Things are moving along quite well, and this week we have been seeing great progress with lots of joinery going back into the starboard hull. The stringer & bulk head work on the starboard side has been complete for a few weeks so Dan has been attacking the re-installation of all the joinery. Not an easy task!


Notice the cupboards installed to the right, and the settee was installed to the left by the end of the day.

Since the reinforced bulkhead is about two inches wider than before - all the original shelves, door frames, cabinet/closet doors, headliners, etc., all have to be modified and refit back into place. Lots of tedious work (all because of two inches)! But Dan is doing an awesome job and it is looking great! We even have the new washer/dryer installed - and it fits better than the old one!



John is making sure all the various electrical components (such as the compressor for the freezer) are reinstalled in more readily accessible areas just in case he has to get to them for repair. Nothing like having a few miserable experiences trying to get to various boat parts to make you jump on this opportunity to put it right while the boat is wide open!

After doing some maintenance on the sail drives and engines, a broken rusted bolt was found on the connection of the transmission to engine, so we decided to have both engines removed and serviced (another opportunity to do some preventative maintenance). Luckily with engines and saildrives removed we found another major service item and that is the flexible coupler between the engine and transmission. With both engines removed, it meant that there was just enough room for a person of about my size to fit down in the bilges and do one full turn without hurting themselves. So I was nominated to spend a day and a half in the engine bilges attacking a long overdue clean-up.



I donned my newly acquired headlamp (after having lived by headlamp at night aboard Charisma for 2 weeks - I now envision all sorts of uses for them!), one of John's fashionable work shirts, protective gloves, and I began my onslaught of both engine bilges. Now they are all sparkly clean and ready for engines again. I still wouldn't eat off of them, but for now you can get down in there wearing a clean pair of shorts and t-shirt, and still come out spotless.


Well - almost spotless bilges!

John continues to organize and route all the wiring and plumbing, squeezing himself into places I never thought he could fit. And I have about wrapped up the cleaning and foam replacement of the headliner pieces that need to be reinstalled. I have also grabbed all the first aid and medicine supplies to re-inventory back at our B&B to see what we might need to restock while back in the USA....

Which brings me to another subject! We will be arriving back in the USA on 1 August and staying thru February of next year! Our New Zealand Visitor Visas are expiring here on 1 August. We could probably have them extended again, but there is just not enough time, even if Orcinius is ready to be put back in the water, for us to do an extensive sea trial and make sure all the systems and parts & pieces are ready for a long passage north. Then, only to turn around 6-8 weeks later and make the passage back down to NZ for the cyclone season. It's a lot of wear and tear on both the boat and the crew for such a short period of time. So we are heading back to enjoy some beautiful NW weather and to get all caught back up with family and friends! YAHOOOO! See y'all soon!