SV GIRI - Boat Work

I live on my 40 foot sailboat some of the time.  Other times I'm in hotels or my motor home or travelling  . When I'm not living on it I'm not fixing it up. I'd like to have it ocean crossing ready and right now it's only probably capable of coastal cruising. In  a snap I'd sail across an ocean but I'm better equipped right now for harbout hopping up or down the Pacific Coast.

Actually right now I'm waiting for a new prop and shaft since hitting a log on my return last year.  I'd just epoxied the bottom of the boat having it on the hard for days so didn't want the cost of pulling it out  until spring.  I'm waiting now to haul out the boat so I can fix the prop and shaft and throw on a fresh coat of bottom paint.  Haul outs in total cost about a thousand and need to be done yearly.

Today I cleaned the boat some. I found my table again and one of the sedans.  I vacuumed everywhere and shook out the mats. To do this  I had to tidy up Gilbert's toys. Back on the boat he went through the pile of them I'd made. They're all over the floor again, the way he likes it.

I topped up the water in the batteries.  Then I made a run to the gas station bringing back a full propane tank and 12 gallons of diesel. I poured that in the tank which the diesel heater stove feeds off.

I enjoyed baking halibut I'd bought at the market in the stove I had installed last year.  I like that everything works and I'm comfortable with the propane situation.

Last year I got a new dinghy and traded my bigger outboard in for a lighter 4 hp I could more easily lift onto the deck of the sail boat from down in the dinghy.  I 've ordered a larger commercial inflatable runabout with bigger engine. That's going to serve for scuba, fishing and be trailable for inland fishing and hunting.

Jim replaced the starter on the main Yanmar engine last year and now has a better starter to replace that one so it will serve as my back up.  It was my back up until the one I had on the engine died last year after many good years of service.

Jim's going to start work on the upgrade to the electrical panel.  The present one has been added to and added to since it was first installed 18 years ago.  There's just been no room for the gadgets I've kept adding.

I took off the old torn dodger panels and they're in being resewn now.  The dodger has done really well for the years of service.

My main concern once I'm back on the ocean is the autopilot.  It's central to my enjoyment of the boat as a solo sailor. My Wagner has been giving me trouble with S turns no matter what I do so it's time to get the technician back.  That's the one thing I might consider replacing before I went on a long voyage not that I have one planned.

It's just these are the things that go on on a sailboat. It's like having a racing car and needing to keep it competitive.  In my case it's not about competition but about it's ability to do what it's meanto which is sail accross oceans. It's more than up for anything coastal and I know it would weather storms in the middle the sea, since we did bring it back from Hawaii and it's much improved from then. I 'd just not want the worries so little by little I'm making it capable of facing the oceans surprises. It was such an incredible trooper of a boat when I sailed solo in winter to Hawaii through storms.

That's what cruisers do.  Boat work.  I'd be a whole lot richer in material wealth living in an apartment but I'm still astonished to be sitting in a vehicle that can go anywhere in the world. I've got the skill apparently and the boat has the capability.  I'd rather have company if I do another ocean passage though Gilbert and I could do it solo.

Anyway those are the thoughts on a never ending project.  Meanwhile I've been watching netflix tv with my personal hotspot.  I must renew my Nexus for land and sea. I've kept up the sea one but I missed the deadline on the online renewal of the land one so now have to make a trip down the street from where I work, since they no longer require we go to the border as before.