Down to Fort Bragg to check on the Kimberly D and put the final touches on the engine install prior to the "crew" showing up in 7 days for the trip up to Bellingham. Arrived in time to see Bob peer out of his hatch on the Yorktown and skedaddle onto and into the Kimberly D with bags in hand (after hew was informed not to board her. Lost patience & waited for the Sheriff ... what ensued is the stuff of movies and will be saved for another blog ... at the end, Bob leaves swearing, cursing and accusing Bill and I of all manner of things but Good Riddance. Get into the Kimberly D and NOTHING has been done ... no clean up, no installs ... only items that we subsequently found to be missing as went looking for them ..... Just have to hope for karma and that I'll eventually get my money.
Well, Bill and I get to work cleaning bilges, checking electronics, doing installs and the like. One problem after another crops up but we persevere through the day. Following morning doing a pre-inspection we check the fuel tanks and discover 2 things. First the top cap of the tanks have been glued on and is loose so we have can look forward to diesel sloshing over the tanks and into the bilges once we're on the ocean (Who glues the metal plates on tanks) and that "someone" has poured water in the fuel tanks (found the hose by the side of the boat) Spent most the afternoon carefully siphoning the water out of the 105 gallon tank (removed 23 gallons of water (what a chore). Then it's off to the machine shop to have a new cap engineered that we can seal and screw down onto the tanks.
But it's done and we crank up the engine to ensure all is okay and it is. Contacted the local diver to find out about the hull inspection that he'd done on the boat only to discover that (though I had been billed and paid for it) he had never dove this boat, he'd dove Bob's! Sigh, live & learn ... arrange for him to dive the boat and clean the hull and check the drop keel which he does but when he come up he promptly informs us that"your drop keels on the bottom" We thank him and remind ourselves to raise it up before we get underway. He goes off confused and returns the next day to clarify "Your keels on the bottom ...laying on the bottom ... it's only connected to the boat by a cable" Crap!!! (Visions of Bob lashing the Kimberly D to Daybreak and dragging her across to the crane, complaining about how sluggish she was to get going ... The master sailor forgot to raise the keel and the pin must have snapped so we were dragging it on the bottom .. sluggish .. I'll bet she was!) Get the diver to sever the cable and spent the rest of the day (along with 6 float bags and a lot of hauling) to get the keel over to the crane, haul her out (man, she's heavy) and then load her into the yard until we can get her home. So now, we have no drop keel and not too sure of how she'll handle for the trip up .. get onto the net to contact the Irwin guru and are assured that "she'll do fine .. just bob around a lot"
Okay back to cleaning and sorting out the electrical systems which are a rat nest. By the time the next day is done, the bilges are clean, the interior is presentable and I'm hoping against any further surprises. More problem ensue (surprise?) and Bill has to do some ingenious reconstruction to mount the filter assemblies and some of the electrics but we get the linkages re hooked to the cockpit and await the crew.
The crew arrives in a flurry and I'm so glad to see them and finally get going (it's been a rough week) Pastor Jim (the Cap'n) introduces me to the other 3 members, Ray (an old sea hand) and "Moses" their driver. The morning passes with Jim inspecting around the vessel and informing the rest of us on the finer points of sailing with a crew whilst a couple of the others go for provisions .. mu luck feels like it's finally looking up and then ... the final stab in the heart!
Ray, while inspecting the bilges and the bowels of the vessels informs us that he's found a hole at the base of the mast and that it's structurally unsafe to put up a sail. Bill goes down to check and comes up with the bad news that he put his fingers right into the hole and that's that ... no sails... and