Its here, the mid August deadlines have now come due. Life after 50, don't care much for deadlines being met..... so like..whatever.....he softly murmured to himself...



Now, new deadlines have been set, projects re-prioritized, gi yer heed a wee shake smartiepants... that inescapable feeling of doubt starts to seep into our rainbows-on-every-horizon type world. It is time, we must make serious decisions about stuff, lots of important stuff....kinda stuff that gets you into trouble if you let something like a credit card expire or how about any of multitude of government sponsored identity cards that expire before we return to civilization?

Some good news, toilet works, holding tank leak free, macerator needs power but the setup worked well including a siphon hose that allows the discharge through the original seacock



We have now established a date of departure. We deem the earliest day for KARMA IV to leave Halifax to be the 22nd September after which any weather conditions favourable to hoist sail and engage in our journey shall be made advantage of.
HQ has churned out a decision, carry on.
HQ also directs all crew to book last chance dental and doctor visits. Pain at sea brought forth by personal negligence and stupidity shall not be tolerated at sea. Also;

-prioritize what still needs to be done to KARMA IV

- get domestic affairs in order...review wills, renew soon to expire license's, auto inspections, safety certificates, credit card reviews, think of all possibilities...

- work out a load list for the boat, for the people, for the pets, for all eventualities...only things that we must carry for safety and survival.

KARMA IV has..... presence, a daily demand for love and attention. Like a Hollywood star of the 80"s trying to do it all over again but perhaps now a bit more laid back.


- wind generator: blades were re installed backwards by the maintenance chief following their removal to replace the stainless steel blade plate. On a nice evening against a fast setting sun I inadvertently flipped the blades over...this is why we have checklists... this has now been rectified and we have a place to run the ac cables to the controller.





- electrical cables: Allan and I spend numerous hours tracing and removing old unused cables, both under the cockpit and near the mast. I have learned how to crawl around under the cockpit to perform work behind the motor and how to get my whole body into the bowels of the boat. Since we bought this boat we have removed or relocated 90% of the dc system wires so its safer, easy to troubleshoot and accessible.



We needed to remove the last runs of power cable and away from under the engine. The large cables are welding gauge cable for the windlass up on the bow.





The newly completed bilge conversion brings the hundred pound batteries into the bilge where they will assist in stability and ultimately more secure in a rollover.



All the updates, additions and rewiring of the mast are now into the bilge area awaiting termination to the breaker panel.



-Nav Station: Allan is replacing the nav table wooden instrument panel. The old one had holes for the old instruments which are being replaced by new ones.

As it was...



Site prep for new back board






- cleaning: I cleaned the head (bathroom) from A to Z and cleaned the fridge.

- Cushions: We are recovering all the cushions. I am about 2/3 done.

- Companion way doors: Allan has started to remove years/layers of varnish on them. Not an easy task.