60 days and counting, or maybe less

My counter reads 60 days till Dirk is done with work and is officially retired. Then we begin our new chapter in life. However in reality it is less as Dirk has accumulated time off and sick days that need to be taken. In less then a month he is outta there......Things here at the home front seem to be put into overdrive at least for me. Packing, sorting, organizing, stacking, and piling, the story of my life right now. Were getting some last minute items ordered as we realize that before long we wont have a home address to ship things to. I'm coming to realize that this is all happening weather I'm ready or not, but it just doesn't seem like reality yet. I guess because this has been so long in the making that it actually getting here just doesn't seem real. Let me pinch myself, yikes, yes it's real.

As far as the boat goes we were down last weekend and pulled the cushions from the vee berth in order to start transforming it into "the garage" See the pic below to see the before. It wont look like this for long, now, how to maximize the space.

Dirk also finished putting the shelves in the closet in the back berth for me. Now we have begun to transfer clothing down. How does one take a walk in closet and 2 dressers full and cull it down to two shelves a piece? Two and a half if I can figure somewhere else for the endless number of flip flops, boat shoes, and land shoes to go. We have this one and a smaller closet right next to it that use to house the drop down sink that was removed. I'm still wondering though, hows it gonna fit? Minimize, minimize, minimize, ummm scary words for a woman, not so bad for a man, he who can wear the same shorts for so many days on end that they could stand up on their own. I myself will need to get use to wearing the same thing more then once. Gonna take some practice. Get me some rum, that will make it easier, I just wont care.....

We also installed the new table we got for the cockpit. After thinking that it would be straightforward to adjust it for height we were sadly mistaken and after a few small setbacks we got it done with happy results. Now we can enjoy our meals outside and actually have a place other then our lap to put our plate. This of course shows the table in the folded position.

Other progress being made is the new mattress arrived for the back berth and we have it on our bed here at home giving it the test trial. Seems pretty good as I have not awaken yet with a sore back as I do each morning on the boat. We just wanted to make sure we liked it before whacking it down to fit our odd shaped berth. Words keep ringing, measure twice, cut once, measure twice, cut once. Cross your fingers...Anyway, just wanted to give some kind of update as its been a few weeks. Till next time..........

Up grades and new additions

I decided to sit and make a list of the up grades and new additions that we have been doing with Tybee Time since her purchase 2 years ago. I guess we could have gotten more done, but living two hours away from her doesn't afford too much time for work on board. But then again I know that during the summer we usually spend more time enjoying her rather then working on her. Hey, ya gotta have some fun sometime....I know everyone when considering cruising has to make decisions about what is important and what they can live without. One must make compromises about the little nicer things in life but its the compromises we are willing to make in order for us to pursue our dream. I think we have for the time being gotten all the larger projects out of the way and really are only left with doing the small things. Below is a list we compiled.

General

Replaced all Hatches & windows with new Lexan
Refurbished engine control panel
Added a new Raymarine 24 mile 18” Radar and mast platform
Added a new Raymarine C-80 for the nav pod
Added a new Raymarine Wind Vane
Replaced the Throttle and Clutch control Handles
Refurbished the compass on the cockpit pedestal
Added a new bigger pedestal guard
Added a new fold out teak table and drink/binocular holder
Added sheet bags in the cockpit
Added a new anchor windless
Added a new battery under front berth designated for anchor windless
Added a new Kyocera 135 watt solar panel
Added a new 12 v Air Breeze wind generator
Added a new party size Magma grill
New mainsail
New mainsail cover and lazy bag system
Added a new sunbrella cover for cockpit pedestal
Added a new larger nav pod for steering pedestal
Refinished all topside teak
Added 3 new house batteries and 1 new start battery
Added new mounting blocks and foot blocks for Genoa
Replaced the old manual bilge pump in the cockpit
Added a mid-ship cleat to each side
Added a new remote station for radio c/d player down below into the nav pod
Got 150 foot of triple B chain for anchor
Had the bottom sand blasted, keel joint re-done, rudder repaired, 5 barrier coats applied and hard bottom paint applied.
New Walker Bay Genisis 10’2” hypalon hard bottom dinghy
New Mercury 9.9 horsepower 4 stroke outboard for dinghy

Head area

Added a new faucet with shower head diverter
Installed a new shower curtain track

Nav Station

Added a Tri Metric 2020 Battery system Monitor
Added a new water & waste Sensa tank marine 100 tank monitor
Extended shelf above nav station to better utilize space

Salon
Added a new 21” Flat Panel TV for salon
Installed new Teak & Holly flooring throughout the boat
Redoing the cushions on the settees

Galley
Installed a new faucet
Added a new salt water faucet and foot pump
Added a cutting board cover for the stove to increase work space
Added a new glass rack over galley sink
Added shelving in the cabinet over fridge

Back & front Berth
Added shelving to hanging lockers and cabinets in back berth
Recovered cushions in both the front and back berth

