We picked up our auto-helm windvane today and our solid boom vang, both of which we ordered in the US and had shipped to our friends in Annacortes to save a few dollars in shipping and handling fees.
Our living room is starting to look like a marine store. All of our recent purchases have ended up here to try and keep the boat less cluttered as we work on various projects. At the moment we are replacing all of the standing rigging including the lifelines. We are almost finished and only the back stays remain to be done.
Ian has made a spreadsheet of the work we need to do before our departure in August for San Diego. Each month has a couple of jobs to be done. So far we have been keeping on top. As long as we don't add to the list it seems to go okay. We now only have 22 weeks to get everything done and it would be nice to have some time in there to actually get out on the water and enjoy the boat and learn some of our new systems.
I was very excited last week to actually send an email from our ham radio to our home email address. It mostly required patience in finding a frequency that was not busy and would send the email. I also was able to download a grib file (which is a weather file for those of you who don't speak sailor lingo) so I felt very relieved because this all seemed so technical to me. It actually is quite easy and like I said just requires patience.
In April we are going to haul the boat and get some work done that requires being out of the water. We need to add a new through hull for the watermaker (that we don't have yet), reroute the out flow for the holding tank, replace the zincs and repaint the bottom. Ian is also going to do some work in the chain locker and install the electric windlass so that we (he) no longer have to pull the chain up with the manual windlass which is quite tiring. So lots to do.
But we are excited and can hardly wait to be heading south. I have to admit I'm more looking forward to actually being there than heading there, but the journey is an important part of the whole trip.