There are good days and bad days for doing laundry. It’s something you have to plan ahead for. The nearest laundromat is about 2 miles away. No bike. I’ll be recycling my underwear tomorrow. Today’s forecast:

Into a money making mode has begun. No longer a cruiser, once again a liveaboard. A cold liveaboard. Didn’t think I’d be running my kerosene heater in Florida, but the record breaking low temperatures are dipping into the 30′s tonight. Good thing I didn’t pack away those woolie underwear just yet. But when I do go to pack those bulky winter clothes away (at some point in my life) I will be sure to use a Space Bag…vacuum packed clothing! This is a new discovery for me, thanks to old Rosie.

Besides work to be done and money to be made, there are BOAT PROJECTS. It’s uncanny just how many things need repair. My immediate and PRESSING list includes:

1. Zinc placement (notice it’s not REplacement; there aint no mo’ zinc left!)
2. Refrigeration repair
3. Throttle/shift cable replacement
4. Varnish
5. Rebuild head, and replace all hoses & valves to holding tank

One benefit of becoming a mere liveaboard again is the routine which allows for regular exercise and healthy diet. While cruising I found I ate ALOT. Mostly due to boredom while on watch alone. Peanut Butter, cereal, chips & salsa… lots of junk mostly, cheap filler. I’m looking forward to losing that 3rd chin I’ve developed this winter.

Everyone’s got one nowadays. “Hi, I’m Ben, here’s my card”. Not sure what I’m selling, but we are often trading email addresses and phone numbers. So Boat Cards, as they are called, make it easier. It’s really just a calling card. I had no clue! Seems a bit presumptuous, but anyways I made some…and people really exchange them! I put my credentials at the bottom, just in case someone needs a delivery captain, some graphics or what-have-you.

It’s been 7 weeks since I left Martha’s Vineyard. I’ve taken 3 showers. That’s 49:3. I do love a good pie chart, but not sure how to graphically display this data, perhaps this will do…

The last shower I took has a cool little story that goes with it…

Teresa and I rafted up in Hampton, VA for our first night there. The winds were light, the anchorage was well protected from wakes, but it was small and crowded. So it made good sense to raft up, in the name of “anchorage space conservation”. The second night however, winds were forecasted to increase to 25 knots… a great reason to anchor separately. After a few boats had left for the day, I dropped my anchor a few hundred feet to the West. Once I was secure, we went ashore to drop off my alternator and get me a new phone. I have a bad habit of using my phone in the rain, and well, it got really wet this time, and died a slow, vibrating death.

The next morning, while eating my breakfast and checking my email I got a comment on the blog from snoodletime:

When I woke up this morning, I saw your boat anchored in Hampton Creek.  I recognized the bow as that was all I could see from my window.  Curious as I am, I had to walk down the dock to see if it was really you.  Sure enough, I could see you and Teresa too. I’ve quietly read your adventures and it sure was nice to actually see your boats.

A little while later, after a quick email exchange and a phone call we met up with Steve, humbly accepted his offer of dock, electricity, shower, a ride to town to collect my repaired alternator, and an invitation to dinner with his sailing friends that night, who put on a feast I couldn’t believe. What an amazing guy! What a fantastic coincidence! What incredible hospitality! Steve showed me the small gap between the buildings and the trees through which he saw the sliver of my bow… just incredible he recognized her.  Thanks for everything Steve!

My ‘sort-of-friend/sort-of-enemy’ with a BCC here in this lovely place I live had these cool little oriental rugs on his boat. I fell in love with them. I bought 4. I put my drinks on them.

Nights growing colder
Children growing up
Old friends growing older
Experience slips away

(Rush, Time Stand Still, 1987)

The mooring field, the anchorages, the streets, the coffee houses, all are noticeably less crowded. The secret service helicopters fly overhead this week, but the rest of the island is settling down. The days are only as long as they were in April. The sun feels different, and my thoughts are absorbed in plans for winter.

I’ve scheduled a survey over in Falmouth for insurance renewal/upgrade. I’m shopping around for insurance to cover the trip south, and I’d like the insured value of the boat to reflect the work I’ve done this past year. I’m just looking over the pre-purchase survey and realizing there are a few items I never addressed. But I did pick up some new flares and a fire extinguisher, registered the EPIRB in my name, and sent it off to have the battery replaced – to the sweet tune of $250.

I’ve just learned you can’t have your SSB backstay antenna insulators right up at the top of the mast. “The mast will reflect a certain amount of radiated power back down the line to the radio (VSWR), it will also change the pattern of your signal.” So, I’ll have to pull my backstay down, and rework it a bit, making 3′ at the top. I ordered the correct Stalok pieces from Rigging Only, and still have some leftover wire. Never a dull (non-spendy) moment!

Last spring when the boat was delivered I thought I’d be in for about a month’s worth of work,  then I’d launch and go sailing! Little did I know… things take 3x as long, and cost 5x as much as anticipated. All in the name of fun… or is it obsession, or is it addiction?

As I kept pushing the launch date back another week, then two, then three – the running gag became “June 09″ which at the time seemed so far away and rediculuous. But oh how true it was! June 1st to be exact. Although, I am launched… I’m far from ready to go sailing.

The launch went smoothly, except for no water flowing from the exhaust on startup. I had to tie up to the dock for a few minutes while I primed the pump… filled the raw water strainer with water. I guess when I winterized it, the strainer drained. I would have thought the pump would overcome that, but I suppose that is a large volume of air.

Living aboard on the mooring gets me in the mood. I’m pirating wifi from ashore, somones unsecured network. I use a Linksys router flashed with an application called DD-wrt, and a 15dbi omni directional antenna. Works OK. It’s still not 100% reliable, but I can usually find signal and get some work done after dinner. The boat has put a severe leak in my wallet, and the pumps are barely keeping up. Solar panels, wind generator, and a new dodger will have to wait. But I did order a Simrad TP32, a necessity. I was so excited to see the brand new lifelines (purchased by previous owner) in place, first time they’ve been rigged since I’ve known the boat. Too bad the gorgeaous quick releases he ordered don’t fit in the D-rings on the stantions.

After having spliced my entire rig WRONG last summer, I’m back to re-rigging my boat with Sta-loks. Splicing was yet another expensive and time sucking mistake I’ve made. I am happy that I learned to splice, and enjoyed the process (agony). But mechanical terminals are the way to go. I have much appreciation for them now that I know the alternative. I understand Hi-Mods are even easier than Sta-Loks, and are perhaps more appealing to the eye (still undecided on that), but since I had the bottom Sta-Lok studs already, I opted to re-use those and just buy new Sta-Lok tops, saving myself $700 or so. I’m reusing the wire from the splices where I can, but that still left me buying almost 200′ of new wire. The only tricky thing with Sta-Loks is keeping the strands out of the gap in the wedge. Here’s a pic of how they line up to avoid the gap.