September 2009 Archives

This week started the final stages at the boatyard. We have to finish all work required to be done while we are out of the water. This included: changing zincs on the prop, painting the bottoms with new anti-fouling paint, cleaning the props, cleaning the bottom fiberglass, and waxing the bottoms.

Sound like a lot of hard work? It is! It's now Wednesday morning. Karen arrived Monday afternoon and has been working hard with me on all this. We have finished waxing the lower edges of the hulls (and parts of the sides to the rub rails). We need to put tape on the lower edges to protect from painting. Meanwhile, Karen used a power tool with a special wire brush attachment to clean and polish the props.

We purchased paint, brushes, and other accessories. Then began prepping the bottoms. We used water and Scotch-Brite brushes to rub clean the bottoms. You have to wet down the bottoms to avoid creating dust which would not be good to inhale. We have 3 sides of the two hulls completed on the bottom rubbing. Very nasty work getting muddy on the ground, and blue paint all over the place (see picture of Frank). And, we polished all the stainless fittings on the lower sides of the boat including the exhaust/raw-water ports for the engines.

After a hard day of work, we took showers and headed out for dinner in town. Today, we hope to finish prepping the bottoms and start painting. If we're lucky, we'll finish the painting. We can then start finishing the waxing. I borrowed some scaffolding to help due the sides which would otherwise require lots of ladder moving.

Our goal had been to finish by Wednesday. It looks like we will be 1 or 2 days late. I'm really hoping we can finish by Friday morning. Otherwise we won't be able to get the yard to use their lifts to put us back in the water until Monday. That would cost us a few days of much needed time for our other preparations.

A few months ago, I was approached at our marina in Carolina Beach by someone who was a member of the Cape Fear Sail & Power Squadron. They are a non-profit organization dedicated to safe boating education and promoting high standards of navigation and seamanship. They offer boating courses and free vessel inspections to help make sure you are meeting basic guidelines for safety and US Coast Guard requirements.

It turns out Ed had discovered Tahina via my writings on Google Earth Blog. He wanted to invite us to speak at their organizational meeting in September about the Tahina Expedition. Yesterday, I drove down from the boatyard and brought our VideoRay ROV along for the meeting. They had invited me to have dinner on the river in Wilmington. The river front in Wilmington is a really pretty location. We had a wonderful dinner at the Pilot House Restaraunt with seating right on the river - located here.

The meeting had about 100 people, and it was easy for me to talk to a group of boating enthusiasts about the Tahina Expedition. They had lots of questions afterwards, and I really appreciated the genuine wishes for fair winds and a safe voyage. I had a great time, and I encourage boating enthusiasts in the area to consider joining the group. And I'd like to thank Ed for inviting me, and their Commander Alan for the nice dinner and introduction to downtown Wilmington.

Our goal was to be done with the boatyard work by the end of the month. We had a huge list of tasks, but after two weeks of hard work - and a lot of help from the crew at Bill & Roy's and our friend Gerard - we have accomplished many of the tasks. Only a few of the tasks had to be completed while we are in the boatyard: SSB install (ground plate under the hull), saildrive oil changes, washer/dryer install, fiberglass work, satellite install, anti-foul paint, replace sacrificial zinc anodes, and wash and wax the underside of the boat. The last three items MUST be done in the next few days before we can leave. The cleaning, painting and waxing involve a lot of manual labor.

The good news is that we accomplished many tasks not on the essential list. But a few remaining tasks on our list will have to wait until we get back to Carolina Beach. We have already postponed several maintenance tasks, and a few minor installation items. I hate to postpone anything at this point because it takes time away from our last month of system tests, and final preparations for departure. But, time at the boatyard costs money and its not a fun place to work (with the boat sitting on top of dirt, and we can't use the head, or air conditioning - which require the boat to be in the water).

My Mom wanted to put on a family bon voyage party a month early. I thought it was a bit early, but I appreciated her wanting to take on the task. We have a large family, so I was sure it would be a big affair. Little did I know.

