S/V Passage - Refitting a Classic (& Building Our Skills) Before Cutting the Docklines

Motivation. That one little word has so much "baggage" associate with it, but in my mind truly defines the doers from the dreamers. Ever since Daylight Saving Time ended over the weekend I've struggled to maintain my level of motivation. Between the sun going down around 4:30pm, the rain, and the COLD weather setting in...the motivation to stay inside and warm is easily overcoming the motivation to run down to Passage after work.

As you can see from the photo in this post, we've been busy "talking" about boat stuff...David has even been designing slogans for our boating 'gear' next summer...but actual boatwork and boat visits have not been frequent. We did make it down there briefly on Sunday afternoon, but the door hadn't been installed on the shrinkwrap yet. We briefly thought about cutting a slit into the wrap, but then realized that the stuff we needed to get off the boat probably wouldn't fit until the door goes on. So we headed home with a rainy day at the boat rather wasted. With how crazy stuff has been outside of boatwork, it was kind of nice to have a lazy day.

But as I think about all the projects we still need to work on, knowing we could have done work and didn't starts to worry me. Now I wonder if we can get even half or most of our to-do list done before we launch in a few months. The cold wuss in me wonders if perhaps we should take the holidays off and start fresh after the new year...but the determined part of me knows that all we need to do to get through the winter is a space heater from Home Depot. The question now is which part of me is more motivated? It's suppose to be in the 50s and cloudy this weekend, so in the short term it'll be the latter.

I have big plans to finally get all the cushions off the boat to recover them. As many readers who've been on our boat this summer know well, poor David has a thing about spiders so I need to clean all foam (lavender is also a natural spider deterrent) before starting to recover any of it. At least I'll have lots to do after work so I won't feel as guilty about not going down to the boatyard after work during the week! If we're really on top of things, maybe we'll start stripping varnish off the interior woodwork...if at least one visit to Home Depot actually happens, then we'll be on our way to productivity...keep your fingers crossed!

Well, he wrote the quote anyway...

This quote is really inspiring...it's the reason 90-year-old women still take time to graduate from college or a 100-year-old man runs a marathon!

We went down to the boatyard to see Passage on her cradle last Sunday, and it was amazing that it took just 20 minutes to get there! When we got to the boat, we packed up a few things to bring home for the winter as well as started to look at the holding tank to determine how we will remove it. We also realized that the existing toilet is built on a fiberglass shelf in the head, so I figure that we need to cut it down so that the Nature's Head isn't too tall to sit on. At least we have the winter to determine the best way to address this challenge.

It's been tough the last week and a half realizing that fall is solidly here, and I don't get to go sailing every weekend anymore (at least not until next Spring). But it's also given me time to start assessing our project agenda as well as refocus on things we have totally ignored for the last five months...namely, our condo! We've cleaned it pretty much top to bottom (who needs spring cleaning when you've got fall?!), held a Halloween party, and I've finally started working on bench cushions for our front window seat.

Once I finish the cushions for home I will be adding batting to our v-berth cushions, refitting the existing main cabin cushions, and sewing slipcovers for all of them, too. Both of my parents have separately told me how amazed they are that I do so much myself...considering my non-experience before we bought Passage this past May, in hindsight I guess it is pretty amazing!

As we've started our journey this year, we've both learned so much; I can't believe how much has happened in the last six months! We've come, we've messed up, we've learned, and most importantly we've been inspired to keep going. We now have a good 6-7 months before we can launch Passage next spring, so that'll hopefully be enough time to get our work done and convince our friends that we haven't completely disappeared from Chicago society! Overall, I'm starting to appreciate all this "free" time now that I can't go sailing...but that doesn't mean it won't be a loooong, tough winter...just check the Farmer's Almanac!