We have decided that we are going to pull the cushions in our back berth and buy a new memory foam mattress. Our berth just isn't that comfortable and if we are going to be sleeping on it every night then I have to be comfy. Looking online for a good quality memory foam mattress will give anyone a good case of sticker shock but I found one that seems to be a decent quality and the price is right. They also give you an in home trial so we will give it a go and if we like it then we will cut it to fit the ever so odd shaped bed that every boat seems to have. One other thing we are planning on doing is pulling the cushions from the front berth and changing that into our garage/store room. Yes we are getting rid of one berth but our guest will have to either sleep in the salon, or we will give up our area for their stay. The salon has a single and a u shaped settee that has a filler, so they call that a double. At any rate we will make it work. If anyone has any ideas for creating nifty storage areas in the vee berth or other places please feel free to comment. At this point I need all the pointers I can get. Also if anyone has any questions regarding anything we have up graded or added please feel free to ask. We did everything ourselves so we know what it took to get it done. Oh yeah, 77 days and counting.....Whooooohooo.

Spring is here and time is short

Well here it is spring. A time Dirk and I have been looking forward to for a very long time as it signifies that we are getting down to the wire. In fact our countdown indicates that we have 85 days till his last day of work. I am noticing in the blogs I read that everyone is beginning to wind down their winter cruises and beginning to make tracks back home to the U.S. and Canada. As much as I hate seeing their cruising season ending I know that Dirk and I will be among the group heading out next season. On the home front here, things are beginning to get mentally hectic for us as we have started making piles. Piles of stuff that will be going on board with us, piles for long term storage, piles for the dreaded garage sale, and finally, piles for giving away to family, friends, and to charity. Once we make the final jump to living aboard then I think maybe we can begin chilling.

Work on board is coming along great. Dirk finished installing all the shelves in our back berth closets and he did such a great job that now I'm looking for other places for him to do the same. The last time we were down at the boat we took the new dinghy down. We had to wait until we sold the old one before this one could go down, so for several weeks we had it sitting in the middle of our living room. We picked up the new outboard on Saturday morning and after reading instructions for it Dirk got it up and running. I had to mention reading instructions in the same sentence as Dirk as that doesn't happen very often. I even had to capture a photo of it.

Alright, alright, sorry. Just that men reading instructions before they do something is almost unheard of. Usually its only done when they have exhausted all other means. I will have to say, I have been guilty of the same in the past, I just don't like to admit it.Once Dirk got everything up and running we decided to head out to the bay and start breaking the engine in. I had driven our last dinghy exactly once so looks like I needed a lesson. It was so nice how easy it started for me and I had fun zipping around the bay. We both agree that this new dinghy is to our liking.

So the last couple coats of varnish are going onto the new cockpit table and it will be installed this weekend. Little jobs here and there to be done but for the most part the big jobs are behind us now. I think.......

Solar panel & wind generator up and running

Well we had four full days of beautiful weather to work on the boat this past weekend. Although we didn't get everything done that we wanted to, we did get two important things marked off the list. First thing was to get the wind generator installed. Last time we were down we had mounted the main bracket on the transom and measured the two support poles to cut. Well the two support poles were mounted and the generator itself got wired and mounted. We didn't have much wind, but what little we had showed us that we will be happy with our choice. The solar panel that we chose was the Kyocera 135 watt solar panel. Its fits very nicely on the dinghy davits but proved to be a pain to install. We figured that it would go in very easily, first mistake. We measured twice and drilled once, well maybe twice on some. We have an aluminum bracket that goes across the davits as extra support. Dirk added two more brackets to support the panel pictured below.

Here the panel is being attached to the new aluminum brackets.
Below is a photo of the wind generator and solar panel in their final homes. We still have plenty of room to use the swim platform for entering and exiting the dingy, or showering using the transom shower without hitting your head.
A few other items that we did not get to was the install of the shelves I am putting into the hanging lockers. I think adding shelves will increase our storage space dramatically. We did a rough cut and took them down to do a final fitting. With the curves in the closets it always makes for interesting cuts. Haven't found an easy way to do it yet. And after the time and effort I put into refinishing our cockpit table and drink holder we decided to purchase a different one anyway. Dirk was going to build one, but that was before we sold the house and had to put all our woodworking tools in storage. Our current one is more for a snack and drink table but doesn't afford you to be able to actually eat off it as its too small. After hunting around we actually found one reasonably priced. If anyone has ever priced teak cockpit tables you know what I mean when I say I got sticker shock on most of them. The table does come unfinished but I like the fact that I can finish it to match the other outside teak. The one downside we found and I read this in the feedback that others left was that the table was tall. If you mount it like they say to, yes it is a bit tall. Anyone have a booster seat I can use? So we have decided to alter it to fit our height preference. Not a big deal at all from what we can tell, we haven't started on it so its still up for debate.
Here is the table with the leaves open, closed they are still larger then our existing table. Hummmmmm, looks like it will make a good poker table to me. And it holds four drinks or two drinks and the binoculars, I think I like it. You can tell spring is in the air as the docks were occupied with owners working on and prepping their boats for some summer fun. I know that both Dirk and myself are more then ready to head out to the island for some R&R. Our count down is now 106 days to go till retirement and moving aboard. Woooohooo, were excited, can you tell? Hang in there readers, interesting stuff to read about is right around the corner.

