Checking items off the list – 4/15/2018

We moved the boat out of the shed and into some sunshine once the satellite and radar reconfiguration was completed. Now we’re ready to get going on our chores. A main priority for both of us has been to clean the winter and spring crud off the exterior of the boat. Dirt, dust and most recently pollen covered the boat. Everything outside felt gritty with 6 months worth of wind blown grim and no rainwater to rinse it off.

We thought we had left the pollen behind in Houston. But coming up here, we’re getting coated with it all over again.

We gave her a decent scrub down and then got busy unloading the truck, grocery shopping, etc. The new anchor light was installed with it’s hinge for lowering, the dingy was dropped in the water to service the motor, new impeller and zinc were installed on the generator, and prep work began on the back teak.

I can easily lower the new anchor light, bringing our air draft down to just under 19’.

Tim also installed the new “thumb saver”. Some of you may remember the incident in the Bahamas when I managed to mash my thumb while bringing up the anchor. Not fun! We needed to come up with something that would hold the shaft of the anchor down and keep the chain from jumping out of the gypsy when the anchor ran over the roller as we raised anchor. Not sure if that makes sense, but check out Tim’s solution.

Tim found the chain lock at a second hand boat store in Daytona Beach. He had the bottom bracket manufactured in Houston by his buddy Camaron Cox.

So clever! Tim knew the bracket had to be offset because of the unevenness of the deck.

Now as the anchor is raised, the chain lock will hold the anchor chain down and keep it from flying out of the gypsy. Walla! No more mashed thumbs. 🙂

While Tim worked on the chain stopper, I hung the bedroom curtains I made over winter. The old ones were original to the boat and I was able to ignore them last year, but the NASTY had to go. I made new curtains for the two rear windows and then small ovals for the side hatches that just Velcro on.

Maggie with geese buddies in the background.

Maggie has met some new friends here. It seems some Canadian Geese think AYB is a and have decided not to go north. The quiet is often squashed by their honking.

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