Crunch Time – post by Janice

She's sailed before, she'll sail again!
She’s sailed before, she’ll sail again!

It’s here at last: our last day on land! Illusion has been “on the hard” for over a month now, and she’ll be going back in the water first thing Monday morning. Eeeep! An incident in which the boat was going to be moved yesterday, and then wasn’t, led to it being lifted and then dropped back down onto stands that were no longer aligned – damaging our beautifully painted hull in several places. We’ve repaired the dings and repainted, and Doug took it all in stride, but there’s no doubt that that gave him more than a few gray hairs. A couple more touch-ups though and the hull should be fine. But the problems aren’t over yet, so today’s the day when the biggest problems need to get solved….

  • Problem #1: She has some holes. So far our sinks, etc. drain out of the sides of the boat. Obviously the bilge needs to be sealed before we get in the water. We don’t want holes to the outside of the hull.
  • Problem #2: After discovering a leak in the transmission, we had to drag it out of the engine compartment and get it fixed. It’s back in now, but Doug still needs to get the engine put back together again. In the mean time, I have secretly nicknamed the engine Humpty Dumpty.
  • Problem #3: The Bimini and arch that holds the radar and solar array at the stern still need to be assembled.
  • Problem #4: Last minute provisions need to be bought, and these as well as all the odds and ends from the storage container need to be stowed somewhere on the boat.Provisioning
  • Problem #5: John’s van needs to be returned to Auckland, and John and his stuff need to find space to live in the boat too.
  • Problem #6: There are only 24 hours in a day. And only 12 of them are currently daylight hours. And it feels like there are too many things, and that Doug is the only one who really knows how most of them are supposed to be done.
So without further ado, I’d better get to work! With any luck, our next update will be from the water…

One thought on “Crunch Time – post by Janice”

  1. I just had the chance to spend a little time with Sara on her way to the airport. That was most excellent. I don’t know how I got to be so lucky as to be friends with such amazing people as yourselves 😀

    I’m so glad you’re finally ship shape! I’m not sure if you’ll get this before you set sail, but I’m sending heart and soul with you along with guardian angels. Sara said you’d sail the nearby islands for a while before taking off on the full-fledged journey. Sounds great. Wish I were there, maybe I’ll get the chance to sail on the Illusion sometime. Meanwhile, please do keep up the blogs, it’s a real pleasure and I must say, the writing is damn good too. Post pics!
    Cheers!
    Bridget

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