It turns out my mom wanted to combine a party with both our Bon Voyage, and the fact Karen and I have birthdays in October. Not only that, but my mom's real secret agenda was to get married at the event! Fortunately, she decided not to completely surprise us, and let us know about her wedding plan a few weeks before the event. But, it was the best "Bon Voyage/Birthday/Wedding Party" I've ever attended. I challenge anyone to say they attended a better one! :-)

We had the event at a lake shelter - which was a good thing as there was a cold snap and rain to contend with. About 75-100 family members were at the event. We had a great time, and it was really good to see so many family members before we leave on such a long journey. Family came from several states including Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, and from all over North Carolina. We tried to encourage family to plan to visit us on our boat - we have plenty of room, and it is really important to us to share our sailing/traveling experience.

Check out the awesome cake with a picture of Tahina made out of icing:

The wedding was informal and a lot of fun (just like my mom). A very happy event!

It was great seeing all the family, but there was an underlying sadness knowing that we may not see many of them - in person - for several years. However, we're going to have to educate a number of them to get a Skype account and web cams so we can do some video chats and at least see each other.

Thursday was a big day of accomplishment at the boatyard. We finished the SSB install, turned it on, and it worked! We also finished the Satcom install and it turned on as well (but, we're waiting to activate it with help from Satwest - where we got the unit).

The final stages of the SSB install were to properly connect the radio to the antenna. We had a wire which needed connectors properly installed. They are notorious for being tricky to get right. And, we actually had some difficulty requiring us to buy a new set before we got it right. One we were done with that, we were ready. I was speculative turning it on, but it came on first try! Preliminary tests look good, but we're not back in the water yet, so our ground is not effective as it will be. However, our tests show it is working pretty well.

We had been waiting a few days for the satellite antenna mount - it was installed late in the day on Thursday. Bill and Dennis did an excellent job of building a mount that looks attractive on the back port-side arch of Tahina. And, that also came on first try. A lot of hard work over 10 days were behind those successes.

Bill and Dennis also worked on the washer plumbing and completed that part of the install. The last remaining part is making the electric connection.

Gerard was out at the boat assisting and he even helped a bit with boat cleaning. Karen finally got away from house work, and came out - only to end up helping clean "house" on the boat. But, we took both of them out for dinner in Beaufort and relaxed a bit in the evening.

We had the crew from Bill & Roy's at Jarrett Bay working the washer and antenna projects. We also got SSB advice from Dr. John Greggory at RopeAntenna.com, and Mike at Mike's Electronics (who we bought the SSB from).

The Tahina boatyard projects are progressing nicely. We're not on schedule of course, but we have accomplished much. I'm still hopeful we will be close to finish by the middle of next week. The biggest projects have been the hardware installations: SSB radio, satellite system, washer/dryer, and rigging modifications. We also had some fiberglass work which was completed earlier this week. I finished some engine maintenance this week (oil and filters). The final big manual labor project is to thoroughly clean the boat, paint the bottoms with new anti-fouling paint, and wax the entire boat. I can use all the help I can get on these latter projects. Send me an E-mail if you can help.

Here are some photos showing much of the recent work described below:

At this point, the manual labor portions of the SSB and satellite system are nearly complete. Each of these systems required a number of wires to be run throughout parts of the boat - which is the hardest part of the installation. On Thursday, with help from Gerard who came back to help, we will test the SSB installation, and possibly the satellite as well.

This week we completed the grounding plate installation which was critical to both radios. It's a large piece of bronze/copper plate which is placed under the bolt and attached to two large bronze bolts through the hull. Since the plate is surrounded by water, it provides an electrical ground. We then attach wires for the radios to make the ground.

Then there's the washer/dryer unit. This turned out to be a MUCH larger project than anticipated. I purchased a unit which fit nicely in a boat just like Tahina after reading positive comments from its owner on his blog. The location is a large storage area towards the bow accessible from the owner cabin shower. I hired some guys at the boatyard to do the installations because of the plumbing and electrical work required. However, after taking measurements they said the unit can't be put in place without being disassembled (or putting a hole in Tahina). I sent an E-mail to the other owner, and sure enough - he hired someone who had to disassemble it. We contacted his installer - JustCatamarans.net - and they gave us valuable tips on how to perform the process. The entire washer/dryer had to be disassembled, the frame cut, then moved into our shower to be reassembled.

