Have found a stray WiFi signal, so here is the latest.
We finally got out of our apartment on the 14th. To help the moving process along, we broke down and rented a 5 x 10 store-it space close to the boat. It gives us a chance to go through things one (or two) more times to decide what stays and what gets onto the boat.
After moving out, we found ourselves homeless.
Lucky for us, our friend Dewey was having his 50th birthday bash for the whole weekend. His wife Jody found us a nice bed in the basement and we lived there for the next three days. The party was a great time, with a fire pit, fireworks and plenty of food and alcohol. There was a report of a drunk guy dancing around a field with a boat flare in each hand, but I don't remember seeing that. :-)Thanks so much Jody and Dewey, we had a terrific time.
It was time to get serious about making the boat ready and so we moved into a room at the Marina Inn. That way we could work on the boat during the day and not have to get everything back into shape to live on her in the evening. I did the finishing touches to the water system and we filled the tanks. With the water system up, we hooked up the toilets and just like that the boat was once again habitable. Progress!!
We moved out of the room on Friday morning to get ready for, you guessed it, another party. But this time it was for us. After working anywhere between 12 to 16 hours a day for a week, we needed a little break. We were being thrown a Bon Voyage Party by our friend Laurie and along with the party came an invitation to stay the night.
Laurie went all out with a margarita machine, keg of beer, silly hats and more food then we could eat in a week. Our friends showed up in force to wish us well. It really was a blast to see everyone and tell them of our plans. My friend Brad from Norfolk came up to attend and ended up staying on Laurie's couch.
Thanks Laurie for everything, your vacation on the boat is ready whenever you can get there. And thanks to everyone for coming to the party. You are the best friends anyone could hope for.
On Sunday, after dropping Brad off at the airport it was back to the boat. We checked back into the Inn and got to work. We prepped the back deck for the new davits and I filled in old davit holes with epoxy and cut pieces of starboard for davits bases. Pat started the varnish project in the cockpit and we continued to pack the boat with our cloths, blankets, spare parts...
On Thursday, Richard from MTS came down to do our check ride and set up the new electronics. This is the first time Helios has been out of the slip since August. Half way through the trial, the engine died. I dropped the anchor and dived into the engine room to trouble shoot. After switching fuel tanks and fuel filters, I bleed the fuel line and the engine was running again in about 10 minutes. WHEW!!! That was fun. Then autopilot was having trouble turning the boat. Richard determined that we needed a bypass valve to keep the hydraulics happy. It looks like it will be about a 2 boat unit fix. (For those of you that don't know, a boat unit is $1000. It sounds so much better) Also during the check ride, the wind speed indicator stopped working. That is about a 1.1 boat unit fix. Good thing we have a secret stash of gold buried in the sand down by the boat. Now where did I hide that treasure map?
All in all it is going well. We have paired down about four times now and we still have a lot. As the song goes, "Times are tough and I got too much stuff".
This weekend we are taking the big blue truck down to North Carolina to store it in a lot by Pat's parents new house. Old Blue will have a nice winter nap while we are away.
Until next time, we will keep our eye out for Elvis and doing the finishing touches to the boat.
I don't know if we can plan on what "things" will be important to us. I know that family and friends are first, but I can now say that a car can be a close second.