All day, every day, working on the boat.

After one longish day and one short day of driving we pulled up as near as we could to First Light with a van stuffed full of stuff. The boat is buried pretty deep in a collection of boats on the hard so it took a while to hump all the stuff from van to boat. After that the “shower curtain” went up over the fly bridge.

We were pleased to find that First Light had weathered the winter pretty well. The deck was mess of course, but the interior was dry and mold-free. There was no evidence of water leaks and the batteries were fully charged. All good news. And, missing grandkids aside, it felt good to be back in our home not yet in the water.

I believe there is a saying that applies to everyone who plans to splash a boat sitting on the hard. “All day, every day, working on the boat.” And so, with the exception of weather bringing a halt to progress, that is our current life. It rained all night last night and is supposed to rain all day today. Which is why I am writing and not working on the boat. Which is also why I'm probably going to this music store this afternoon that Deb found the other day.

We did have an interior job planned for the rain days, that of installing a camera system to replace the ones in the engine room that turned out to be unreliable and definitely not worth the money spent. In addition, the new system includes fore and aft cameras with infrared capabilities all displayed on a dedicated screen mounted at the lower helm. We picked the lower helm because there is really good visibility from the flying bridge. Night travel will likely be done from the lower helm when the infrared capabilities would really help. As for keeping an eye on the engine room someone does a visual of the cabin every hour or so when underway, a good time to look at the engine room camera. Yes, it would be perfect to have those images always in view at both helms, but we have to have money left over to put gas in this thing.

Unfortunately, when we opened the box, we discovered that pieces of the kit were missing and the wiring harness was damaged. I guess Boeing isn't the only company with quality assurance problems. So that project is on hold until some kind of arrangement is made for a replacement kit.

Outside work has gone surprisingly well. It was an all day task but the boat is clean. Bottom paint was a two day task, now completed. The running gear is sanded clean and waiting for a dry day to paint. All new zincs are installed. And, yes, the boot stripe needs painted.

Still to go is teak work, buff and polish, a careful inspection of the engine room including anodes and fluid levels and a general systems review, some of which can't be done until we splash. Once in the water we will drop the dink and see if the outboard is willing. We haven't scheduled any time for outboard repairs, but I will not be surprised if a day or two...or three, goes by while we sit just out in the river trying to make everything work.

All day, every day, working on the boat...but there's still time to enjoy the sunset.