on putting the interior back together, shedding a few pounds in the process. When we left seattle we loaded everything we thought we might need for cruising on the boat. Now with a little bit of experience(and some new technology) we have decided that we don't need so much stuff on board(100lbs. of books..really?) This will make room for some other items we think are necessary for the next leg of the cruise; A drogue, a third anchor, and a water bladder.
We are currently hoping the weather improves enough that we can get our outside projects complete, namely touch up painting and varnishing(the fun stuff). Regardless of weather, we are planning on participating in the local wednesday evening beer can racing. Even if we aren't the fastest boat on the course, I do believe we get some style points for racing with: A dodger, a windvane, an outboard hanging on the pulpit, 300ft. of anchor chain, solar panels, wind generator, and all the other things that boats have when you cruise them around the world, that boats don't ever have when you are racing!
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
general update...
Hello everyone! Kevin and I are excited to be starting the next leg of our adventure! We will try to keep this updated as much as possible, which should not be a problem over the next month while we are on land, but will become infinitly more difficult after we pull out of port. Just to get everyone up to speed we are now in Napier, New Zealand and have been for the last week and a half. We have been putting in long days on the boat trying to get it offshore ready. Right now we have the boat out of the water primarily so we could put another coat of bottom paint on and get our new wind vane mounted, but also to take care of other minor projects easier done out of the water. Getting the new wind vane is probably one of the most exciting things that has happened (it's real pretty and shiny) and is much sturdier than our previous wind vane.
Today we got to do some off roading with our rental car. Our anchor chain was rusted and before we can get it regalvanized we had to get the rust off. Enter rental care. Mission: find a dirt road, far enough out of town and away from the main drag as to not draw too much attention, and go crazy! we spent a good 45 mins dragging the anchor chain behind the car. It came out much less rusty, but much more dirty - an easier fix! Now the chain is off getting a nice new bath, ie getting galvanized.
We've been hard at work on the interior as well. We decided to give her a nice new interior paint job and it really looks amazing. Kevin is not sure when the last pain job on the interior was done but it hasn't been since we've owned it. We also cleaned and oiled all of the teak! the boat is really starting to come together!
Hopefully we can get the boat in shape in the next week, giving us plenty of time to do some siteseeing while we are here. We made one trip over to Taupo, about two hours away, to pick up our wind vane. Kevin had it delivered to his friends, Tom and Polly's, house. We had a wonderful afternoon chatting with Polly. Taupo is a georgous little town right on Lake Taupo, apparenly New Zealands largest lake. We also spent a few days when we first arrived in Auckland with Kevin's other friends, Bev and Graham. They were very generous to pick us up from the airport and let us stay with them for a few days. We had a fantastic time catching up with them and doing a bit of siteseeing! Before we made the jump over to New Zealand we spent a week on the sunshine coast of Australia with Jack and Marlene, a couple Kevin met while sailing in the South Pacific last year. That week was amazing both because our hosts are amazing people and because of the wonderful site we got to see while over there. Within an hour of landing I saw my first Kangaroo (and it was wild, not in a zoo), how amazing! While in Napier we have been staying with another of Kevin's wonderful friends down here, Eva. She was been great to us not only on this trip but on other trips Kevin has made down here she has graciously offered him, now us, a place to stay! Australia/New Zealand have some amazing people and beautiful sites! We are so happy to be down here and getting this opportunity but are looking forward to getting back home to see our families!
Today we got to do some off roading with our rental car. Our anchor chain was rusted and before we can get it regalvanized we had to get the rust off. Enter rental care. Mission: find a dirt road, far enough out of town and away from the main drag as to not draw too much attention, and go crazy! we spent a good 45 mins dragging the anchor chain behind the car. It came out much less rusty, but much more dirty - an easier fix! Now the chain is off getting a nice new bath, ie getting galvanized.
We've been hard at work on the interior as well. We decided to give her a nice new interior paint job and it really looks amazing. Kevin is not sure when the last pain job on the interior was done but it hasn't been since we've owned it. We also cleaned and oiled all of the teak! the boat is really starting to come together!
Hopefully we can get the boat in shape in the next week, giving us plenty of time to do some siteseeing while we are here. We made one trip over to Taupo, about two hours away, to pick up our wind vane. Kevin had it delivered to his friends, Tom and Polly's, house. We had a wonderful afternoon chatting with Polly. Taupo is a georgous little town right on Lake Taupo, apparenly New Zealands largest lake. We also spent a few days when we first arrived in Auckland with Kevin's other friends, Bev and Graham. They were very generous to pick us up from the airport and let us stay with them for a few days. We had a fantastic time catching up with them and doing a bit of siteseeing! Before we made the jump over to New Zealand we spent a week on the sunshine coast of Australia with Jack and Marlene, a couple Kevin met while sailing in the South Pacific last year. That week was amazing both because our hosts are amazing people and because of the wonderful site we got to see while over there. Within an hour of landing I saw my first Kangaroo (and it was wild, not in a zoo), how amazing! While in Napier we have been staying with another of Kevin's wonderful friends down here, Eva. She was been great to us not only on this trip but on other trips Kevin has made down here she has graciously offered him, now us, a place to stay! Australia/New Zealand have some amazing people and beautiful sites! We are so happy to be down here and getting this opportunity but are looking forward to getting back home to see our families!
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