5th ~ Frankenstien was removed from the boat.  The new engine has been ordered and paid for and now is the time to remove the old one.  We were told this would be installed by Christmas so we can could begin sea trials and shake downs.  Is this true???

10th ~ Tangi's Custom Canvas is here today to take some of the measurements needed for the new bimini and enclosure.  Also working on some odds and ends and items that cant be seen that Andy completed without me being present.  

22nd ~ A few days before Christmas and we were able to have some help to get the old salon windows out (all 9) and have the new ones. This was scary because 2 of the windows had fire damage from our e-bikes and now they are starting to leak when it rains.  Let's hope this goes well.  It was a multi day process (3 days) to get all of the windows replaced.  Talk about boat yoga! How the heck did they get these windows in back in '74 when she was built?  We finally got them and now you can't see iin during the day however, at night with the lights on, you can litterally see everything.  I think I need curtains for some privacy at night and when the dogs are on board so they aren't barking when they hear people.  This was a huge project to get completed but progress is moving forward.

24th ~ Surpise, part of the canvas is ready, well the sailbags are at least.  Wow, doesn't Ms. Free Spirit look all spiffy in her new clothes?!  Mediterrean Blue suits her well.  The bimini top is also on now as well.  Tangi did an awesome job for us getting this completed and I can't wait for the finished product which should be mid Jan.  

29th ~ Say what? Andy put in a countertop in the aft head... he is kicking some butt and taking names.  It's go time! 

Andy has also done some clean up work in the engine room so all of the wires are now looking pretty, plus he also painted the wall that he glassed in a few weeks ago.  Also changed out the last 2 port holes in the aft head so that is done as well.  Now maybe the windows will stop leaking.

Also, haven't seen the mechanic for sometime time so I don't think it's going to be installed  by Christmas!  No surprise there... We will follow up and check on status after the hoidays.  Can't do anything about it now and it's too cold to go sailing at the moment.  Hoping next month is better. 

1st ~ Nancy is on a mission to get this girl ready to leave and has decided to take on some projects herself.  She attempted to install the Galley doors but eventually asked Andy for some assistance to get them up and mark one more thing off the to do list to leave

3rd ~ Andy finally was able to get the new bow roller installed and on for the anchor! What a project that was but not at least the anchor won't be hanging out on the boat and now is in its permanant location.

In preparation to get new canvas ordered, we needed to remove the solar panels and get the news on so we can determine where we needed the holes to be for the bimini.  We are having the canvas people come out this week to get the initial measurements and not sure if they needed the panels up or not but we took the old one down anyway since they were working well. So we installed the new mounting rails to hold up the new Renogy panels. 

11th ~ Well if it's not one thing, it's another... The scupper is plugged which means only one thing.... Andy has to get in the water to remove the barnacles to get the scupper to drain properly... Of course, he does it and makes it look easy

17th ~ Andy decides today is the day to do some fiberglass work... that means the wall between the engine room and the Aft Head a wall needs to go up sanded, and glassed in so we can start to work on the aft head.  This wall is needed also to intall additonal stuff in the engine room so it needs to get put in now so we can move on to finishing some more projects that are required to be completed before we leave.

23rd ~ Now we move to the aft head... Andy started with removing the last of the old rotten wood that was in there and removing all screws that were just sticking out and not doing anything, brought in power to the aft head and installed lights.  Apparently he got tired of working on the aft head and went to doing somesthing fun... there was a surprise in store for me.... We now offically have surround sound on the boat! What a treat and luxury item to have.

Happy thanksgiving to all!  We are taking the rest of the holiday weekend off to spend with family and yes, Nancy is cooking dinner on the boat again this year, Turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, mashed potates and dessert! 

Sept was fun... Not!! So instead of being able to go to Sarasota as planned we are forced to stay at the dock again but this time it's not because we aren't ready to go.  There is another hurricane coming and his name is Milton.  So after putting everything back together from Helene, we have to do it all over again.  There goes our vacation. But let me back up a little bit...

Oct 3rd ~ We think we may have some water in the fuel tank, possibly from Helene with all of the boucing and such so we need to remove the water, we make a DIY fuel polisher to clean the tanks. That was easy and took a a few hours but we managed to get all of the water and disel bugs out.  

