Well good ol Looking Glass finally has arrived back in salt water and is gearing up to go play. I'm living on her here in Seattle now and she's moored at Shilshole Bay Marina while I work here at the Seattle Sailing Club.
Projects have been abundant and have certainly kept me busy.
Here's a quick run-down on what I've been up to.
-The engine was pulled out last August and given to a mechanic for the winter. He tore it apart, played around with the cylinder, piston, valves, and injectors and such, painted it Yanmar gray and stuck it back together. I put it back in the boat before LG came to Seattle, finished hooking it up here and replaced the shift control cable. Still need to really use the engine and break it in, but she seems pretty happy.
-Worked on the shore power connections and charging system. Bought a nice new shorepower cord with pretty blue lights. Hooked up another AC switch/breaker for the battery charger and ran the power to the charge. Now I just flip the switch instead of run the goofy extension cord to the outlet. Need to find just one AC battery charger label. Not interested in buying the whole pack.
-More with the AC shorepower. I ran another wire for an outlet behind the galley stove. Cut a hole in the hanging locker (or shelved locker) and wired it all up. Pretty easy deal and it's nice to have a galley plug. This lets me plug in my phone and heater and play with both without getting out of bed.
- I bought a Garmin GPS plotter this spring when I started work here at the Sailing Club for a Cruise and Learn trip I was doing for a week in June. I knew I would also use it for LG. Mounted it in place of the old compass and ran the wires to the DC panel. I need to replace the compass and will probably put a mount in the bottom hatch board.
- I took apart the stem fitting on the bow for the forestay to find out why it was popped up a 1/4 inch or so. It's never moved but it just wasn't right. I couldn't find any reason why it was so after a little bit of shaving and sanding it fit back on flush to the deck and with a little bit of Lifeseal mess, it's finished and hopefully good to go.
- Installed an electric water pump for the galley sink. The handpump faucet wasn't working so I installed the pump. It's nice to just turn on the water wherever I am. There still is the filler in the aft lazarette but it now runs directly to the water bladder to fill it up. I need to install another water bladder which might have to go up front in the v-berth if I can't find one for the bilge.
- Replaced the vhf connections at the mast with new cable coming through the boat. I need to replace the mast cable sometime, but for right now there seems to be good reception so I not too concerned.

There have been many other little projects to make life more comfortable on the boat. I'm still in my first month of living aboard and so far it's been great. It certainly will be interesting to see how the winter treats us here in Seattle.

I'm looking at going for the first cruise on Looking Glass here this weekend. Probably will end of going around Bainbridge Island for a couple nights. It will be a good shakedown to see what I need to keep working on.

Big project yet to come.....dodger, roller furling headsail, steering vane??

So much fun!!