Life aboard Done Dreamin': January 2017

Our work continues, and time continues to fly. We have moved across the canal to stay at a private dock attached to a plot of empty land. Michael struck up a friendship with the owner, and learned that he built the dock, complete with water and power, for his own boat which is undergoing mechanical repairs somewhere in North Carolina. When Michael asked if he ever considered "renting" it out while it sits there empty, he offered it to us at next to nothing when compared to the boatyard pricing. So we took it, and have been here for the last couple of weeks.

It's been a great spot, and we have found some creative ways of getting rid of our trash (something normally included at a marina), and of course we have had to share the space with this guy, who has claimed the shoreline as his own.

We have to be super vigilant with Kokomo, as he likes to wander off the boat and explore the trees and grassy area nearby.

But back to the work at hand...and an observation that even the simplest of jobs seems to expand and grow into a mammoth project. We have installed my new kitchen faucet, complete with spray hose attachment. This should be fairly straightforward, right? Wrong! The old setup had an old pump installed next to the taps, and it needed to come out, but more about that later. In order to reach the connections for the new faucet, we had to take the sink out (because it's a boat and nothing is straight, or straightforward). Once the sink came out, it needed to be scraped free of all old silicone and any other sealant used. Install the faucet, check for leaks, apply silicone to the sink and put it back into the hole in the counter. Check next morning to find the silicone is not setting, and everything is still wobbly. Look at the silicone tube.....did you know that silicone has an expiry date? Off to Home Depot, where they are beginning to recognize us when we walk in, buy new silicone, and remove the sink - again. What a mess. All of that old goopy silicone must be removed. It's the consistency of apple sauce, and oozes everywhere, leaving an oily sheen behind. Apply new silicone, reinstall the sink into the hole and wait for the silicone to set. Hooray - it worked.

Now, about that pump. We traced the hose from the pump under the counter, through a bulkhead and into the engine room, where it connects to the main water line from the tanks. It should be easy to put in a tee, or cap the hose, cut it off and pull it out, along with that old pump. Did I say easy? Not a chance. The hose was clamped to the wall in places only a skinny midget could reach, so simply pulling it through was not an option. With much groaning and cursing, I was able to get into a tiny space in the engine room where I could reach a screwdriver in to undo the clamp mostly by feel, as visibility was extremely limited, while Michael provided encouragement and helpful suggestions from the deck above. But in the end, we got it done, and pulled the hose through, and Michael has successfully replace the tee with a straight connection and removed the old hose.

It hasn't been all work though. There was Christmas and New Years. We have been to beach, had some great meals, enjoyed some lovely sunsets, spent time with old friends and made some new ones. We'll be on the move soon enough, and we're in no great rush to start before we are truly ready. These are just a few of the highlights.