Tuesday

Today we woke at a reasonable hour and had some coffee and donuts. The morning was spent working on various projects and making parts lists. We checked out the running lights, disassembled the windless, fixed the deck drains and figured out what we needed for the head and galley sink. We also found a place to buy plexiglass for the port lights and are waiting to hear back about an extension cable for the radar.

Aaron went in the water and checked out the prop and rudder as well as the general condition of the hull. I felt the venture was a great success, however, Aaron was less enthused. I personally feel this was due to the 33 degree water temperature.

In the afternoon we went on a bank busting shopping spree at West Marine, keeping them open two hours after closing time ordering parts that were not in the store. We stopped by the auto parts store and Loews for hardware and sink plumbing materials, and then headed back.

We finally got back fairly late, and continued working on various projects. After working on far too much unplanned work, the galley sink drains and we have some great new cabin lights to work by. I also installed the new battery charger and the batteries seem to be charging better than expected.

We found out that the heater I ordered weeks ago is back-ordered due to customs in Canada, so we wont get it in time. This means I have to figure out another plan for heat during the trip, otherwise the whole damn boat will freeze. I need to check on the status of the new battery tomorrow, hopefully it will arrive in the next few days.

During dinner we re-evaluated where we are and came up with a new priority list of remaining tasks. Tomorrow we dream of a sea trial, however it probably wont happen with all the remaining critical items to finish. High tide is at 3:45, we have about a 4 hour slack tide window, so if we can get ready by then we'll go, otherwise we'll keep working.

My feet were feeling kind of strange and after giving it some thought I realized that not only have I not taken a shower since saturday night but also that I am still waering the same socks. I would love to write more, but the swamp foot requires immediate attention. So, I am now setting off on the fifteen minute trek to the marina showers.

Goodbye for now, hoping for a productive day tomorrow.

JD