Where the heck we been?

After spending several months from February through July in Kiwi land and the boat not being close to splashing we decided to fly across the pond to the Pacifica Northwest or HOME. Yep we arrived home the first part of August after taking a short week goofing off in Hawaii.

Yep I know this doesn't sound anything like cruising...... it isn't, but one has to do something when the boat is out of commission and there is absolutely nothing you can do on the water except go home and live on the water in our floating home.... no not a houseboat... a real floating 2400 square foot floating house.

August and September has been nice in the PNW so we enjoyed our time at home.

By the end of October it was time to get back to ORCINIUS and get her ready to be splashed. There really wasn't much for Lisa to do on the boat until we return to cruising in March so I elected to travel back to NZ and press on with refitting all the electrical, plumbing and electronics. Lisa is not just sitting on her laurels while I am gone she is spending hours and hours practicing her guitar and Ukulele all while taking a three week road trip to the East coast.
Yep she decided to take a train from Vancouver to Seattle and jump to another and head to Minneapolis to visit her sister and the family. From there she is renting a car and making a wild road ride south to visit some high school girl friends, then East to Illinois to visit a college roommate then on to Dayton OH to pick up a former roommate from her Air Force days in OKC where they will travel to DC to visit yet another one of their old AF friends. There she will dump the car and fly to Jacksonville FL to visit a cousin. After that it will be to fly back home. And she said she would be bored and miss me while I was gone!! Huh.

As for me... I arrived back in NZ on 1 Oct and flew up the Whangarei on the 2nd. The owner of the boat yard came over and picked me up at the airport and we went back to see ORCINIUS. The inside was complete excepting a little more vacuuming and clean-up but the outside looked like the ground under an awning in New York where the pigeon live.... yep bs everywhere. I am not an anal owner so I understood but I also said we needed to get the old girl outside and cleaned up. Our plan was for this last weekend and so we did. Out she came and two hours of 3000 psi pressure washing made her look nearly brand new, well almost, there be a few spots that will need some attention.

So where is ORCINIUS and what's the plan. It was my job to do the plumbing and electrical so I have concentrated on that since returning. I had to fit all the bronze elbows, valves and hose nipples and then connect the hoses to make sure she was water tight. That took most of the first week. The first weekend I cleaned up the generator housing so I could install new sound proofing materials. The second week was spent resetting the generator, wiring, and plumbing it and then affixing the sound proof housing. By the end of the week it was time to re-install the water maker. All things went fine and this last weekend I started to sort out all the other wiring for the navigation and radio equipment. By the end of this week we should be ready to move her down to the launch area and next week get the mast stepped and electrically connected. After that will be sea trials so we can be confident that all systems are a go for when we return in March of 2014 to continue our journey.

We still have to get a barrier coat on the hulls before applying the antifouling paint so I am hoping that gets done this week. Once the barrier coat is applied I can install the zincs and the radio ground plates. After that then we will apply a coat of blue antifoul then a coat of black. The two colors will show us how close we are to needing a new coat. When we start to see blue it will be time.

I am kind of holding off showing any pictures until the bottom paint is done. The stern extension look terrific and once the mast is stepped I will definitely add pictures to the blog.

As far as accommodations, I am back at the Riddlesden B&B. However, I am no longer a paying customer but a family member. Janette and Alistair are wonderful people and it is a shame that I am probably the last yachty that will get to enjoy their hospitality. They are going to sell the B&B. They have bought a small bungalow and plan to downsize. To Lisa and me they are a treasure and will be lifelong friends. I am sure the same is true for Bob and Ann on Charisma... they were their wedding hosts. I am pushing the yard to get the boat down to the launch site so I can move aboard before my hosts move to their new bungalow the first of next month. That is not a bad thing as I will have to start cooking for myself and I could possibly lose a little weight.

Well that is all for an update and will try to make them a little more frequently but don't hold your breath for more the a couple times a week until we are truly under way again.

Cheers to All,

John