Bimini

All I can say is that the bimini was well worth the wait.  This is not your average bimini, but then nothing I do is ever average.  In the upper photo is Vicki (Canvas By Victoria) on the pilothouse roof and "little" Steve, her son, stands next to the mast.  Vicki  is the designer, fabricator and chief installer. The second photo details the challenge of designing a bimini to fit around the mast and still be able to stow the bimini.  Concealed within the canvas is an aft frame bow that is segmented with a removable center section to allow the bow to pass forward around the radar dome so that the bimini can be stowed in a forward position.   The last photo shows the finished product.  Job well done Vicki.

88 Degrees

     Trying to escape the heat wave is Jesse, Grant, Sharon and Kelsie swimming in the Chester River.  No, the air temp was not 88 degrees.  The air temp was 100 degrees with a heat index of 109 degrees, it was the water temp that was 88 degrees!

New House Batteries

     We waited a long time for this day to arrive - new batteries.  In the above photo are three new 4-volt batteries on the trailer waiting to be installed.  In the background are three old batteries just removed from Big Run.  At 315 pounds each ,we needed a little help from the guys at Long Cove Marina.  With the assistance from the travel lift and a long reach boom, we were able to place the batteries within 2 feet of the house battery location in the engine room.  No hernias or bad backs after this lift!  Although the machinery did all the work, there are 5 guys assisting the travel lift. - 2 dockside and 3 on Big Run. In the photo below, I am in the background supervising the installation of the new house batteries.

A Shot In The Arm or Paying Through The Nose!

      Yesterday and today was the start of our immunization program so that we could be world travelers and not need to worry about contracting some obscure illness.  Thursday was 2 shots - Tdap(Tetanus, Diptheria and Pertussis) and Hepatitis A (Shot #1 of 2).  Today was also 2 shots - Yellow Fever and Hepatitis B (Shot #1 of 3).   Sharon, because of her birth date, received a third shot today for MMR (Measles, Mumps and Rubella).  We also got prescriptions for a Typhoid immunization in pill form, presuming we can locate a pharmacy that carries the drug which needs refrigerated.  We don't have the bill for yesterday's vaccinations and today's vaccinations required us to sell our first born!

S/V Barbara Batchelder

     We were at Reed's Creek just off the Chester River when this skipjack came in for the night.  There was barely enough wind to fill her sails. We do not know much about her other than she is the sailing vessel Barbara Batchelder out of Delaware.  If you know of this boat, please leave a brief description of the boat in our comment section.

I'll Do This For Free

     Enjoying the event at Cacaway Island, Langford Creek.  Seriously....I'll do this for free.

T-Minus 4 and Counting

     We had our last yard sale in early June.  Because our first two yard sale dates were so successful, we did not have much stuff to sell for our third and final yard sale date.  On the last Saturday, we did manage to sell about half of what we had leftover, and the rest was donated to Goodwill.  Overall, we sold 95% of the items we put out for sale on those three Saturdays.  Considering it was our first attempt at a yard sale, that's  incredible. We still had four high dollar value items that did not move in the yard sale so we advertised them on craigslist.  Two of the items sold immediately for their original asking price!

     We have also had the good fortune of entering into a sales agreement on the house.  The couple will be purchasing our home in September after Grant leaves for collage.   I guess we will be making the final move onto the boat in September instead of October.

    Boat work was very productive in June.  In addition to the wind generator installation, we also did some serious work on the brightwork.  We also installed fans in the suites for those extra warm nights.  Sharon is considering tackling the awlgrip and giving it a good buffing and waxing.

     Two small setbacks in June, both were "scheduled" to be done in June.  However, we learned that wasn't going to happen.  The bimini installation and the batteries are now scheduled for July.  

     The highlight of June was our youngest son's graduation from High School.  Congratulations Grant!