Our hard work is beginning to pay off!

We've both been a little in the dumps lately, having felt that we've extended our stay in Marathon much longer than we enjoy. So we decided to start planning our real, tangible list of things we need to do in order to get us to the Bahama's at the end of hurricane season. We've been focused these past few weeks on nothing but boat projects (and hurricane prep!).  We had forgotten that we wanted to do this right - we had watched boat after boat make their trip across the Gulf Stream. Every time, it made us feel like we had missed the band wagon. We had to remind ourselves that we intended on staying longer, cruise farther, and doing it the best way we could in order to make our travels as safe and comfortable as possible. Once we got this back into our heads, we've been enjoying every second of our efforts here working on projects.


We finally got those big, beautiful batteries secured into the boat. That doesn't sound like that big of a task, I know, but it was! Dave built a wonderful (and very sought after) battery box, fiberglassed and sanded, working day after day on it - only to find that it didn't fit into the battery compartment on the boat. We had to resort to plan B, putting the battery box in the lazarette (a compartment in the aft, or back, of the cockpit, which is the area where the helm is, aka steering wheel).

Dave had to also fiberglass the box to the boat, and built custom platforms in order to secure them to the boat while we're underway (sailing). These two batteries are going to give us much more power capacity on the boat, so simple things like running light and fans, having water pressure and the ability to charge up our electronics, is no longer a pipe dream. Dave also had to build a second platform, fiberglass it to the boat, and secure our starter battery in as well. These two tasks took almost two weeks. All the while, we were living without any sort of power on the boat. Which means, no running water to wash dishes, fans only used sparingly at night, and minimal lights. Not to mention, this whole time, the boat was completely torn apart and gear scattered everywhere so that Dave could access the compartments. Here's an idea of what we had to live in, the cockpit of the boat was in even worse condition!

 With the summer temperatures kicking in, we began to see a need for some kind of cooling system for the boat. While an AC unit would be heavenly, it's not really our style (or in our budget). The tree-hugging, poor bastard alternative is.....(drum roll).....SHADE! That's right, for a fraction of a fraction of the price, we can enjoy earth-friendly cooling. We bought some inexpensive material from Home Depot (in the past two months we've been there several times a day, everyday, no exaggeration), measured out the dimensions on the boat and had a canvasser in the harbor custom sew it for us. It keeps the boat 5-10 degrees cooler during the day and provides shade for the tree of us while we're deck side (on the top of the boat). It's been a life saver!

 The breeze has been decent during the day, enough to keep us comfortable on the boat with our snazzy shade, but dying at night. Which means, mosquitoes. Hundreds of them. Poor Dave is covered from head to toe in bites. We had to find some way to alleviate them without using dangerous chemicals. We decided on screens to block them out of the boat. So, once again, we took a trip to Home Depot and had Dwayne (our canvasser, I'm sure you'll be hearing his name a lot) custom sew us some screens. In the first picture, we used Velcro to secure the screen to the forward hatch. It enables the breeze, if there is any, to still flow through the boat but locks out those demon bloodsuckers. The second picture, Dave made a beautiful wood frame to fit into the companionway hatch. The middle is screened in, he fit it perfectly, once we stain it it'll look wonderful!
 

We've been picking up books the will help guide us on our cruising journey, researching like crazy - we even finally bought our very own fancy-pants GPS! We'll now, more safely, be able to navigate through unfamiliar waters. Before, especially in the Keys, sailing around new areas was a bit of a heart attack. The waters can be incredibly shallow here, there are thousands of shoals that sneak out of nowhere. You can be happily cruising around in 25 feet of water, and within a second, be grounded in 2 feet. Not dangerous, but not fun.

We've also been doing cosmetic things to the boat. Sanding nearly all the internal wood and refinishing it, adding teak aesthetics to the cockpit. For a long time we were hell bent on trading Wave Dancer for a larger one - we've instead come to really like our boat. We've grown comfortable in it's modest size, and now that we're putting so much TLC into it, we're finding a deep rooted affection for our little home.

We'll keep on with the projects. We still have solar panels to install and mount. Entirely redoing the electrical system. More fans to buy. Other aspirations for the boat that we hope to accomplish before our set departure date (early November). We've got our goal in sight and it's keeping us sane and busy and broke! :)