Oct 4th ~ So we are supposed to be on vacation, friends around us are still cleaning up from Helene and we need out of town. So off to we go on a little road trip. We make to down to West Palm only to come back the next day.  Well apparently we aren't supposed to be able to have fun right now, because Hurricane #2 is now upon us.  So we haul buns back to Clearwater without really getitng anywhere or doing anything.  Time to get the boat/RV ready for Hurricane #2

Oct 9th - Milton has made landfall litterally less than an hour from us in Bradenton.  Because this one was so close and expected to be worse as it really was going to Tampa at landfall, Nancy and the dogs evucated to stay with friends at their house.  Again Andy stayed behind and prvided support for work and checked on the boat when he could.  The flooding here again was terrible but not as bad at the marina as Helene was with the storm surge.  Now don't get me wrong, there was plenty of flooding and damage around from both storms. 

Oct 12th ~ We make it back to the boat for hurricane damage inspections and our typical weekends.  Unpacked the boat and get her all settled back again.  

Somewhere between Helene and Miton we suffered our most expensive loss..... Frankenstien is now dead!  After trying to get him stared and getting the fuel tanks cleaned we discovered that there was water in the engine that has now seized to engine and it's no longer able to start, run or anything.  So much for trying to leave in Nov... I mean April... So as much as this hurts, now we being the process all over again doing a full inspection of the boat (minus th sails and rigging) find some more damge that either happened during Helene or Milton or whene we don't know.  All we know is that while we were planning to start crusing we can't do that any longer until we can get a working engine again and start the process all over again.  

In the meantime, we can reassess what things we want done before we leave and what we need done and move ito overdrive to get this boat ready so all we are doing is waiting for engine to get completed.

Oct 26th ~ We take the dinghy out to do some exploring and get a lttle time on the water to play while we still can but when did this water get to be so cold.  The temp dropped drasticly from the past 2 hurricances, not to mention the beaches are destroyed right now....

Another eventful month!  Where to begin.... So let's start with Labor day weekend... We finally should have Frankenstein (the enginge) completed and ready to go for our 1st shake down cruise however, due to another delay with the mechanic, this was not possible and the trip that we had with friends for that weekend left without us.  So dishartening and upsetting for us as we keep getting delay after delay. Additionally, we had a power cord fail on us so off to west marine on a holiday weekend we went to get parts needed to remove the burnt plug and put a new one on.  Andy also made some cable ends with his new spify cable crimper and so we start to work on getting prepped to finish off some additional projects that are needed for us to be able to get off the dock and get going.  

We did finally have enough boat work and needed off the boat.  We new where generally speaking our friends were so we packed up and off in the dingy we went... We found them and had a great day on the beach with them and then enjoying a meal on Viscaya for the day.  We then come back and take the puppies for a play at the beach.

We get some items in that we ordered a while ago and were on back order from Ray Maine.  So we get Brad with Paradise Yachts our to install the new wind sensor and climb the mast to get it installed.

We finally get the generator running this month as well.  Hooray!! We finally have both a working genrator and Frankenstein is back to life!  We have plans to sail to Sarasota with some friends in Oct so wish us luck this will all be ok and we can go....

Sept 26th ~ What in God's green earth is happening here... Hurricane Helene is coming for a visit and is slated for a direct or new direct hit to Tampa Bay. Not good boo!  She needs to go somewhere else... We had record water surge of 10 ft in the intercoastal.  The marina was less than a foot from coming over the pilings. There is water everywhere and there is no way that you can even get to the marina.  We finally make it there to check on things and there is just mass flooding and devastion everywhere.  The dock is taking on water and water has come up to the parking lot and crested over the walls and up to the steps that lead to coachman park.  Park of the ramps are under water as well. All we can do is hope for the best and there we will fair ok.  The boats are all bouncing and there boats that broke loose during the storm and just bouncing out there.  I am so glad that we didn't stay on the boat like we normal do. Because this was to a very near direct his and predicted storm surge we decided to just stay at the RV and hope that we don't get flooded there either.

We get back to the boat once the water has receided and the marina is accessible again, we intially do an inspection and all seems ok.... but we can't do a complete inspection of everything as it will take time but upon 1st look, she's still floating. We can hopefully bring the portable coolers back that we took off and get the boat back into working order. We did notice at 1st some small items like some gel coat scratches, some torn canvas and one of the aft chaft grards that were screwed into the hull was completly torn off as well as the engine hoist was bent and came off it's holding points but overall everything apears to be ok.... 

We take the dinghy out and the devastation is beyond anything we have seen personally before.  We attempt to do our part to help people get their boats moved and pick up debris where we can.  Restaurants are closed and anything on clearwater beach that was under water is now closed and no ETA for when they will allow people to come back yet alone start the repairs and then..... 

10 days later it happens again.... stay tunded for October updates to see what happens