There seems to be an endless list of things to fix and update on Dakota....years of neglect will do that to a boat. Dave has been working for over a year and it shows in the gleaming wood, the hoses that don't leak and the lights that now work. He has had to follow miles of electrical lines that take many different turns, splices and colours to various parts of the boat and sometimes lead to nowhere but end suddenly hanging useless in the bilge....
The instrument panel (as seen in the picture) is one of those puzzles. Most of the instruments didn't work and if they did, it was intermittantly! Dave followed the lines to a mass of wires balled up and stuck together with duct tape and wrapped in a plastic bag...did the previous owner think this was going to water proof the connections?
The panel was cracked and broken, with water leaking behind and getting into the instruments....and most of the instruments had holes and blocked drains, all leading to a massive corrosion fest behind the panel. Well, no wonder the things didn't work.
The whole panel was removed and a new one ordered and this is where Santa comes in....we are now looking at replacing all the intruments and gages. What did we hear in Sailblogs?...that BOAT stands for 'Bring On Another Thousand'? Man....it's true!
So, Dakota is dock bound this winter. We aren't happy about not being able to sail on the nice days, but Dave is happy to go down to the boat to work on projects. We knew it would take a few years to get her up to 'Bristol Shape' and I know this winter I'll lose my husband to the endless boat projects....boat widow again!
We are keeping the dreams of sailing in warm weather and exotic places alive by reading the blogs of everyone here living their dream at this time.