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.

136 days and counting....

I know it's been some time since I last posted an update. With the weather being as it has we have not made too many trips down to the marina and the boat. In fact our marina bill came this month with a note attached saying "come visit your boat, its lonely" Wonder if she put a bug in their ear. We did go two weeks ago and check on her making sure the bilge was still dry, run her engine for a while and run the heat for the weekend to dry things out. The air is just damp, but I have to say, knock on wood that we don't have the nightmare mold problems I have heard of from other people when a boat is unattended for a while. After much research and speaking with other boaters Dirk ordered the wind generator. We decided to go with the 12v Air-Breeze Marine Deluxe Stern Mount Kit.

It includes:

The Air-Breeze Marine12V wind Generator

e Marine wind generator control panel

Hardware mounting kit

Tower kit with 9 foot brushed anodized aluminum mast

Two 8 foot stays &

4o feet of #10-2 marine grade wire.

Although it took a nice bite out of the cruising kitty it was something that has been on our list of must haves. It should be here this week and we have a 3 day weekend coming up so hopefully we can make some effort to get this project started. So many things to do and there only seems to be more projects creeping onto the list. I know the list will never be done but hopefully we can knock a good portion of them off before this summer. I hate to think we spend the entire summer trying to cram projects in between all the other stuff we have to do. My counter indicates that we have 136 days till retirement. Yikes!!!! When are we gonna get this and all the million other things done?

In other news, our friends from s/v Conch Clipper are still in Marathon waiting out this weird cold weather. Many projects and other things are keeping them busy, but I'm sure they are itching to get moving onto the Bahamas. If anyone reads the other blogs I have listed on my site I have one for Galena along with Conch Clipper. Bill from Galena has traveled to the Bahamas many times and when Dirk and I first got this cruising dream into our heads his blog is one of the main ones that inspired Dirk and I. Well he was in Marathon along with our friends from Conch Clipper and they happened to run into each other. They sent me a pic which I thought was nice.
Above and below are photos of Ron & Sonja with Bill of s/v Galena
Well not much else to report. Hopefully we will get some nice weather during our 3 day weekend and we can get some headway made. Until then....

What we have been up to

Happy New Year everyone. Dirk and I decided to spend the week at Tybee Island with our good friends Mac & Margie. We headed into Savannah early evening to spend some time with friends then headed back out to Island to bring the New Year in. At midnight there were fireworks off the pier which was cool but it was very chilly, well downright cold out by the beach.
A very good time was had by all and it will be a memorable time for us. The next day at noon they had a Polar Bear plunge. Our host and several friends do it every year and tried talking us into giving it a go. I think the only people giving it a go were the die-hards and the people who lost that 2 am drunken bet with a friend. As you can see from the photo below there were quiet a few participants who were willing to plunge their perfectly warm bodies into the 40 something degree water.

They were off and running after the conch was blown, but it didn't take long for them to start heading out. Reminded me of a penguin getting out of the water the way they fly straight up and out. I guess that's one way to begin the new year.....Well life here at the ole home front hasn't been too terribly exciting. Christmas and New Years are past and we find ourselves still counting down the days till true retirement. One hundred and 69 more to go and I feel like they will continue to gain steam and barrel down upon us quicker then we realize. When I think of what we have to accomplish its a scary task but one I think we can endure. We have started ordering and receiving our cruising charts which is making us that much more anxious to get out there. So many places we want to visit in the Bahamas we are beginning to wonder if we can get it all done before having to move south for hurricane season.

Tybee Time is getting a few late Christmas gifts this week. We have ordered the Engel 40qt freezer/refrigerator. It can run on 110v A/C or 12v D/C and will be mounted on a bracket in the "garage", aka the vee berth. I have heard many good things about the Engels and looking forward to having a freezer on board for keeping meats and more importantly ice cubes.

We also purchased the Magic Bullet for the galley. I have heard good things about it from other cruisers and figured I would give it a try. I do love cooking and this thing, well it seems to do it all and on top of that It comes with four drinking mugs that have colored lips that you can make the all important frozen sun downer in. It seems like it will take the place of the chopper, coffee bean grinder, and blender that I was planning on bringing on board and yet it is very compact. Its not 12v but we do have the generator to run it. We are also still reading up on and trying to decide which wind generator and solar panel were gonna put on the boat. We will let you know what we come up with when we decide. We are also looking at getting a new dinghy and outboard, uuuuggghhh, money, money, money. But the way we look at it, that's our marine car. We need to have one that we are comfortable with knowing it will get us from point A to B, we shall see what the captain says. Getting anxious for warmer drier weather to get here as I want to begin doing those small unfinished projects that I left hanging this fall. Figure that by the end of January our visits to the boat will become more frequent again. Can't wait....