We moved on to the boat this week after five days of cleaning, scrubbing and disinfecting our boat.  Since the time it takes to update our blog has taken a backseat to the necessity of getting our boat ready to move on to, I thought it best to at least update you with our to do list until we get caught up.  There is a Columbus Day regatta in Miami we would like to sail our boat to next weekend, but before we go, we need to haul the boat back out of the water, have a leaking depth finder rebedded and two other thru-hulls replaced.

The thru-hull for the forward sink drain has a slight leak when you move the valve handle, but the real problem has been the head.  A leaking LectraSan unit was making a smell that just could not be ignored.  I removed the unit and the origin of our odors but now we need to replumb the head.  The thru-hull pump out for the holding tank had been capped off, and when I tried to open the valve to check it, the handle fell off in my hand.  This will be the second thru-hull that we need to replace, or, as I like to call it, thru-hull number 2.  There are many items on a boat you can live without, but the head isn’t one of them!

Lectra San job. Note Logan’s creative way to deal with the smell!

A few items we have addressed so far have been mounting new fire extinguishers, burning the ends of any frayed sheets, mounting a new winch handle holder, mapping out and checking all thru hulls, familiarizing ourselves with the battery system, attaching a waterproof boot over our shore power cable. Even hooking up our holding tank pump out required a trip to the hardware store.  We started replacing some of the lights on the boat with LEDs, had a canvas maker come out to measure for a new dodger and made bumper boards for our new liveaboard slip.

Logan, Cole and Christine mapping out the thru-hulls. This took a large part of the day and was the boys homeschool project.

Several other items on our ‘to do soon’ list include replacing a leaky hatch over the V berth, a trip up the mast to replace a couple of lights and attach a radar reflector. Attaching the anchor locker and windlass to the boat which would also be a good idea before a breaking wave addresses the issue for us.

Needless to say the list is long and the time is short.  The good news is, there are people to help; the only problem is they all require money for their services!  But that isn’t exactly true either because there have been so many people already that have helped us with advice and shared information that they acquired over years of boating experience that has been given at no cost to us and has been an invaluable resource as we head up the learning curve.  This is part of the attraction of sailing to us.  The challenges are not particularly easy but camaraderie between cruisers has been a great experience already and we haven’t even ventured beyond the intercostal waterway!

Christine at the helm for the first time on the intercostal waterway with our friend, Ross giving moral support. Logan is helping to watch for traffic.

Till next time,

Mark