Time keeps slipping away on us. My goal for 2023 is to try and stay more current on the update and progress for SV Free Spirit. Keep in mind that Andy and I are both still working full-time and with trying to work, add more work to the boat, mange our home and kids and just staying up on life, some things are forced to take a back seat. That being said, I have forced myself to slow down today and get the updates out to you all that are curious about what is going on.
So obviously we have the capability to stay on the boat overnight now. I can whip out meals for the dock and home at any given time. It has been very cold by Florida standards (seem some 30’s here). We have added a space heater to help keep us warm on the boat. We have celebrated our 1st several holidays on the boat and sharing and making memories with our new extended dock family, friends and fur-friends.
We did a live YouTube event on New Years which outlined the intended progress for the upcoming year with the projects and things that we wanted to accomplish for the boat to keep her moving along with the natural progression to get her ready to start her world circumnavigation when the time comes. We are finding that while we are so project driven right now we also need to stop and take a weekend or so just to keep up on maintenance so we don’t have to fix anything because it broke. (yes, this has already happened).
The dogs are so happy on the boat and if they even think that we are going, they are super excited and completely exhausted by the end of the weekend. They are all living their best lives right now and I couldn’t be any happier with them and the way they are on the boat. One thing they don’t like (except for George) is that they can’t jump on the bed and sleep with us. They have to sleep on the floor however, it’s not all bad for them. They get all kinds of people food and treats and they do have some of their blankets on the floor to help them sleep.
I (Nancy) have started to provision the boat with non-perishables foods. We also received a nice donation of 2 portable Domenic refrigerators/freezers. What did I do? Fill them of course!! I kept the 2 as freezers and made one for meats and the other for frozen vegetables, snacks and ice cream!
We completed the following projects this month: Removed the old bilge fan from the engine room (ran on 36 volt), added some more electrical outlets to the boat to the settee, captains quarters, fwd cabin and various other places. We also added the fuel fill hose and water fill hose and added new tank sensors for the port side (still have to do for the starboard side) We replaced the holder for the dingy motor, removed the old windlass for inspection so we can get the motor ordered & replaced, Andy started the daunting task of grounding and bonding the boat, added the galvanic isolator. Nancy pressure washed the toe rails (so we can prep to wash and seal with varnish). We start working on the forward bathroom to get the new countertop and sink installed. Nancy completed the pillows and settee cushions. We also prepared our medical kit and ditch bag so we can really get started sailing soon. We also added a new electrical panel for the forward part of boat for a possible 2nd ac unit. How can I forget, we also got the hot water heater installed and the new poop box!!
Wow, what a busy month that was. We did also manage to get some fun in and had a dingy race on one of the weekends at the dock.
Photos for the month of Jan are posted below for your viewing pleasure.
February updates to be posted soon.