On Wednesday, they completed the move, re-assembly and mounting. They plan to finish plumbing and electricals on Thursday. You can see photos in the slideshow.

During the course of the last few weeks, we have been getting a better understanding why so few people embark on a long trip like the one we are planning. What is required to prepare for such a trip is difficult to describe without a lot of superlatives: daunting, challenging, heart-wrenching, tiring, enormous, expensive, back-breaking, difficult, nightmares, stressful, emotional, gigantic, expensive, etc. As an entrepreneur with several ventures under my belt, I already knew about extreme challenges. But, this one has been surprisingly even more difficult.

If you've sold a house and moved, you know that is hard. But, preparing to sell a house and moving into a much smaller home (in our case a boat), is much more difficult than the typical move. You have to downsize so much and force yourself to keep only the essentials. Store only the most valued possessions, and say goodbye to everything else. I was really surprised how much more difficult getting our house ready turned out to be. Thankfully, that one is virtually complete (we still have half a garage of stuff to dispose of).

Preparing the boat is more familiar ground - we did this with another boat several years ago. Although, this time the trip is for 5 years, and the boat is larger. So, again the scale is larger and the work even more difficult.

Another unexpected aspect is the emotional one. Its normally difficult for parents when their kids move away from home. But, our departure on this trip is a different dynamic than most kids and parents experience. It's been hard on all of us I think to deal with. There have been many issues we've had to work out that have been hard on the family. But, I hope we will all end up even closer as a result. And, its not just the immediate family, but all our family and close friends who we will see more rarely than usual. Fortunately everyone knows we've been planning this for years, but we are now getting close to leaving and the reality is again setting in. And, we really hope many of them will take us up on the offer to join us at some point along the way.

This weekend my family has organized an early bon voyage party for us. It will be a real thrill to see everyone together one last time before we depart. To make it really special, my mom decided to use the occasion to get re-married.

The entire project has been a huge amount of work, and there's a lot left to be done at the boatyard. We're about half-way through the allocated time for the boatyard projects, and I think we're pretty near to half way. Suddenly it feels to me like I've reached a turning point in all our preparations. We've reached the peak of preparation, and now we're on the downhill side of the work. I just hope we don't speed downhill out of control and instead experience a nice, cool, easier, but more tired, walk down to the finish line. I think I'm even starting to get excited about the trip now!

Since Wednesday night (the last blog post summary at the boatyard), a lot has been accomplished at the boatyard. The install for the SSB radio is nearly complete. We are still waiting on the delivery of the ground plate - its supposed to arrive today (Monday). It's really the most critical item at the boatyard since it has to be installed while the boat is out of the water. The ground plate requires two holes to be put in the hull so the bronze/brass bolts can be inserted through the holes and the plate can be placed under the boat (where it will always be in water).

On Thursday and Friday I spent part of the time installing the wire from the antenna to the tuner. This required drilling a hole in the top of the boat under the antenna, and fitting a special "clam" shell water-tight cable pass-thru around it. Then had to drill holes through three galley cabinets to get the cabinet to the tuner location. The big project was placing the template cut-outs and cutting holes in our nav station instrument panel to place the radio control box and speaker. The placement of the best locaction required a tricky jigsaw cut. Unfortunately, I neglected to place some cardboard on the desktop and was unaware until after the first cut that the jigsaw marred part of the desk surface. Argh! Not only that, but the angle of the cut was so high I managed to damage the jigsaw as well - oops. Finally, I had to finish the ground and counterpoise runs. John at RopeAntenna.com suggested I run one of the counterpoise lines across the salon to the other hull. It was a pain snaking it across, but I finally got it.

Here's a shot of the new SSB radio at the console (added the microphone on the left after this photo was taken - also, the SSB is the one in the bottom-center and does not yet have the mount installed - so it is slightly crooked in the photo):

In addition to the SSB, a lot of other progress was made.

We found out the washer/dryer is a much bigger job to install than I realized. The unit will have to be disassembled and the frame cut apart in order to get it into the cabinet where we plan to install. Got instructions and tips for how to install the washer from an expert in Florida with JustCatamarans who installed the one on Swingin on a Star (another St. Francis 50 just like Tahina).

We ordered the rigging hardware for the modifications we have planned.

