We got the ground tackle project completed, only to find the anchor has 'shoulders' that prevent it from coming right up through the new roller housing. So, they're going to have to be cut back. It's the kind of problem we come up against all the time. It seems that every solution comes with a new imbedded problem, but there is no way around it. We just have to out last the problems until they give up!
I thought the solar panels would be completed weeks ago, but we still have to get them wired up. It means Houdini-like exercises in contortion and making things disappear here, and try to make them re-appear over there.
The new inflatable dinghy arrives this week so we can get the new set up for the davits sorted out. That was also one of the big projects we came here to do. Hopefully it will be fairly straight forward.
The new roller furling gear for both masts has arrived in Florida from France, so we hope to have it here within a week too. The new sails are ordered and we have to strip off the old sails and the entire system of tracks and cars. I can see getting the old stuff off and new stuff on taking a full week on its own.
Fortunately Sandy's work has been turning this little ship into our home.
Initially we were conscious of the amount of money we're having to spend on the half dozen "have to do" projects and there is precious little for the redecorating ideas. I probably would have left things as they were because they weren't bad and worked for the most part.
But being a sensitive new age guy, and a whimp, I recognized Sandy's need to make this boat our home. That meant getting rid of 'their stuff' and replacing it with our own tastes.
I also know that morale is so important when under pressure and far from friends and family. And that applies to both of us. It's very easy to get the blues, and it makes a lot more sense to spend a bit on the boat rather than on antidepressants and councelling!
It was a good call. We can sit inside in the evenings, it's way too cold to sit in the cockpit now, and the boat feels like home. It's warm, and cosey, and special.
Over the last few months we've found new curtaining material and Sandy has been up in the Seine Cottage making curtains and valances with a very old, temperamental, borrowed sewing machine.
The Seine Cottage, right here as we come off the dock, is where an old fisherman who owned this property before, used to keep his nets. Now it's a rustic weekender that Bob and Elizabeth were happy to let us use for curtain making.
It really does feel like our unique home.
We found a really nice duvet and it came with a valance, which we can't use with our built in bunk. Sandy turned that into cushions. So our cabin is vastly improved too. Especially after we put a new light in so you can actually see in there now!
The project I really had doubts about was redoing the bathrooms.
When we were boat hunting Sandy fell in love with the basin she saw on a boat. She would have bought that boat just for the basin!
The beautiful little stainless steel ones on the boat just don't do it for her.
Months ago she found some hand painted basins and ordered 3, from Mexico! Then the tile samples started arriving and we tried a bunch before finding the right ones.
Getting the old basin out looked like a nightmare. We thought we were going to have to cut it out in pieces. Fortunately, cutting an exploratory hole in the benchtop got her a starting point and she chipped away until it came out. The resulting hole turned out to be just right for the new bigger basin.
After much tile cutting (cussin'), glueing and grouting (grousin'), the bathroom looks fantastic. Now she is so full of confidence there is no stopping her... on to the next two.
When we can eventually get to do the outside as well as the inside, (somewhere warmer), Wind Wanderer will be pretty special.