Update 6 December 2015.

Originally Posted April 2014

  We now have a way to get WiFi on the boat so I am posting some of these old posts so that I can get caught up.  We have had the boat for two years and now we can focus on letting you know what that has been like.

April 2014

  I just got back from my second long stay on the boat. Joan is still down there, her 3rd trip. Again it was very difficult to come back.
The good thing is things are getting done. There was definite progress on the engine, new cooling system, sensors, belts, pulley and conversion to a spin on secondary fuel filter. Joan laughs as every time she can't find me she looks into the engine room to find me peering and poking around. But hey it is fun and I am learning a lot about the boat.

  I removed our manual bilge pump and then Joan rehabbed and re-built the whole thing. She called it her first "blue" job. I was proud of her and I know she was proud of herself.
The major project was the re-building of the propane system. Bottom line is it is ready for final connections. So skip the next part if you don't want details.

  Started out by having to remove the old copper delivery pipe. Good thing too as we found a big crimp in it at one bulk head. So I cut the tubing every where I could and pulled it and the protective foam out. One good aspect of doing this was to learn how to access those parts of the boat and what was behind and underneath there. Having the right tool also helped. I had gotten a copper tubing cutter from somewhere and that made easy work of cutting. Now it was time to run 30' of new LPG hose. But first we had to figure out how to get it through 7 feet of space with 3 bulk heads we couldn't get to and make sure it would not chafe. I sat and thought about it for a while, a Tom Turnbuckle method, I resolved it by realizing that the holes in the bulkheads were pretty well lined up and the boat at this point only curved a bit. I went down to the Home Depot and got a piece of PVC water pipe that would fit the LPG hose. Then with both of us pulling and pushing we got it through the 3 bulk heads and up to where we could get to the hose again. This took many hours, learning to peer through holes using a mirror and cutting our first hole in the boat. There was just one spot that we could not get the pipe lined up. Fortunately it was in the shower so we cut a hole and I was able to reach in and guide the tube through the next bulk head and then it went through the next two easy as pie. The real benefit here is that we now know what it behind the shower, what the plumbing to the shower faucet looks like and how it is connected, and we now have the chance to put in a recessed soap dish or cubby and the LPG hose is fully protected through those bulk heads. We also learned that they had placed a lot of insulation and foam around the ice box. It took about 5 minutes to get the hose run from the locker to the stove. I put the LPG hose through sections of fire hose at the rest of the bulk heads and then tacked the fire hose down so it would not move. I think we are good on chafe protection and plus we know where to inspect it. We will put in a new dual regulator, solenoid and two sniffers next time and call it done. Not bad for 3 days work I say.

  We also got to go get all the boat stuff out of the storage locker where the PO had stored it getting it staged for selling it. There was a spinnaker in a sock and lots of spares. The best thing was all the screens for the upper hatches, but alas no pots and pans or port light screens.

  We had our first lunch in the cockpit. We were invited to dinner with our boat neighbors and got to know them and found they are really good people. They are casting off for Costa Rica here soon on their 40' C&C. We hope to see them again. We had another dock neighbor over for a late lunch. He is the NASA space station engineer, really good guy who now will be doing 3 months at home and 3 in Russia, if we don't got to war. He made us laugh and we will never look at a shooting star the same. Joan was talking about shooting stars and the night sky and he just ups and says "Astronaut Shit" I asked "what did you say?" "Astronaut Shit". Ok explain that one Lucy. Seems that when the toilet gets full on the Space Station they take the bag out weight it down and throw it overboard, yes they are outside the 3 mile limit, and it burns up on re-entry. So next time you see a shooting star and start to make a wish remember you might be wishing on shit. ;-)