Ughhh,,,, I'm "MAN" Sick.

Why is it that men turn into such babies when they are sick. I know I am horrible to be around when I am not feeling well. Not mean, or anything, but probably irritating as hell. Whiny, I think is the word that Serena uses. She's so kind to me....

Our trip to Ottawa left me with more than a visit to my Daughter's, and boat toys. It left me with a cold. I managed to make it Kingston to pick up my order at Marine Outfitters before the symptoms set in on Tuesday, so I hope I didn't give it to anyone down there. Now I am holed up in the house so that I won't spread this to our small town. It would be a bonus, except that I am borderline useless when I am sick. I can't get my brain to work properly. I am good for small periods of time, and then I need a break. She's right, I do sound whiny.

Big order from Kingston. Hopefully the last big one. I ordered everything I could think of that we might need to finish the refit. Although, the order was absent all the bits I need for the plumbing system, because I haven't fully designed it yet. We now have our whisker pole, a Forespar 7-15, all the stainless steel pipe and fittings to complete the new bimini and solar panel "T" mounts. And a pile of other little things.

 We picked up these integral Dorade boxes. I was going to build a dorade box from wood, or fibreglass, in the traditional manner, however, these units cost the same as the materials for the traditional boxes would have cost, so I figured what the hell, give them a shot. Worst case scenario, I still have to build boxes one day, best case scenario, I save many hours of work. Have to see how they work out in the long term.

 Lots of pipe. And the two 12 footers to make the bimini bows are not in this pile.

Bits and bobbles. It is amazing how much money gets spent on stainless steel fittings to connect all those pieces of pipe. 100s.... Some of these small fittings cost as much as $24 ea. Ouch. 

We also bought all of our new flares, all 12 of them. Our boat is one of those weird in-between boats where we might legally be able to get away with 6 flares, but probably should have 12. And boy are flares expensive. I tried to go as cheap as possible, since I am pretty sure that our expired flares are still good. So Vita has 24 flares, 4 different styles. If we ever do any serious offshore work, I'll add some smoke flares, expensive, but visible for a long way during the day. We also ordered and picked up our C-Map charts for our chart plotter , that covers us from NY down through the Bahamas. So now we are chart ready. Maybe one post I'll go over our Nav materials, but not today, I'm already running out of steam.... I'm sick......

However, I must mention my latest indulgence. If you've been following this blog, you know we chose a rigid dinghy. A Walker bay 8. Easy to row, light, takes a motor, will never go flat, and doesn't mind being dragged up on a rocky shore, plus I can sail it for fun. Unfortunately it only holds 410 lbs, give or take. So, with me, @ 215, Serena @ another weight somewhat less, the motor, oars, and safety equipment, we are already up to about 425 lbs. I'm no math wizard, but its starting to look like I might have to leave Serena on Vita. Yeah, that'll work.... So, with this obvious oversight, we started considering a hypalon rigid inflatable @ $3000.00 plus dollars. The problem is that we lose some of the benefits that brought us to the Walker Bay in the first place, and a Bayfield 29 is no place for two dinghies. I was going to use regular fenders to create a tube around the dinghy, which would give us a little better carrying capacity, but not near as good as the collar created by Walker Bay to turn our little dink into a RID. I didn't know it before, but they do make a hypalon inflatable collar for the boat. Its hard to find information about them, because they are not that popular, especially in northern climates. I emailed the company and the president replied offering to ship one directly to me. A nice gesture, but Marine Outfitters hit the phone lines and found 2 in Barrie Ontario. So I ordered one. $1199.00 + tax. We now have $2500 into our dinghy, and that includes the motor. Expensive yes, but cheaper than an all out RIB. A compromise, but hopefully a good compromise. Time will tell.

I haven't been completely idle. I have been trying to get some things done. Below is our dinghy outboard. Its a relatively new Suzuki DF2.5 Four Stroke. But it doesn't look like it anymore. Taking advice along the way, I didn't want it too look to shiny. I removed all the decals, and when I cleaned the cover with Goo B Gone to get rid of the sticky residue it took the shiny finish off the plastic. Perfect. Would you steal this, or the shiny Honda on the dinghy next to it.

 Charging all the batteries before they go in the boat.

 Building a new dodger for a friend. Took apart his old dodger and used it for a template. It is in pretty rough shape. But this is going to cost him $460 compared to the $2500 to have a shop do it. I've never done anything like this before, so I wanted to give it a try. We made the deal, and he is fully aware that it might be a complete wash. Apparently he has faith. Either that or he is not afraid to throw away money. How bad could it be?

Lots of other things going on too. Yesterday I made a new wallet out of waterproof Stamoid material, polyester webbing, and Lifetime thread. I shouldn't have to replace it anytime soon. Loaded the truck with stuff for the storage unit. Made a set of really nice fender bags for a friends 31' Corvette. And.... I just realized this post is getting too long. Must learn to make more frequent shorter posts.........

I just took a break from writing this post, to go out to the garage and stoke the fire. I'd like to get some sewing done today. And standing in the driveway of our recently sold country home, I was filled with a scene that I know that I am going to miss dearly. There were 6 white tail dear in the yard, blue jays sparking up a conversation, several red squirrels trying to figure out who was the biggest threat to their sunflower seeds, chickadees, a woodpecker, a rock dove that flew within a couple of feet of where I was standing to pickup grit out of the gravel driveway, the warm sun, and the beautiful smell of spring in the air. This is more the norm here than the exception, and I never tire of it. The only saving grace is that I know that our new life on the water will provide us with similar fulfillment, and that when it is all over, the country will still be here waiting for our return. Sometimes the little things in life are what make it worth living.