Where's the heat......

Jon and I are very busy with all the last minute things to do before we leave. What we don’t get done will have to be done out there. We worked on the sailpack and lazyjacks and have 80% of it finished. Still not sure about both ends but are trying to do it slow so just maybe it will come to us as to how it should be finished off. Jon is having a SS piece made for the end of the boom to help support the pack. Dick and Ann on S/V Grey Hound are trying out their new pack also, it was comical how we kept going over to see how that one worked and would say we should do that or we did that….and then go back and look at ours.

Our dink had to have a little modification to her chaps. I made them long over her sides to protect her from the sun but when we went out for a ride I realized the they were channeling the water inside the material and it was pushing up and into the inside and by the time we slowed down we had a few gallons of water in the bottom. We put her up on the dock and I took 3 inches off her sides and Jon added her new wheels. She was fine after that and the water stayed on the outside.


Jeff our cabinet maker has done the mock-ups of our new bookshelves and cabinets for the main cabin. Now he will start the real thing next week (I can’t wait).

One of the other things we would like is a new ladder to get in and out of the water. The one we have is a piece of crap and is always coming loose. Our sistership Paradise (Boatbumms) had a really nice one made for their boat and it was custom made to stay on the side and when in use it looks like it just pivots down and in place. We will have to contact them on it.

We did get to sneak out at 6am the other morning to go fishing for salmon with RJ, we did not catch any but I had a big one on the line that got away. We had a great time with him out on the water.

We are counting down......

We are sitting here on our back porch (cockpit) thinking about just how long it will be before we say good-bye and start that adventure we have been dreaming about for so many years. We just can’t believe it’s really here. We plan on leave either the first or second week of September and heading down to Delaware Bay for the first part. Amy will be there at Dover AFB, and this will give us a nice start without trying to plan to much to quick.
We have had some really nice times here at the marina with everyone. We had Richard come over and talk to us about our soon to be adventure and he is going to do a story on us for a magazine. He said it’s cool because we are on the verge of leaving but not quite out there yet. He asked us lots of questions on various things and said it would be neat to meet up with us next year to see just how different our answers would be after a year of cruising. Hopefully he can find us next year :).


This is Richard and Dee getting ready to launch their boat.


Some of our latest projects are putting on the sailpack which I made last winter. It seems to be the time for “sailpacks”, Dick and Ann have started to put their new Macpack on and we are back and forth looking at each of them. This is a total different look and shape for both boats so it will take some time and adjustments. We also put new lines on the staysail halyard and traveler.
Jon and I both took turns going up the Mast. Now this was fun and wouldn’t you know I forgot the camera on my way up.
We have found our Sunday nights at the marina are very quiet and we have had some great dinners with Dick and Ann.
Jill is feeling much better and after two weeks the pain is starting to subside.
Amy flew the C-5 today and said it was awesome. She said with the windows so small she doesn’t think about how massive it is but just as they approach the runway and see all the spectators taking photos and lining up to see them land she realizes that they are watching this huge plane and SHE IS BEHIND THE WHEEL. (Way to go Amy).

Happy 4th of July

Things are going well here on Kasidah! Being in the water and having our mast up makes it seem all the more realistic that if we wanted to, we could leave tomorrow...but we won’t…at least I don’t think we will.

We went out in the lake the other day to see just how many things we could find that needed fixing and it looks to be a long list. However when Jon opened up the floor to look at some of the electrical connections, he quickly found most of the problems we were having:

Problems:
1-mast and anchor lights did not work correctly. FIXED
2-wind instruments seemed to think we were not moving at 20 knots. FIXED
3- roller furling was not working right. FIXED
4. The water tank we did not replace began leaking when we were heeled greater than 20 degrees. (We decided it would just be easier to buy a new tank from Defenders, which arrived today and is ready to be installed)

Stuff that is installed/working:
1.My new fresh hot/cold water shower for the cockpit
2.Our new LED mast lights (Which are awesome)


Now as far as the old house situation goes. It still makes me upset that this much time as gone by and the deal is not complete. How you can have title insurance and still end up with the problem we are dealing with is just ridiculous. We were told that we would be reimbursed for any 'hardships' we are going through, if we can prove that there is in fact a 'hardship'. I would say being ready to leave and not having any money is a 'hardship'....wouldn't you??
Jon just keeps saying everything will work out. We will see……."9 weeks till cast off”

We have new sailors at the dock which have never sailed before and always wanted to so they bought the boat and figured they would learn as they went. Jon and I went out with them and they got the hang of it right away. We were very pleased at how much they caught on to it and enjoyed it. This is Mitch and Jackie I am speaking of.

I left Sunday for the first time since we moved aboard to spend three nights in Brockport with Jill while she began her recovery from having her tonsils out. Boy I would not want this surgery to happen to me. She was and still is in a lot of pain. Now I understand why they gave her three refills of her pain killers, I guess she will be using all of them.

We were honored to have Big Jon take us out on his new powerboat (Which is Very Fast). This was a lot more fun than we had antisipated. We even raced a large cigar boat.
“It was a nice try Big Jon but I think he beat us”.

Yesterday Rick and Pam came in for the night on their new trawler and man that thing is huge. They are the previous owners of our Kasidah, we have stayed in touch with them and will see them again in Delaware Bay this September. We found out that his nephew flys C-17s out of Dover so we will all meet there. It was a great time and thanks to Tim (owner of Fair Point Marine) they had a great slip for the night.
Thanks again Tim.

Edited by Jill Libby (-->Still in pain)