Updated on October 29, 2021
Moving Aboard, A New Water Tank, More Varnishing, and a Visit from the Swabbies
June 2020 – October 2020
Now that Sophia was back in the water, it was time for us to make the commitment to move out of our apartment, shed as much of the peripherals of terrestrial living, and move our essentials on to the boat. With the pandemic on and with all work from home, Elena had decided that it made little sense that we pay both rent and marina fees. So we made the commitment to leave our home for the last two years.
In June, we made ten runs over a three week period in our short bed Toyota pickup truck to move the furniture we wanted to keep into storage. We moved our “essentials” to the boat. For me that meant a few pair of shorts, a couple of pairs of jeans, and two pairs of shoes. For Elena there was a few more items. How many pairs of shoes does a woman need on a small boat? By July 1st, the apartment was closed down and the keys returned to the landlord.
July and August were spent continuing our exterior varnishing and working on the interior woodwork. Getting a decent match between our original wood work and any replacement pieces turned out to be an excruciating challenge, requiring many repeats of sand, prep, and varnish, going almost to the very date we sailed south.
Work came to halt when we got a visit from granddaughters Zoe and Ellie (ages 8 and 5 respectfully) in late August. For ten days, we swam, ran the dinghy around the marina, swung from the mast, and caught crabs. During quiet times, Zoe and Ellie did their summer school work. And they helped a lot around the boat. It was a very good ten days, that ended for
After the girls left to go back to their parents, it was back to work. The biggest job was to re-caulk the entire teak deck which had been neglected for four years. It took a couple of weeks of sanding, taping, and caulking. Elena insists that she do all the meticulous taping which requires a good eye to keep every seam the same width, and she knows that she is far better than I. The caulk requires that we immediately pull the tape, so after smoothing out the caulk we work in tandem to remove the tape–she removes, I hold the trash bag.
One of our last major refit items was the replacement of the starboard water tank. We had constructed the model for it back in February. Now that September had arrived with a late October departure, we began to work in earnest with the fabricator to complete the job. Elena cleaned and repainted the locker where the tank goes into. Quentin, the fabricator, brought the tank down for a first fitting, made some adjustments, and delivered the finished tank for installation. With water on the starboard side, Sophia finally relieved of her two degree port list, and we had 50 gallons of water storage capability back.