The fiberglass cosmetic repairs have been mostly completed, he has a bit of polishing left which I expect will be finished today.

I spent most of Saturday morning cleaning up the boat both inside and out. Lots of dirty footprints on the back (a boatyard is a dirty place). After lunch I left to go home for a day. We had a social engagement on Sunday afternoon. It was nice to see Karen and visit with her a while. Although, I also had to spend a few hours finally cleaning my office at the house (the last room left). And, I took another truck-load to our storage shed. Sunday evening I drove back to the boatyard.

This week I hope to complete the bulk of the installations and test them as far as we can while in the boatyard (out of the water). Also, I will begin maintenance on the engines, cleaning the hulls, new anti-fouling paint, and waxing the boat. Hopefully I'll be able to recruit more friends to help! Time to get back to work...

While we didn't need scuba gear, we were definitely diving in tight places the last couple of days. Gerard came by on late-Wednesday and stayed for a day to lend a hand (and tools!) to help with radio installations. While I helped him with that, I also was coordinating the hired help on other projects for Tahina here at the boatyard.

We spent quite a while figuring out how to snake a cable for the satellite antenna to the nav station area. It's amazing how many nooks and crannies there are on a boat! We had our heads upside down in bilges and cabinets, and arms disappearing around corners feeling for wires and screws. But, fortunately most of the tasks we set out for were accomplished. By the time Gerard left yesterday, we had about half the equipment and lines installed, and most of the rest of the tasks are laid out. I hope to complete what I can today, but we have to wait on shipment of an important item - the ground plate. There was a manufacturing delay, and it didn't get shipped until yesterday. It should arrive by Monday.

Before Gerard left, we raised the rope antenna I mentioned in the last post, up the mast. This meant I had to go up the mast in a bosun's chair and attach a pulley block near the top and take up the halyard I bought yesterday to the antenna. I had to resort to temporary steps for this raising due to limited time at the top (the chair cuts off circulation to your legs after a while).

The slideshow above gives you a taste of the mess we created inside the boat, and what some of the tasks looked like. You'll also notice that Tahina makes a nice garage for parking cars when its in the boatyard. And finally, check out the shots from the mast of the boatyard.

A special thanks to Gerard for driving from Raleigh and helping out!

Having a boat hauled out is normally a big production because the owner is always attempting to get done all the projects which can only be done while the boat is out of the water. Not only that, but there is a cost associated with each day you are out of the water, so you are time constrained as well.

This haul-out is particularly challenging for Tahina because we are not just performing maintenance, but also installing equipment needed for our long journey. And, our time constraint is not just cost, but also our desire to leave by early November. We'll need at least a few weeks to complete our departure tasks, and to thoroughly test the new boat systems.

Yesterday was the first full day of work at the boatyard. I met with boatyard workers to set them on tasks I won't have time, or skills to perform. This includes some cosmetic work on the fiberglass, installation of a washer/dryer, modifications to some of our rigging, and developing a custom mount for satellite antenna.

Meanwhile, I began more planning on installation of the radios. We are installing an SSB HF radio, and a Satetllite system. Both these systems will be used in important capacities on the expedition. I'll explain why we have these systems in another posts. At the boatyard, we need to install a ground plate underneath the boat which will be in the water and through two holes we will make in our hull (which is why we do it now). The bronze plate provides a "ground" to our radios so we can communicate far distances. We need to install antennas in good locations on the boat, and ground them as well. And we need to install the radio equipment and control boxes so they are accessible for use at the nav station.

For the SSB radio, I found an interesting solution for the antenna from RopeAntenna.com. On PatiCat, our previous boat, we did a traditional SSB antenna install for a catamaran which meant cutting one of the shrouds (steel cables that hold up the mast) to add insulators and make a piece of the cable into an antenna. The rope antenna is a much more practical solution. The antenna is embedded inside a rope "loom" and attached to the mast and along the side of the boat. It appears just like any other rope on the boat. And, its easy to install. I spoke to another boat owner who loved his antenna from the same company.

The web site for Rope Antenna also includes very handy instructions on installing an SSB properly. I called up the owner of the company, Dr. John Gregory, and was impressed with his knowledge and advice. He has been very helpful in making sure I have the necessary accessories and proper installation plan to maximize our radio's effectiveness. He's also been advising me on the satcom grounding strategy.

