So why are we still in North Carolina and what have we been doing? There are two primary reasons for our rather anticlimactic non-departure. First, my grandfather was hospitalized in October and passed away in early December so we have been spending a lot of time with family recently. Then there is the boat.
It turns out there is a great deal more to be done to the boat before we can even go as far as Florida and, frankly, after this winter Florida doesn't seem quite far enough south for us. The ever-growing list of boat tasks is a bit daunting, but here is a sampling, just to give you an idea:
- Plan and install a completely new electrical system, including batteries, wiring, solar panels and wind generator.
- Get safety equipment such as an EPIRB and a seriously good life jacket and safety tether for me.
- Scrape and paint the bottom of the boat.
- Purchase an induction cooktop.
- Find and fix all leaks (there is at least one bad one in the berth that results in a puddle of water on the floor).
- Acquire new LED navigation lights.
- Mark the boat for the Coast Guard. Kozmik Kaos is documented with the Coast Guard and we are required to display the documentation number on the interior of the boat. The boat name and hailing port must be displayed on some visible part of the hull and, like all of this, we will be doing this work ourselves.
- Determine how we will access the Internet while cruising and, well, purchase the equipment for said access.
- I would also add "purchase fans" because now our intent is to be ready to leave sometime in the spring and forget Florida and head straight for the Bahamas. Florida is just too darn cold in the winter!
There is also the matter of the ceiling of the boat. I may have already spent time whining about the carpet that one of the previous owners installed on the ceiling. It was old and partly falling down, not to mention a color that was less than appealing to both of us. So we removed it in October. What do you think is on the ceiling now? That's right. Glue. Very, very, very strong, old, stubborn, nasty glue. This glue has practically become one with the fiberglass. I think they are engaged. We have spent more time worrying over this glue than many of our government officials spend making important political decisions and have had just about as much success. We have Googled it. We have consulted with the wonderful people at our local Home Depot. And the folks at Lowes. We have tried various methods of removal including citrus-based cleaning products, a special kind of Krud Kutter, sunblock and vegetable oil. Believe it or not, guess which has worked the best? SUNBLOCK! Actually, I don't want to be misleading. I think the Krud Kutter and the sunblock have worked equally well. Neither is the magical solution we were wishing for however. You don't smear on the sunblock and then sit back with a cocktail to watch the glue miraculously peel off the ceiling. No, it still requires the scraping of minute bits of glue with your fingernail. Brian has done a respectable job of removing a lot of it in the berth, where it was crumbling down on the area where our mattress will go, but it is a long, tedious process and far from over.
We kind of abandoned Kozmik Kaos to visit family in December. When we returned to Shallotte we had to continually doctor the plumbing in the trailer we are staying in due to the record low temperatures. Not to mention that we both tend to go into hibernation mode when it is so cold. We are really just now getting back into boat mode, which is a good feeling. More normal temperatures have done much to improve our outlook, not to mention that we are spending time in an oceanfront condo with my parental units right now. The water isn't as warm or as blue as we'd hoped to see at this time but it is still our beloved ocean and its blue horizon urges us on with our planning.
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