A year and a half to be exact, since my last post. We really haven't been up to much, some local cruising and boat updating. We have taken on the project to re-cover all the cushions in the boat. That was ten cushions for the three staterooms and ten for the galley/saloon area. We have finished with the staterooms, they look pretty good, but they were covered with cloth and that is very forgiving since if you make a mistake you can take it out and do it over without any evidence of the errant stitches. We have chosen to cover the galley/saloon area in a nice white leathery looking material that will not be so forgiving. We plan on starting those in January. I've also been trying to chase down a few nuisance leaks, you know the kind that just drip once or twice a minute during a heavy rain. Sometimes you feel like just re-caulking every dang screw hole but then you start looking around and realize just how daunting of a task that will be. So far I'm half way down the port side cap rails and lifeline stanchions. I've also put new gaskets on a couple of the small hatches with good success. It's amazing how fast the learning curve goes up. Lot's to do before the spring sailing season arrives.
Spring will see us do several shakedown cruises in the local area. We have talked about going over to the islands off Mississippi but as yet haven't made it. The boat always seems to turn east when we leave the pass, probably because our son, his wife and our granddaughters live in the Panama City area so who knows. I want to get the cushions finished by mid February and hope to add solar panels this spring.
The long range plan for now is getting the boat ready to go on a lengthy cruise starting this summer. We are in the early planning stages of doing the Bahamas and possibly Cuba as well. I might even be able to talk Sharon into the rest of the Caribbean, but that is another story