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09/23/2008: "The Autumnal Equinox"
The autumnal equinox has arrived, bringing the end to summer. It was a busy season. Dale took two weeks after school got out to go back to Minnesota for a wedding and to spend time with family. Cori took a week to go home to help with clean up after a heavy rain flooded the basement and also another week for a family reunion.
We didn’t get much sailing done but we finished off some of our bigger projects that need to be finalized. Prior to moving aboard we tried to get all of the woodwork below deck varnished. We soon learned that there are conditions that will not allow you to varnish. We finished all but the aft cabin. We needed to keep things opened up to vent the fumes but also needed to keep everything closed up in case of rain and to run the air conditioning so it wouldn’t dry too fast. The solution was to move over to Mike and Maril’s boat to sleeping until the project was done. The good news is that we are finally done with the varnishing, except a few smaller areas and it looks really good.
The next big project was to finish the headliner. Again I finished the main cabin and V-berth but did not do the aft cabin. It could be done while living aboard but the tear out was a big mess. We just bit the bullet and got everything torn out and installed the new panels. Another big one checked off.
We were planning a trip down the coast to Southport for a week and decided we needed the bimini on before leaving. Cori tried once before to sew a new bimini but it had problems. After talking with one of the local canvas guys she tried again. I (Dale) now understand why canvas work is so expensive. It turned out pretty good and was appreciated while offshore under the summer sun.
We upgraded our dinghy to a new AB RIB (rigid inflatable) with a Yamaha 9.9 horse outboard. Really cool speeding around the area and it came in real handy when we had to anchor a couple of boats out in preparation for Tropical Storm Hanna. It fits on the davits for short trips and will ride on the deck for extended trips. It is a great change from our old inflatable with a rotten transom and a 3.3 horse outboard.
I am sure I am forgetting some of the other highlights.