Return to Seasons

Margaret and I are always amazed by how many people post on CruisersForum, Liveaboard Cruisers, and other online venues asking how people keep from getting bored while at anchor or on a long passage. When aboard, we are always hunting for more time, not more things to fill our time with. So, we decided to put together a list of one hundred things to do while on a boat. For the most part, we avoided anything that involved the internet or leaving the vessel, attempting to stay true to the original queries that spawned this list. At first, we thought a list of a hundred things might be a little ambitious, but we brainstormed it quickly enough that we are sure you could add another hundred easily. Please add your favorite activities in the comments below!
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Margaret and I have had some long days on the boat as of late. Consequently, I have been exhausted when we returned to our hotel and have lacked the energy or focus to write a post. I am no less tired this evening, but I thought I would put together a few thoughts nonetheless about how the work as a whole has been progressing.
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We ended up only spending about two hours on the boat today. We got there fairly early, excited to replace all the hose and fittings in our non-engine raw water system, which feeds our wash-down pumps, refrigerator, head, and saltwater galley pump. It was really cold, in the mid-30s, so we thought this would be the perfect in-cabin project to get us out of the weather. We even bought a small space heater to provide a little warmth. Once on the boat, we dove right into the project but quickly ran into a few obstacles, which are detailed in today’s video. Since it proved to be a lot colder than we imagined and we could not finish the job without purchasing some additional fittings and replacing our two deck fittings for the wash-down pumps, we ended up calling it a day earlier than expected. Back at our hotel room, we ordered all the materials we needed to complete the project and should have the items in time to finish that project before we leave.
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Today, I had another good day of work. Though I still did not get a full day in, I am definitely getting closer. I feel like I am beginning to pick up some momentum, diving right into work when I get there, not letting obstacles stall me for too long, and starting to really understand all aspects of the projects I am undertaking. Tomorrow, I plan to get up and head straight over to the boat to take advantage of as much daylight as possible and really get rolling.

Dusk over the low tide marsh as I was heading home.

Unfortunately, Margaret was still feeling sick this morning, so I spent most of the day at the boat by myself. She did, however, switch our rooms, thinking that her illness might be more related to allergies – our previous room had a real musty smell – than the cold/flu that I had. So far, the move seems to have worked for her; hopefully she will continue to improve.

I will leave you all with today’s video, which goes into detail about what I was up to all day. As you will see, we are ready for a big day tomorrow now that I overcame some unforeseen problems and we made yet another trip to Lowe’s for tools and supplies. As for right now, though, it is bedtime.

Today was a fairly good day. The sunshine and comfortable temperatures certainly helped things, but what really made it was the knowledge that I am definitely on the mend. My throat is still somewhat sore, and I have an occasional cough. However, after the last few days, I can live with it. Margaret has recovered some too, but she is, unfortunately, still suffering from our cold more than I am. In addition to the fine weather and improving health, we also made some progress on the boat today, even though we still only worked for about four hours. And, to top off everything else, our two large orders came in today, delivering us our much-needed materials.
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We had another attenuated workday on Bear because we were both feeling under the weather. However, we made some progress, ticking off a few small jobs and finally getting the bulk of the plywood off the bottom of the lazarette door. You can check out all our progress on our video here.

Here I am getting the last of the old plywood off the lazarette door.

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Margaret and I have been running into difficulties unrelated to the boat. Of course, we still have lots of frustrations born of Bear too. But the last couple days, both of us have been feeling fairly under the weather.
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I cannot say that today was the most productive of days. We worked our asses off, but did not complete too many jobs. But, I guess we are that much closer to actually checking more things off our list.

Rather than detail all the things that we did not quite get finished, I just wanted to relate a couple things about the most frustrating thing I tried to tackle. I am not even sure we will ever really be able to solve the issue, which makes it all the more exasperating. I am speaking of servicing the hose that drains the galley sink, which clogged a couple times over the summer and seems to be nearly full of gunk at the moment.
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As we got close to St. Marys, Georgia last night, I started to get really excited about seeing Bear and getting aboard once again. Unfortunately, we rolled in after dark, so we were unable to head right over to the boat. However, this morning we made our way to St. Marys Boat Services and found Bear, relocated across the yard from where she was before.
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