It's been a bit of a dog's breakfast for me lately (trying not to complain). I went to the doctor for pain in my knees and found out I needed at least one, if not two knee replacement surgeries. Scheduled one for the end of June and everything went great. Two weeks later I started having issues walking and started falling over even when using a walker. First fall was trying to step up onto my sailboat. 3 weeks of physical therapy and I can walk again using a walker and I'm hoping to switch to a cane in the near future.

Needless to say, I have not been able to make it down the stairs to the marina. I think this is my longest period without being on Godspeed. For a brief time I was afraid I would not be able to retire onto the boat, but I think I will make a recover in due time. The doctors have given my condition a name, spinal stenosis, but really have no idea what is causing the problem. Anyone planning on retiring to a sailboat, please take care of yourselves and stay healthy.

Damn, another year has flown by. Still plugging away at boat projects but I've had the added fun of body parts now needing replacement. All my life I have been all over the map with my weight. When I was running or bicycling I'd be skinny, when I stopped I'd get fat. I had no idea the toll it was taking on my knees. Now I get to be like Steve Austin (old TV reference) and have improved parts put in. Hopefully that will help me exercise more and get the weight off. Gotta do something, this is affecting my ability to move about the boat.

OK, enough crying... The big push in the last year was to finish the heater install. Naturally it was finished right when Texas started to heat up again, but I'm pretty happy with the installation. The 6# propane tank went on the stern rail and the controls are in a waterproof plastic electrical box. Everything went smoothly if slowly and the only glitch was a bad thermocouple. Dickinson Marine was nice enough to send me a free replacement even though my warranty had expired.

I'm now thinking about installing a second 6# tank on the starboard side for the stove. It would be a hell of a lot better than the 1.5# tank and it would get the propane tank out of the interior of the boat. I'm still mulling it over but it seems like a good idea.

Colin on the yacht Emerald suggested adding a permanently mounted shower to get rid of the silly handheld removable faucet. I've bought a cool low flow ss shower-head and a ss mixer, but I'm having trouble sourcing ss 1/2" pipe. I think this might be my summer project, but this summer I'd like to spend more time sailing and less time working on the boat.

Cheers,

Rick

Well, it's summer again in central Texas. The lake is 25ft low and the water temp is 83. Air temp is 100. Too many powerboats and pwc out on the lake, so it's mostly a hang out at the boat with my floating ice chest summer.

I did manage to lose all the coolant in the diesel while motoring and did my best to destroy the motor, but God was looking out for me (He helps doctors and idiots. Guess which one I'm not...) and it seems no damage was done.

Eric and Jenna came down for the day to visit. Eric worked for me at the school district and was truly a great employee. Turns out he and his wife are even better friends. I cannot believe that they drove down from Dallas for a visit, but we sure had fun sailing. They even brought some friends so we had a great crew.

Rachel, (my acquired niece) is coming for a visit, so it looks like I'll need to brave the shallows and the pwc for another sail. Should be fun.

Cheers,

Rick

OK, I have once again been lax about updates. Spring Break turned out to be great fun and I got a few things done.

To review my list:

Dickinson P9000 propane heater - No progress connecting it but it is installed.

Stern rail propane tank mount - Done and turned out nice (I'll post pictures)

New propane system for the heater - Have all the connections and I just got the new 40' propane hose. Now I just need to build a teak box to protect the fittings and run the hose.

Whole boat water filter - Done, but the pump is having a hard time pushing water through the 5 micron filter. Might need to go to a larger size.
V-berth cabinet doors

New mahogany curtains rods and SS brackets - Done except for 2 brackets. This came out really nice and I plan to add at least 3 more curtains to ports.

New curtains - Done. They look great on the 3 ports I have finished.

Teak dagger mount - Done, a nice homey touch.

Framed picture in v-berth - Done, "Sailing on the Solent" looks nice and covers some rough sports on the bulkhead..

Raritan PH - II- Done, except for the troublesome fresh water leak.. I hate plumbing...

Also managed to get in 2 days of sailing and 2 nights on the boat...

All in all, I would say a "B-" week.

Cheers,

Rick