The work continues
16 June 2009

We continue to work hard to get everything back to normal aboard the good ship Osprey. I must say I wasn't quite prepared for how difficult it would be to get all systems up and running after shutting everything down for the winter. I think (but I hope I am not jinxing us) we are just about back to where we were when we left off. We had to flush and fill the water tanks numerous times to get rid of all the anti-freeze and somehow burnt out the hot water heater in the process - Arrrgh! All the head (aka toilet) hoses had to be taken out, beaten on the dock to dislodge all the crystalline build up and reinstalled - that was not a pleasant job I can tell you - and poor Tom, who is much more squeamish than me, had a very hard time with this. I had to dismantle the head itself, clean and lube all the parts and repack all the seals. The solar panels had to be re-installed and the battery monitor reconnected and rebooted. We also discovered a nasty leak from one of the stanchion bases and had to do some major repair work inside to replace some rotted wood - see picture. Then we rebedded all the port side chain plates and will tackle the starboard side ones tomorrow. Still to do is reinstall all the halyards which we took down in the fall, fit the sails, clean, polish and bottom paint the dinghy. If we have any time left at all we hope to get to some of the brightwork (varnishing) but that is a daunting task and requires fine weather which is something sadly lacking here in the Northeast this Summer. The engine install is on hold for now as we are waiting for some special order engine mounts. In two weeks time, I am headed back to Maine for six weeks of work. Tom will stay here, working the launch and continuing the jobs here. Once I get back, in the middle of August we will finish the final preps and hope to leave East Greenwich shortly after Labor Day.