Cheryl's Notes:

Well, September has come and gone and two weeks ago we survived four days of driving rain. By the time it was over, the New Bern area received 15.5 inches of rain. We had ports and hatches in the boat leaking that had never leaked before. At least the new hot water heater went in without a glitch. The repairs and refit continues. John now has a wish list of projects that we would like to complete.

Last week we went to the Annapolis Boat Show. We really only had one major purchase to complete. The rest of the time was spent looking for new gadgets that would make life easier for us. We managed to stick to just the Newfound Metal ports that we wanted. We were able to spend some quality time with our good friends Pat and Dave from Doris E. It was great to talk about Bayfield again, and we are seriously thinking of returning to the Great Lakes. We have to choose between a great locale on the coast, and the battle between salt and fresh water. Salt water is so hard on everything aboard the boat, but the season is short in fresh water. What do we do? Before we make a final decision, we are going to take advantage of the talents of all of the local craftsmen. We can get more projects completed here on a quicker timeline and at cheaper rates.

John's Notes:

The projects have begun. I made up a list of 27 things that we wanted to repair, replace, modify or build new. So far, we have completed 9 of the items on the list and have placed orders for another 2. For cash flow and tax purposes, we will be splitting the expense of the refurbishment between this year and next. That means that we will delay some of the items on the list until after New Years. Still, we will have added some significant creature comforts to the boat by year end. It really feels good to have such a good start on all of this. When we are finished, we are going to have one of the top 10 Catalina 36's of all time. Well, at least in our minds. Leprechaun is 11 years old now and still looks pretty new. When Cheryl is done with the new interior she will really look like new. As the projects are completed, I'm more convinced that we made the right decision to keep Leprechaun rather than move to a larger but older boat. If I were younger and still working, I may have made a different decision. Then again, with prices of new boats the way they are, I probably would have had to keep working till full retirement age. Nah. I like it this way.

By the way, the picture is for all of you non-believers. We drove around Annapolis until we found the Cluck-U Chicken.