George, what's up?

[GeoffSchultz]

George,

Since I friended you on Facebook, it appears by your posts that you're moving aboard. What are your plans?

-- Geoff

P.S. I hope that you don't mind me asking this in a public forum!

[THATBOATGUY]

Arrrgh! How could you out us like that!!!???

Heh heh.. just kidding.

Yes indeed we are moving aboard. We have renters for the house and we have to be out by 1 October.

We will depart the area end of November or first of December headed South in the ditch to Florida then Bahamas and shake all systems pretty hard. Then in the spring we will coast back up north to the Bay here and hang out for a few months making any changes we need to before busting out for Bermuda, Azores, the Med... and then things get a little fuzzy.

The important thing is that this is potentially a sustainable lifestyle for the next 2-5 years. Renting the house out wasn't essential but it's big in the "gravy" department. It also serves to put a firm drop dead date for moving aboard. We are either moving onto the boat or moving into the car! Our R/V is at the place in Florida so that is conveniently out of the equation (not to mention that both are old and decrepit and Kerri wouldn't move in anyway! heh heh). We might go around but I wouldn't be to disappointed if that didn't happen. I do want to cruise to the South and Western Pacific but from what direction is still up in the air.

After cruising we will sell Marquesa and build a Murphy Moose bush plane to explore some other places in another way. But I'll probably be joining a different forum then.

George

[GeoffSchultz]

Sounds like fun. I'm holding off on Europe until the dollar improves vs the Euro.

Anyhow, I'm glad to see that you're holding on to your place and renting it. I've seen too many people sell the homes and accumulated stuff, move aboard for the first time and then a few years down the line discover that the miss their friends/grandchildren and they find that they made a mistake.

-- Geoff

[GeoffSchultz]

So how are the plans/preparations going? Still planning on pushing off at the end of the month?

-- Geoff

[THATBOATGUY]

Hey! I've been very busy working on the boat. Sorry about the slow answer.

For a number of reasons we decided not to rent the house. Mostly this has to do with stress and frankly we have found that some of the best quality of life decisions we have made have been pretty sucky business ones but we still have a great life!

Anyway Kerri's last gig is around the 22nd I think and we should be loading at that point. We don't want to get pinned down about a departure date but we are heading south to Florida and hopefully the Bahamas before coming back here in the spring. Then we still have the Med on the table but we don't make plans really -- more like cruising goals or maybe mild expectations.

The bimini top is turning out great! The engine is all done but the panel wiring. The Frankenmaker is up and running but needs to be accessorized. Centerboard pulley system has been beefed over and is working properly (and safely) again. Main cabin cabinetry is done but needs varnish. That curved spindle rail that some moron previous owner had cut a section out of has been repaired by cutting and milling a new bit of top rail, disassembling the entire thing, bunging the old holes and redistributing the 26 spindles evenly over the new rails. The term "labor of love" comes to mind... heh heh I've installed a new 31 gallon fuel tank. Man there is so much left to do before we shove off...

George

[rubbus]

Pictures! We want pictures!

-Rob

[THATBOATGUY]

Hey Rob,

I'm going to try and do a narrated video before we start loading the boat. Right now things are pretty topsy-turvey.

George

[rubbus]

Great! Looking forward to the vid.

I have a question for you about the aft cabin- how are you guys finding that to be with the head in there? (Hope you don't mind my asking.)

Any thoughts on installing a bow-thruster to aid in docking?

I've always thought the center cockpit style to be a great one for a cruising couple, as it would allow for some privacy- you can get some "alone time" in the two separate areas of the boat. Love the style of course!

-Rob

[THATBOATGUY]

We are thinking that the aft cabin is going to be mostly garage on this shakedown trip. I love that there is a head in the aft cabin and it will be functional and accessible when we leave out. The cabinetry in the cabin actually conceals the head and the sink (which is a pull out) so that you don't know it's there unless you need it.

Marquesa had a bow thruster already installed when we bought her. Of course it was non-functional and locked up tighter than Dick's hat band like so many other things on the boat. It was a very professional install so we decided to keep it and refurbish. I dealt with the underwater parts of it before we launched and then came back to it when I had time. It is a Vetus unit and I tore it down, freed the bearings, cleaned everything up including the commutator on the motor and the contacts in the solenoids and bod-a-bing bod-a-boom! It works. I'm now a big fan of Vetus thrusters.

It turns out that one of the guys on the truck crew with me at West Marine is a canvas guy. He needed some help with his generator and I helped him out with that today and tomorrow he is helping me with the canvas top for our bimini!

That video will be coming up pretty soon because we have a drop lines date of 6 December now.

George

[rubbus]

Cool about the bow thruster- I'd imagine that will help with docking considerably.