Crunch Time

Today our daughter, Katie, comes back from a 2 week stay in chilly Montana with her Aunt Stacy. She was scheduled to leave at dawn but heavy fog delayed the flight until this afternoon. Regardless we are very excited to have our little girl home.

The boats "inards" are just about done. A few cosmetic fixes are all thats left. We are going to be measuring for the dodger and bimini today and hope to have some steel by this afternoon. The auto pilot, depth sounder, and new helm station is just about finished with remotes to all of our electronic gadgets. The bimini is going to be tricky. We plan to mount the radar, wind generator and solar panels from the frame. It is going to be a bit of a challenge but since Neil was a metal fabricator in his previous years this will not pose as much of an issue. The watermaker and auxillary tank will be one of the last things we address along with a patch on our drinking water tank. (we have just noticed a small leak). We have about 10 days left here in the city and will be pulling out. Any other tweaking will happen back in our home port of Half Moon Bay while on the hook.

We have 2 inflatable skiffs for shore travel. One has a little 2hp kicker and the other a hard bottom inflatable that we just took the 25hp engine off of our old aluminum fishing boat. Nothing is funnier than watching Neil and Stewart going about 45 mph in a little inflatable with an engine bigger than them off the back. (I will try and post a video of that later). A bit of overkill but hey, there are times when get up and go will be a good thing!! If not just for the thrill of it!

I am curious to see how the dog will respond when she see's that we have not taken Katie to the pound after all. Daisy has spent her days watching the dock for her to come through the gate. Katies face will be wet with kisses for sure!

Almost all of the woodwork is finished despite the crappy weather. All is looking good and the countdown to take off is fast approaching.

However as with all things related to boating, its best to make goals and not get caught up in rigid deadlines. Just keep moving forward, hope for the best, take breaks from the chaos to have a little fun, and never regret anything! Life is good!