Cool winds arrive from Canada - 70F
12/12/2008, Stuart, Florida

Day by day we are slowly making progress.

Our son, Marc-Andre arrived yesterday, so we drove down to Ft Lauderdale to pick him up. Four hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-95 with some terrible accidents due to rain. There are a lot of people in Florida and lots of seniors who drive too quickly.

The mast was finally installed today and it was fun to watch. With the new rear stay acting as an antennae for radio reception, the radio can now be tested and the installation finalized on Monday.

Another two days of electrical work will be required to complete the watermaker and solar panel electronics, and hopefully we can drop the boat into the water mid next week and verify that all the mechanical systems are working properly.

Over the summer our small inflatable dinghy developed a large hole on one side which is tomorrow's repair task if it doesn't rain. Difficult to know how best to store the dinghy over the hot summer months.

With Marc-Andre to help us we're hoping things go a little quicker. in terms of loading the boat with "stuff" and preparing for our departure.

Another problem to be solved is where to leave the car for four months.

Lots of fun!

I hope the weather in Ottawa is behaving itself, and the preparations for Christmas are all complete. It's interesting to see the Christmas trees, reindeer and Santa, and horrible Christmas music in the shopping centres here in Florida, with kids in shorts, and green grass and lush plants everywhere.

I managed to find a string of Christmas lights for the boat (which run on 12V, so we should be all set for the big event.

Keep well and enjoy yourselves!

glen

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Still beautiful
12/10/2008, Stuart, Florida

Work on the boat is progressing albeit slowly.

One of the 8 batteries on board has tested defective, so I drove up to Ft.Pierce to exchange it for a new one.

The riggers have arrived and are in the process of re-assembling our mast c/w the new rear stay which will be used as the antennae for our new Single Side Band (SSB) radio.

The radio has been tested and a radio antennae tuner has been installed. We await a customized mahogany enclosure to be built to allow for the radio installation.

Stainless Steel bows have been ordered to accommodate the solar panels on top of the bimini.

The entire bottom of the boat has been scraped and sanded, primed and painted with anti-fouling paint which contains a biocide to minimize algae growth. I was surprised to learn that the paint costs $400 USD per gallon, and we'll use seven gallons.

The prop has been polished and painted with another special covering to prevent barnacle build-up as has the bow thruster.

Louise has completed an initial cleaning of the exterior of the boat, but will wait until after the mast has been installed before completing her final assault on the deck.

We are living in a lovely home 3 blocks from the marina which we share with the owner, Peter Adams, who is a professional golfer who spends his summers in Connecticut, and winters in Florida.

The house across the street is currently for sale, and with the real estate market in Florida in turmoil, the asking price for a 3 bedroom home c/w 7 appliances, 2 bathrooms, and double car garage is $120K.

Louise and I are going to view it tomorrow.

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Beautiful and hot!
12/07/2008, Stuart, Florida

We're getting settled and have started cleaning and reassembing the boat. What appeared clean was in fact filthy once water was applied.

It seems that southern Florida has a fine, black ash in the air as a result of burning sugar cane.

Louise was thankful for the pressure-washer on board.

All the decks are now clean, and the exterior canvas (bimini and dodger) are installed.

We drove up to Melbourne, Florida this morning to purchase a sea drogue, and also found an unused Para-tech 18' sea anchor for $50.

Having just bought one on ebay for $800, I couldn't resist. You can never have enough safety equipment on board.

We also met many of the members of the SSCA and have decided to join this merry band of world cruisers.

Our son arrives in Fort Lauderdale in three days, and if things work out correctly, we hope to have everything ready to go within 7-10 days.

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