In the late afternoon, Gerard came by, and we began the installation work. We reviewed all the equipment, and reviewed the cable layout plans. Then we started pulling the cable for the one cable we hadn't previously scouted. The satellite antenna is going to go on the aft port quarter of the bimini (the roof over the cockpit). It will be on a custom platform a few inches back so the boom won't interfere with the antenna. We needed to run a cable in a convoluted fashion from that location to the nav station. It took a while, but with a cable snake we finally got it in place.

Meanwhile, we installed the antenna tuner for the SSB and determined the best location for the ground plate. Also, we were a little confused over instructions on the satcom for grounding. So, we called John at Rope Antenna and he provided us with some excellent advice. He's going to make us some custom cable and accessories to help improve our satcom grounding.

By this time, it was getting late, so we closed down for the night. The plan is to have all the work done by the end of the month. In addition to the other items mentioned, there are over two dozen maintenance projects, and several smaller items being installed. It's going to be a challenging effort to balance the list with the time available.

Here's an initial set of photos from the delivery this past weekend from Carolina Beach to Beaufort, North Carolina. After completing the journey, we waited for Monday and took the boat to Jarrett Bay Boatworks to be hauled-out of the water. Read more about the trip in this post. Here are the photos:

Note: I will also be geotagging the photos later. Thanks also to Gerard for his photos - especially the really nice one with the pelicans in the foreground!

We needed to get Tahina to Beaufort by Sunday so we can have it hauled out at a boatyard there on Monday. Fortunately, my friend Gerard had offered to help with the sail, since Karen needed to continue finishing touches on the house. On Saturday, I first loaded the truck with stuff from the house for one of my daughters, and then we loaded Gerard's car with stuff for the boat. After dropping off the truck-load, we drove to Carolina Beach and loaded the stuff for the boat. There was a lot of stuff from the house, which will need sifting to make sure we aren't carrying unneeded items before we depart on the big trip.

As soon as Gerard and I were done loading, I got on the Internet to check the weather. The issue with the forecast is that northerly winds were going to develop sooner than expecting on Sunday (as early as 8 AM). Since that's the direction we were headed, we would want to avoid that. It appeared there would be some chance of some sailing if we left right away. So, we immediately prepped the boat (by following our passage checklist), and were leaving the dock at 6:30 PM.

It was close enough to high tide for us to leave out Carolina Beach Inlet. Since Gerard had never seen the spinnaker, and I hadn't tried it since we had the chute repaired in June, we decided to try out the spinnaker even though it was close to sunset. We had it up in short order (about 20 minutes) without any issues. Unfortunately, we only had maybe 30 minutes to fly the big sail before dusk was settling. My rule is to take down the spinnaker at night - especially with crew who had never put away the big sail before. Fortunately, we had no problem dousing the sail.

We managed to sail for several hours during the night (there was a lull for about 3 hours). It was fantastic sailing under a starry filled sky, cruising over smooth waters, on a warm summer night. Gerard was loving it every bit as much as I. We both couldn't stop talking about how nice it was.

By morning the winds were clocking around. but, we managed to get within 8 miles of Cape Lookout shortly after the pale red orb of the sun had risen over the ocean. We had decided during the night to anchor at Cape Lookout when we arrived and get some sleep. Then we'd enjoy the bay there for a few hours before moving to Beaufort town anchorage for the night. At 8 miles, we had wind on the nose to Cape Lookout, we were tired, and so we doused the sails and cranked up an engine to get there more direct. By 8 AM we dropped the new anchor and were soon fast asleep for the rest of the morning.

We had a nice lunch in the cool breeze at the cockpit table watching other boaters in the anchorage. We then lowered the dinghy and went ashore. The winds were perfect, so we took one of the new kites and tried it on shore. The kites are for the aerial photography we plan to do during the Tahina Expedition. Expect to see a few photos of the kite flying - and this whole trip - soon.

After a relaxing afternoon in the anchorage, we raised the mainsail and the anchor, and sailed our way out of Cape Lookout and over to the entrance to Beaufort/Morehead City. We motored the rest of the way and dropped anchor at Beaufort by late afternoon. Soon we had taken showers and went ashore to find a restaurant for dinner.

