We’ve been at Cheboygan County Marina for a little over a week now and it looks like we’ll be here at least another month. We’ve made a list of jobs to tackle and even while we check off completed tasks, the list seems to grow. Tim calls it ”job creep”. It’s like a growing family- one job seems to give birth to two more. At least we won’t be bored.
Our plan was to be in Duncan Bay Marina by now, but we’ve come to like CCM and it has it’s perks. The biggest being that we can keep the RV in the parking lot and easily accessible to us. Duncan doesn’t allow RVs on site and we would have had to store ours at Walstrom for some $$$ and we’d be riding our bikes 2+ miles to get the RV and then ride back. We would also be at the mercy of Walstrom’s open hours. We’re happy here and there’s a nice group of boaters that have welcomed us Texans. The only real downside to staying here vs Duncan is the wind. CCM is open to the north winds off Lake Huron while Duncan is more protected. You’d think it wouldn’t be an issue at the beginning of June, but I wouldn’t have thought the temperatures would be so cold either.
I’ll be doing inside chores today.
One of Tim’s big jobs is to install a new pod for upgraded electronics. Over the winter, Tim bought a new pod for the upper helm and installed a Vesper Marine AIS Transponder (we have an AIS receiver only). The bolts for the new pod have a different configuration than the old one did and – here comes some job creep- so he had to fill the old holes with epoxy which leads to covering the holes with gelcoat. All this created another job of figuring out which gelcoat color to use of the dozens of colors available.
This is our first of many gelcoat jobs we plan and it’s a good one to get started on.
Also over the winter, we purchase retractable screen doors for our two side doors in the main cabin. I had made some basic screen covers that we velcroed on and they served up OK for a while. But we after seeing some on other DeFevers, we decided it was time to upgrade. Job creep again came into play while we were checking the fit and installation of the new doors. As I looked at the worn wood moulding on the door frames, I knew I wouldn’t be happy unless I took the time to refinished them. So….
So stay with us as we work our way through these projects. As you can see from the mess, we have lots more to do.
Our boat is a mess but for the opposite reason. We’re closing it up for hurricane season in FL and heading back to AZ. Wish it was up north so we could continue cruising!
I wish you guys were up here too. I love this area and you’d be a lot of fun to bop around with. We could knit together 🤗.
You folks are doing a lot of work that will result in an even more splendid ship!
For the past week we have been focusing on racial rioting that began after a white Minneaoplis policeman killed a black man (it was on video). Terrible situation. Most of the stores on Grand Avenue are boarded up, so there goes there goes the restaurant ‘pick-up option.’ Now, that sounds petty to say that as so many have most so much. Most of the damage is in eastern Minneapolis. We are safe.
It’s always something
Good thing you are so handy! I’m impressed!
It’s all a labor of love.
But working on the boat ain’t all that bad.