I spent today measuring for stowing, shopping for stowing accoutrements and then actually stowing the bits and pieces of our life aboard. I’m making good progress, and as evidence that I’ve at least cleared the port settee off enough to be able to hide what was covering the table for a picture, here you go:
With a $6.99 strand of battery-powered LED wire lights, we also solved the problem of wretchedly blue, icy, yet still dim light in the salon. We’ve moved from the feel of a third world operating suite to a dorm room, but it’s an improvement we’re thrilled with.
So. That was the fun stuff.
While I was skipping in the aisles of Bed Bath & Beyond, Andy was finding a leak in our dripless shaft seal. After having it tightened and looking further, it was ascertained that there is a shaft alignment issue as well, and that we need to haul the boat and have it repaired. Cha-ching! Bonus news: soonest hauling slot is Wednesday, to launch again on Friday if all goes well, so we’re already blowing our first [self-made] deadline. After realizing that it was a blessing that we found it now and not mid-Gulf Stream crossing (Look kids! Here’s how our life raft works!), and after cursing the surveyor who should have caught the problem, we gave eachother a little Violet-patented shrug and one of her “Eh, who caythes?”. Watcha gonna do.
Back to the flip side of our day, the girls were quite amused and amusing busying themselves with anything and everything at hand. They cracked coconuts, met neighboring dogs (my personal favorite was a 100+ lb Collie named Andy), helped with laundry, watched fish from the bow (Violet named them all), worked on their schooling in fits and starts, and got haircuts!
They are happy to be free but antsy for more structure (Lily woke up at 6 this morning and stated that she would like school to start promptly at 8); I’ll be happy to get into a routine that doesn’t involve unpacking. I’m shooting for tomorrow! (Always an optimist.)
Oh Lily, you are a girl after my own heart about the structure! You know the old saw “routine is security” even on a boat. Love those new haircuts as well, little beauties. Dang the surveyor for his mistake but thank goodness for Handy Andy’s finding the leak! Yikes. Love you all, xoxo, Mimi
If shaft alignment is the problem you do not need to haul the boat. Hauling will not help access the coupler or the motor mounts. If you can reach the coupler with a feeler gauge you can turn the shaft by hand while in neutral and adjust the motor mounts to obtain alignment. Then you can start the motor and check while in gear, something that you can not do when hauled.