What IS the Classic Proximity Boatyard Syndrome? It is the tendency of "Your Rock and Roll Argonauts" to come to the yard with a few projects in mind. Then, while at the yard, we think of this , and that, and this too, and hey, it would be better with this, or how can we not do that? Inconceivable, so let's do it. So, here we go. We MAY revise our forward hatch to a more modern, more weather-tight one. It would be nice. On the way here from Fiji, that was one of our big leaks. This one we are thinking about. It is expensive.

Then there is the engine. Shortly before we left, we had a new Volvo engine installed. The installer did a super poor job, and it never has been completely sorted. Well, we have found a talented engine man who is going to help us sort it out. We will tell the saga of the "bad experience" sometime, but for now, here is a few things we will do: We will remount the engine so that it can be properly aligned. We will change the old style shaft log to a modern "dripless" unit. We will re-pitch the feathering Max-Prop...and more!

So, it is just boatyard stuff. We are both working our little hearts out. Rod dismantled the toilet and all of its plumbing. Elisabeth is cleaning, polishing and painting the components. In addition, this week, Rod has removed ALL through-hull fittings in prep for the hull grinding job, re-installed the auto-pilot mount, and all of the cabinetry required to be moved in order to access that project.

Next weekend, however we will escape and go to the New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing. Both of us love Formula One and Grand Prix racing, so this will be a big treat. For now though, we go tend our beloved Proximity. Oh yes, one more thing. Elisabeth made us a Scrabble game. We could have easily bought one, but this is cooler, and was a good artistic outlet. It looks great.