Come on stripes....

So just down the dock from us here at Lightkeepers is a Hatteras 70 power yacht. From what I understand it belongs to an ex NFL referee. Hmm.. So do I strike up a conversation with him about my days watching UVM hockey and the challenge that the "stripes" always seemed to present...game after game.  Or do I play it smart with the seemingly very nice fellow who happens to be 6'4" and solid as a rock.....well.... Maybe I should just be cool.....I'll grab a pic tomorrow if I get a chance..

Having looked high and low.

We've struggled to find a ceiling light for our main salon. Two years of active looking, and a couple years before that of occasional looking. But we've finally done it--gave up looking for boatlights and RV lights (both being low voltage) and dug into ship salvage. Success! We were simply looking in the wrong places.

Let there be light..

We're happy.

Beach Walk

Beautiful evening for a beach walk.

Terrifically flat and wide with the tide out.

It's just before sunset.

Cherry Grove Beach, SC

Bought in 2010...installed in 2015

So the spectra watermaker is installed under the sink and I'm in the process of cleaning out the storage chemicals. We don't want to actually start it up just yet to desalinate because the harbor we're in is rather brackish and not the cleanest. So we make up some salt water from adding aquarium salt to 5 gallons and test the system that way. In the meantime a good cleaning is in order to be sure all the chemicals are out.....probably another 1.5 hours of flushing the system. 

Instrument panel cover

Have you ever felt like your feet were too big for the cockpit and accidentally toed the engine either on or even worse, toed it off? Or for those with a higher panel, how about that hip check? That never happened on Iemanja but I could see it happen when my mind let me. So, acrylic panels from VT Plastics Specialties in Williston,  a little patience from Bette, a voila, instrument panel cover. Another enroute project scratched off the List.

Charging the batteries

Nothing like a cloudy and light rain day to charge the batteries with solar energy. These Solbian solar panels are great. 

Radio is on, charging laptop, charging dewalt tool batteries, refrig and freezer are running, lights are on but we are almost up to full charge... Solbian is Italian, there is a US company also, both with mono-crystalline silicon with low defects and supposedly 22% efficiency. 

Works for us!

One......of the joys of cruising.......

Putting ones feet up at the end of the day and just looking around the marina or harbor is truly one of the many joys of living on a boat....no matter where you are......

03/10/15 home again.

Ernie's back on board.

Watermarker day

You really really can tell when Ernie is on-board and bent on a project. He also has a 10 lb supervisor. A picture tells it all:

Water maker

Good rainy day to study and begin the watermarker install.

The cockpit has become a nice living space even in the rain! Thanks CNC, LLC.

Oh so nice to have Ernie back on board.

Sun room

The sun room is now complete with the rest of our canvas being installed. Thanks to Cloth'n Canvas...toast with blue highlights; and the cockpit is now giving us 10' x 10' of extra living space. Gosh this looks nice.

03/09/15 Ernie's back

So happy that Ernie is now back on board as of today. Yay!!!  Not only does he put out a lot of heat, but the weather seems to have gotten over a cold air hurdle. It's beautifully warm 60-70 deg. Needless to say, I am done with 2 sleeping bags, 2 blankets, jammie's, socks and a hat to sleep in. Enough of that. 

A day in Atlanta....

So on the way back to my three girls in SC, I gave up my seat on the Myrtle Beach connection for one that would get me back 6 hours later. In return, I received.....$1000 in delta travel bucks to use in the next year. I figured that was a good deal in these days of frequent trips. Off I went on the subway to spend the early afternoon in downtown Atlanta......I'm always up for an adventure!!! CNN ....hmmm that might be a cool place to see...