2/1-2/7: Still in the boatyard

Monday, February 1.

Wow, it’s so hard to believe it’s February already. On one hand, we are happy to be away from our first Minnesota winter, but on the other hand, we’ve stumbled in to the coldest winter the south has faced in 150 years. This morning, as we headed back to the boatyard, it was 40 degrees and I had to break out my stocking cap (still shivering in the car though b/c I refused to dig out my winter coat!). Brrr… I shiver more to think about how we’d be managing living on the boat in this weather, since that was our original plan.

Oh yes, our original plans …. (ha! What’s the saying – men plan, God laughs?)…. We left MN thinking that we’d be putting the boat in the water after a couple of days of prep work at Brunswick, heading towards our first destination of the year, the space shuttle launch on Feb 7 (one of the items on Dan’s bucket list). Now, I’m hoping that we’ll be about to make the 2nd destination on our 2010 list: Visiting Savannah over the week of St Patrick’s Day. For those not in the know, Savannah hold the 2nd largest St Patrick’s Day celebration (after NYC … yes, bigger than Chicago!) … it’s a week-long affair. Schools close. Businesses close. Parades and drinking green in the street prevail! Michelle will be here during her spring break, and we have a reservation at the Thunderbolt Marina.

If we miss that milestone, then we MUST make our 3rd big event of the year: our son, James, is coming to see the boat for the first time, and we plan to meet him in Jacksonville, FL, to pick up him & his good friend, Ryan Bruns, for his maiden sail on our new home. The plan is to sail with them from Jacksonville to Brunswick where he will pick up our Suburban and take it back to MN. Yes, he is a wonderful son! He has, without complaint, been our biggest supporter in breaking roots in Minnesota and launching this new dream of ours. He transported two U-Haul trucks of our furniture to his new home; he’s storing our favorite possessions in his basement; he braved the sub-zero weather in MN to help Dan load the Rocket Box onto the GMC, as well as the bike rack and our two bicycles before we left town; he’s handling our mail….. And now he’s coming to Georgia to retrieve the car that got us here (along with all the stuff we don’t have room for on Maja). Yes, all you parents out there, you have good reason to envy us!!

The start of a new month has forced us to reassess our original plans. We won’t be seeing the shuttle launch b/c Maja will still be in the boatyard! (Remember the John Lennon song: Life is what happens while we’re busy making other plans …”. We paid for another month at the Brunswick Marina, and to lift our spirits, we starting moving some of our stuff aboard Maja. We started with the galley, which is currently the most intact part of the boat. After Dan hauled 6 boxes from the Suburban, up the ladder, over the lifelines, through the cockpit and down into the cabin, I was frantic – What the hell were we thinking? This stuff will never fit. After moving from a 4000 sq foot home, into a 2-bedroom apt, I thought we had already downsized enough to fit on a 40ft sailboat. Not even close, as I had to tearfully repack non-essential cookware and sentimental knick-knacks. Ok – so maybe it was crazy to think I’d find a place to store martini glasses or pottery bowls that my kids made in high school, but still … how do you make a boat feel like home when tools and solvents take priority over stemware?

Tuesday, February 2.
Dan is my hero!. He was determined not to have his first mate unhappy after the first move-in day, so he miraculously found space in lockers that had once been brimming with boat hardware. (for those of you who don’t know Captain Dan, he has this indomitable spirit that always manages to find a way to make things work out -- and today was no different!). So, even though 3 boxes have been repacked to go back to MN, I did find safe storage for martini glasses! And the boat is beginning to feel like home. Maja has a huge bathroom/head with tons of storage, so moving things into that space was much easier. Our last unpacking issue will be all the books we brought! Even though sailors always talk about the amount of reading they do on a boat, you’d think that sailboats come designed with better storage space for books …..

Another chilly day in the boatyard … and we’ve started to notice that nobody but us works when the temp drops below 60! Fingers are still crossed that we’ll get the boat in the water by Friday.

Dan’s work on the replacing the holding tank is moving right along … he built a sample tank out of cardboard to check the measurements and vent placement, and he’s started the process of working out the final specs with the plastics company that will custom-make the tank. It will take approx. 4 weeks for the tank to arrive, so we are checking out marine supply stores for a small tank to use in the meantime.

Wednesday - Thursday, February 3 and 4.

We are still hopeful for a Friday launch so all work has been focused on the repairs happening below the water line. The 6 stainless steel bolts that we ordered finally arrived. We picked them up at the Fastenal Store …. Which MN folk should recognize as based in Winona. We had a great visit as they noticed our MN license plates!

Replacing the 6 bolts (on the bobstay – the thing that sticks out in front of the boat, and secures the front sail to the boat) took Dan most of the day, but they look FABULOUS (we celebrate everything these days!). At least this is something we’ll never have to replace again as they’ll outlast our ownership of Maja. The finishing touches on the keel are done – the prop is back in place and the running gear was painted with a special paint that will help repel barnacle growth. The cushions and bedding are back on the boat. The dinghy is inflated and back in the davits.

Dan added the finishing touches to our identity: Lake City, MN (our home port) was added to the back end; this is required by the US Coast Guard since we decided to document our boat with them (vs. registering the boat in a specific state). USCG documentation will fit our nomadic lifestyle better as you can pass thru state waters w/o charge as long as you don’t overstay their residence requirements. We splurged and paid to have the hull buffed and waxed in the boatyard so our lady looks absolutely beautiful!!  So there is nothing on the “to do” list that should prevent a launch on Friday. Unless it rains – these guys don’t work in the rain. Go figure! So naturally, our fingers are crossed for decent weather so we at least get to touch water again – and then we’ll start worrying about the next list of things (e.g. will the diesel motor start?).

Friday, February 5.

: (

Today was supposed to be launch day, but alas, the boatyard stops work when the wind hits 20 knots, and today it topped 23 knots, plus lots of pouring rain. 

Now our hopes are pinned on Monday.