10 days to go and things are progressing...
03 October 2009
• RNSYS, Halifax, NS
by Mike
..... even with the required stops to occasionally party. Speaking of which, Sempre Vivens birthday bash last night was a rousing success. Folk showed up that I hadn't seen in over a year to wish the old gal happy birthday and even the sun came out after rain had been threatening all day. The cabin was packed so Barb and I along with Heather and Alan, who had showed up to visit us and had been ambushed to attend the party as well, stayed in the cockpit. Someone was below cooking like mad and trays of hors d'ouvres kept being passed up. Good time was had by all and the boat looks as good as the day she was launched.
As for Nelleke, she must be heaving a nautical sigh of relief as we can now see the floorboards in all of the cabins as more and more stuff is getting completed, stowed away, gashed, or taken to the storage unit. Indeed, we are getting close to being ready.
I look at the calendar and realize that we have only 10 days before our planned departure, given that the weather gods are kind to us. Therefore we have started a countdown clock at the start of each post. Here at the Squadron there are more and more boats stopping in for a night's rest or some just to fuel up before they set off south. Most that we have noticed are large yachts, sail and power, which have professional crew aboard with owners that will meet the boat somewhere in sunnier climes. There is even one that has spent the summer here, Convergence, whose professional skipper is waiting for crew to arrive on the 10th before he sets off to Charleston where the owners make their home. We are all busy getting last minute stuff done before the departures; some are just closer to being ready.
Barb had a last minute hiccup with her BlackBerry and laptop link. Somehow, they managed to disassociate themselves and she had to take them into the dealer to get them to rectify the situation. Best of Luck! While wandering about Halifax, Barb came across a used book sale in support of Symphony Nova Scotia that was being held in one of the local shopping malls. Nearly forty dollars later we have two bags of good books to find some place to put aboard. This gave us even more of a nudge to sort out our "library" when we got back to the boat. We now have three categories of books aboard: 1. Those books that we have absolutely no intention of ever giving up or parting with; 2. Those books that we don't need but want to retain like cruising guides that are not on our itinerary for this year and as such can be stored away in one of the less accessible spots; and, 3. books that we have read and are prepared to give up and are stored separately to take into those swap places that you come across in your travels.
I have had an epiphany about why the radar didn't work for me and did for them, even after it had seemed to work for a while. Although the chart plotter and radome are on 24V, there are other 12 V devices that are on the NMEA bus. I suspect that what happens is that because of this the NMEA signals that are passed between the radome and the chart plotter are sometimes either absent or inaccurate. At the very least the hardcoded software in both devices are confused. I will confirm that when we are out at CMC service shop, but I almost 100% sure that I'm correct.
I have glued together the desk for the office in the middle cabin and as an added bonus I have cleared out all the excess wood that had accumulated in there. There is the small homemade cockpit table that had been replaced by the good teak one that I got on sale at the Binnacle, down there too. I had thought that I will be making another trip to Lee Valley Tools to get a couple of hinges that I would use to hook it to the door on the forward head so that it will fold up when not in use and yet store in minimal space. However, Barb has pointed out that any of our more generously endowed friends have a problem getting into the foreward cabin as it is and this would put the final blocade in place. So, I have decided that it, too will go into storage.
I have also taken the measurements to shape the pad to go under the davit supports that we will be installing astern. Fortunately it is a nice day so we can get a lot of this stuff done outside. I think that the Admiral would never forgive me is I got sawdust all over everything again and I think she would resort to deadly force if I got glue on the new cushions!
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