For both Gerard and I, it was a great 24 hours or so doing what we both love: Sailing!

A number of blog posts recently have been focused on the house. But, in parallel with the house projects, I've been doing a lot of work on the Tahina Expedition itself. We've made some more partnerships during the past few weeks which I'm looking forward to announce in the coming weeks. Most of the partnerships will be announced as we get close to our final departure. Meanwhile, after hiring someone to help, the Tahina Expedition will finally get a real logo soon. A redesign for the Tahina web site will start soon thereafter.

In addition, in preparation for the haul-out next week, I've been researching and buying equipment which needed to be delivered in time for the installation projects. Some of the bigger items being installed are communications equipment (SSB radio and satellite systems), washer/dryer, GPIRB (emergency beacon), electronic barometer, some new lights, and some fans for the staterooms. In addition, a range of maintenance tasks will be performed including waxing the boat, painting the hulls, servicing all the sail hardware including the rigging, servicing engines and generator, servicing appliances, replacing lines and getting spares, modifying some of the line rigging, fiberglass cosmetic touch-ups, and installing a computer network and a long-range WIFI antenna.

Lining up people to help with all these tasks has been another big job. That effort isn't complete either. I'm estimating I can get most of the work done in 1 week if all the stars align and enough people show up. However, I've allowed two weeks in the plan. If we go beyond that point (the end of September), our actual departure date (currently planned by the end of October) may have to delay a bit. Which wouldn't be the end of the world (except that I'm just a bit goal oriented - or so my friends and family tell me - that's probably an understatement).

Today was a major milestone for getting the house on the market. They came today to take photos for the listing. We used that milestone to give us a hard deadline to get everything done. It's been 16-hour days for 3 weeks or so, but the house was finally ready today! The house looks fantastic - even the real estate agent was impressed with the transformation. And the photographer said our master bathroom was the cleanest she had photographed to date. We're so happy with it, we're thinking of staying here - NOT! :-)

All that said, we did cheat a bit. We have two rooms and a garage which are still not ready, and several closets are partly full. Half the garage and one of the rooms are full of stuff going to either storage, our daughters, or to be sold. The house will be officially listed for sale by next Thursday. Meanwhile, tomorrow we're signing a lease on a climate-controlled storage facility to keep some of our stuff while we're gone. If all goes according to plan, we'll move all the storage stuff tomorrow with a U-haul trailer.

This weekend, we are going down to the boat to move it up to Beaufort, NC. We will be having Tahina hauled-out of the water to install equipment for the big trip, and to perform some maintenance tasks (more on this later). I'll be pretty tied up for the following two weeks at the boat yard. But, since the house will be mostly done, our focus should rapidly shift to boat preparations and final details on getting our lives and finances in order for the trip. The checklist is really huge, but we're knocking things off rapidly.

Wish us luck!

After 1.3 Million strokes of her oars, and over 100 days, Roz Savage has arrived in Tarawa after leaving Hawaii. Roz is attempting to be the first woman to row across the Pacific. Check out her web site for details and photos on the arrival. There's a nice Google Maps mashup called the Roz Tracker so you can see her path. Notice that it's not a straight line path for her. This is because she is much more susceptible to weather and currents and sometimes actually backtracks as a result.

On Friday afternoon, I left the house in its final stages of preparation for sale. We had more painting going on, roof cleaning, a few remaining piles of junk, and decoration touches being done. My task was to drive my small Toyota pickup down to Wilmington and pick up our new anchor (88 lbs) and chain (600 lbs).

At West Marine, had already put out the new anchor wrapped in plastic when I arrived. The anchor was huge! I'm sure the expression of surprise on my face was genuine - so I said: "This will be way too big for my dinghy! I ordered the 8 lb anchor!" :-) (At this point, I should have a photo to show you, but I was so focused on the task at hand I forgot to take photos. Sorry!)

Next, they had a couple of guys use a special heavy-duty dolly, and a forklift to pick up the barrel-sized container of chain. Once it was on the truck, I tried helping one of the guys move the barrel slightly to center it near the front of the bed. It was VERY hard to move. I put the anhor next to it also at the front (to prevent sliding during braking).

