Odds and Ends

We are now assuming the purchase and sale agreement for our home will expire in early May. So far the buyers have been unable to get an offer on their home. We had only agreed to give them 30 days. We have had good traffic even with the pending sale condition on the property but we look forward to having the listing updated to remove this condition. The weather will be much better and we expect the traffic to increase even more.

Last Saturday we got a good start of the bottom paint. We had planned to finish on Sunday, but problems with the car, which have since been corrected, precluded us returning to the boatyard. We also made good progress getting the cabins cleaned and things stowed. We are using space bags to store clothes, linins and towels. These bags are compressed using a vacuum cleaner to pull out the air. They reduce the size by at least half and have the added benefit of protecting the contents from moisture. We are doing really well on storage space so far.

We have at least for now scratched the cockpit enclosure from our list. These are plastic curtains that attach to the bimini (awning over the cockpit) so as to create an enclosed area protected from the wind and rain. We decided we would rather have a larger cruising kitty at this point, and if we find we really need this we can add it later. That means we are essentially done with the outfitting. The link ‘Boat’ to the right has the complete listing of equipment.

Getting Ready for Launch

The weather has been horrible for working on the boat. The priority is the getting the bottom paint on so Ariel will be ready to launch. Bottom paint has a high copper content as well as some biocides which resist marine growth. We use an ablative paint which slowing wears away. Since we will not have the boat hauled again until 2008 we want to give extra special attention to getting the bottom right. Well so far we have not been able to work outside so I decided to do the watermaker installation.

It took three weekends but the watermaker installation is now complete, but it will be quite awhile before we are able test it. Until we are ready to run it on a routine basis it cannot be started. This system has several components that can be installed in separate locations. .The final design is not much like my original plan, but my original plan was done away from the boat and my memory of the dimensions of some spaces was a bit off. I am pleased with the result however and it is very efficient with all of the components installed close to the others and also very close to electrical and water connections. The only concern I have is the module is mounted upside down attached to a shelf so that is hanging. This was to keep as much usable space as possible. The concern I have is that repairs, if necessary will be very difficult, and anything stored in this same area will need to be protected against potential water leaks. Routine maintenance, such as filter changes should be fairly easy.

We are also busy taking things to the boat. With the closing date set we have to make the final decisions soon as what stays and what goes. We are actually in pretty good shape with the final choices around clothing and kitchen items. We have had some strange dishes lately as Linda is cleaning out the cupboards.

Getting the Covers off Ariel

We expect to sign the Purchase and Sale Agreement on our home on Monday, April 2, so we are really feeling the urgency to get Ariel ready to launch. We are both anxious to get the preparation work behind us and to have our new home available for us when we close. To that end this past weekend we removed the winter cover which was protecting Ariel. We were pretty efficient as this was the fifth winter we have used this cover. The day was perfect with temperatures in the 50's and a clear blue sky.

Each year at the end of May Defender Marine, a discount marine store, has a four day warehouse sale, which extends to the internet. They already have good prices, with no sales tax and reasonable shipping, so the sale is really nice. I have the patience each year to compile my list and wait for the sale. This year we ordered all of the electronic charts to cover from New England to the Bahamas. These are on tiny cards that slips into our chartplotter at the helm, or into a card reader attached to the laptop. We are able to do our route planning at the laptop and then transfer the cards, both the chart and a user card with our route plans to the chartplotter. We also ordered paper chartkits and guides for the same areas. These provide a broader view and most importantly backups to the electronic version.

We also purchased bottom paint and updated signal flares. These have expiration dates so they need to be replaced periodically. As soon as we get another nice weekend we will apply the bottom paint and then we will be ready for launch.

Last week we also ordered and received the last of our moving supplies. We added more moving blankets and a carpeted dolly to move heay furniture.