We picked our date to start out boat trip from Maine to Florida, Saturday, September 22. Not gonna happen quite that soon, but it’s good to have set a goal. The preparations are well underway. There are just a few outstanding items. In our test runs, we were concerned about a few items. We had the initial tutorial when we picked up the boat but after going over the manuals and trying to put it all together we were feeling intimidated and overwhelmed. One of the raw water intake filters didn’t seem to be working, but what was its purpose? We couldn’t find it in the manual and couldn’t remember what the boatyard had told us.
Tim called the local boatyard we’d been dealing with for years and told them of our plans. He explained our concerns and asked if someone could look our boat over and explain a few things. A few days later we had an appointment with Roger. It was exactly what we needed. He found a few maintenance items and went over everything with us. The intake valve which didn’t seem to be working was for the AC, which we hadn’t used. That was a relief, and now we had a much better understanding of the systems. He also took note of extra filters we should have on board and would order them for us. We had gotten a variety of suggestions of what replacement parts we should have on board. His was a succinct list for which we were grateful.
Item number two, and quite important, the dingy. We have an inflatable but its small and aging fast. We do want to anchor as much as possible so a reliable dingy is imperative. Safety first. We want this to be a fun adventure, but also a safe one. The hunt for a dingy was on. Tim’s research came up with Portland Pudgy. The Pudgy is made right here in Portland, Maine, and a great design. It functions both as a dingy and a lifeboat. It’s very sturdy and with enough room to get us to shore comfortably with any supplies, provisions or laundry. If you have a dingy, you need a davit. That would be a means to connect your dingy to your boat. But we aren’t done yet. We needed a motor for the dingy. Last but not least, a bracket to hold the motor to the boat when the dingy is attached to the davit. There, so item number two included 3 more parts.
In the meantime, I have been cooking. There is a galley on Little Prince but it just seems like a good idea to prepare meals ahead of time so that cooking will be at a minimum. Breakfast and lunch will need to be prepared, but at least dinner will be done. A very small freezer is part of the refrigerator so all the meals I’m freezing will be in a cooler. I have been assured that with a block of ice, and a space blanket, the food will stay frozen for many days. We can also get more ice somewhere along the way to keep it frozen as long as need be.
Next, charting our course…
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Author: Barbara Busenbark
A painter, writer, and photographer still trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up, although the growing up part seems pretty hopeless at this point.
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