The drive to the marina was uneventful. Once there, I put the anchor in a cart and took it to Tahina. Rather than lifting it by myself (it was evening at this point), I left it by the boat on the side dock. I left the tub of chain in the truck. I wasn't worried anyone would try moving it. Later, my friend Gerard arrived. He came to help with the tasks on Saturday.

The next morning, we worked first on getting the chain from the truck. We wanted to be ready at high tide at 8:15, so the ramp to the dock would be nearly level. We got three carts, and put equal lengths of chain in each (by measuring ~130 feet in each one). We then got someone to help and took all three carts to Tahina with no problems.

Next, we took Tahina out of the dock to turn it around. Had a bit of an issue leaving the dock due to a north wind, the width of Tahina, and the narrow slip. Once out of the slip, I held position while we got the lines and fenders in order. Then we nudged our way in bow-to. This was done so we could remove the old anchor and chain, and then install the new from the dock.

We spent several minutes getting the boat tied off since this arrangement was unfamiliar to me. Then, we prepared the operation. Removing the anchor and old chain was straightforward - thanks to our windlass. The old rode also included rope as well. I planned to keep the rope rode, so we cut off the end spliced to the chain. Then we attached another rope feeder through the chain feed. We attached this rope to the new chain and pulled it back through to the windlass.

We ended up having to remove the rope/chain divider in our anchor well. and flaking the bottom of the new chain to make sure we had enough depth for shallow anchor deployments. But, by shortly after lunch we completed the job!

My new goal is to make sure I remember to take photos for any significant operation like this. Staying focused on a task is a good quality, but it will be important to have good photos to share when I tell stories like this. Here are a few photos of the new anchor and chain (I had one accidental shot of the anchor while it was on the dock when I went up the mast - for another job - and took some straight-down photos). The rest of the photos were taken this morning.

My next post will be about the other tasks we did on Saturday related to the SSB installation preparations. And, I have some nice photos, because I went up the mast with the camera.

This one will go down as one of the funniest incidents during our preparations. But, it seemed awful to me at the time it happened. We had planned to leave by 9 AM on Sunday to head back home and try as hard as possible to have the house ready by Tuesday for photos by the real estate firm. Karen was going to work on some wall paper issues in one of the rooms. I got Karen up and she proceeded to get ready. As we were finishing up packing, I noticed Karen was getting lethargic. As we got to the car, I noticed she was alarming woozy. I asked her "What's Wrong?". She said: "Umm...I accidentally took a sleeping pill this morning." I was dumbfounded and said "OMG!". My daughter came running over to ask what was wrong and I said: "She took a sleeping pill, and she's going to be sleeping the rest of the day!" It turns out she had picked out the wrong bottle when rushing to get up. That's the first time she ever made that mistake.

Needless to say, I was worried about our plans on Sunday for the house. On the way back, I called Karen's friend Laurie - who usually helps her with wall paper projects and is a pro at them - and she immediately offered to come over and help. Karen was already asleep by the time I started the car to leave the marina. She didn't even remember anything about the drive home including getting into bed. Laurie came over shortly after we arrived and already made significant progress by the time Karen woke up. Karen slept until about 3 PM, but was up and helping soon after. Whew! We worked until midnight.

By the end of the day Sunday, it was clear to me we weren't going to be ready on Tuesday. On Monday, the real estate agent came over and she agreed with my assessment. So, we are going to wait another week.

It is now Wednesday, and we are tremendously further along. However, there are still several sizeable projects left. And, there is STILL junk left in the house! I have run at least 8 trips in the last few days with the pickup truck to either the dump/recycling facility, our storage facility, or to the goodwill store. And, still we have junk. I never want a big house again! Besides, after living on a boat for five years, we expect even a small house will seem huge.

Thank God for friends! We've had several friends over the last couple of days, and its really made a difference. Special thanks to Andy, Gerard, Laurie, Fred, Michael, and Jeri. We also had our painter, Fredy, over to do some touch-ups (he'll be back I'm sure). My current hope is that we will be 95% ready with the house by Friday. I have to go down to the boat on Friday to pick up the new anchor and rode (chain). Saturday I plan to install the new hook on Tahina.