Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Is the cool weather leaving anytime soon

Well the three day weekend we were looking forward to brought with it rain, rain, and more rain with cool damp temps. I keep telling Dirk that I can't wait until the weather gets nicer and we can begin enjoying our time on board. I'm so ready to be able to put the cockpit cushions out, make up a nice appetizer, sip on a nice sun downer and just sit back and relax. One day.....Well the wind generator came in and was transported this past weekend with us. We managed to at least decide where was the best place to mount it and got the holes drilled and the bracket in place. We then had to decide where the support brackets would be located so as not to block the entry from the transom and someplace that would not cause us to have to cut the bimini top. We measured and marked the locations, and the poles came back home with us to be cut to size. Here is a picture of Dirk down in the cockpit locker working. As you can see we have a nice big deep locker that makes working in it not so bad. It's amazing how much crap we put in there and need to put more of said crap into it. In other news we decided to dig a little deeper into the cruising kitty and purchase a new dinghy. The one that came with the boat is about 8 years old and has a couple worn spots on the bottom. It also has a minor air leak that we have never gotten around to fixing. Knowing how important a good dinghy is when cruising helped us make this decision easier. I mean it is our one and only means of getting from boat to land. So if you compare it to the cost of a new car I think we faired very nicely. Of course now with the new larger dinghy we will be purchasing a new larger outboard motor. Above is a photo of the Genesis RIB that we purchased. It has a few nice additions such as a dry storage area up front under the floor, and also a flip up seat that has a dry storage area. It is a Vee hull but has a flat floor inside which I think I will like. Our current one has the vee hull but also has a vee floor which always makes for a nice drop off as you are entering it. This one also has a bilge to help keep the floor from pooling with water. Still haven't ordered the solar panel yet as we are still trying to decide how it will be mounted to the davits. At this point we have enough projects to keep us busy for a couple weeks.

2 comments:

  1. Wow. So much to think about. How does your head not explode with all these plans and lists. It is going to feel so good once it is all done and you are on your way!!!

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  2. It is fun watching other people get buried in their projects. The kind of stuff we like to complain about but wouldn't trade for anything :) I'm anxious for the first blogs after your retirement showing you both getting on with some serious sailing. What a hoot.
    Toby

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