Mast Track, Locker Painting and Family

We are a bit less than a month away from our sail away date and today we are feeling fairly optimistic that we will actually be sailing away August 15 with Dark Horse in fairly good order.

Over the weekend, our reinforcements arrived, my mom and dad, and while they are both suffering from jet lag, having just left Korea, they have delved into the work. Dad has been down at the boat, jet washing, attaching gaskets, raising mast track and, of course, supplying coffee. And Mom has been sewing, reading and playing with the girls at home, which has given Maureen a very well deserved break from childcare. We are very lucky to have three very supportive and helpful grandparents!

An update on the status of the refit. So, the electrics are not done, Pete our electrician continues to be in high demand, but as he was passing our boat on his way home tonight he said he should be back on Dark Horse tomorrow morning. And with any luck the shipwright, Stewart, will be on the boat tomorrow too fixing our companionway. Our big achievement today was getting our Tide Marine Tracks up the masts. John and Dad, with very little assistance from me, pushed them up easily, just like the advertisements said. So we are very close to actually being able to sail Dark Horse, yahoo! My big job was painting out the new gas locker as we have the gas fitters coming tomorrow to put in the piping for our cooker. One more step towards being able to live aboard, just need the fridge guys to come now...

Below are lots of pictures of different things that have happened over the last few days. Hopefully the next update will be a picture of a washing machine, I am truly spoiled and amazed that we will have one on board, and our safety netting up.

Ruth, Lucy and John in the lazarine locker with our new gas locker!

A very happy jolly jumpin' Adam

John and Dad fitting our new fuel tank dipstick gaskets.

A little bit of "Fairy dust" to make the mast track go up a bit more smoothly.

And here we go...

One, two, three...

This is soooo easy!

Until next time...

Just a quick update.

Things are going ahead a bit more quickly on the boat. DC electrical system is almost finished, which hopefully means that the AC system will be started and finished by the end of next week. Plumbing is on the way to being completed too, so we'll be able to run the taps, have a shower and flush the loos without fear of sinking or flooding the boat. John has been busy with the electrician, Pete, trying to get the old fridge to work. A fridge technician is coming to the boat this morning to assess whether it is worth continuing with the repairs. Robin, our refit manager, remains hopeful that the fridge is salvageable, but John and I are pretty sure we will be replacing it, we'll just have to wait and see.

Yesterday, Adam was helping out with some measuring and problem solving in the galley. He was quite excited about the fresh water manual pumps for drinking water.

We've decided to splurge and replace out saloon windows. They old ones a rather badly scratched up and T-Cut and polishing doesn't seem to be helping all that much, there are just too many scratches. So, I am off to Southampton with the old windows so they can be used as a template for the new ones. Hopefully these windows will be ready the about 10 days. May the lovely sunny weather continue until then.

Beautiful Day For Hatch Cover Maintanence

So much for weather forecasts from BBC. According to them it should have been cold and grey today, but I was pleasantly surprised to be sitting on the lovely foredeck of Dark Horse scrapping away at old Sikaflex with John and Adam. It was a great way to spend an afternoon!

Ruth took some time selecting the right tool. In fact she kept complaining she had the wrong tool. Unfortunately it is just one of those jobs there is no perfect tool. She even tried beating the mastic with a spanner. I must admit I felt like doing the same at times

A pokey tool works for a while

Finally just about finished

Now, tomorrow we will find out if our fridge works...keep your fingers crossed. I know that Peter, the electrician, was anticipating pops, buzzing and just perhaps a blow from the old thing, but I remain optimistic. 

On the Move

Standing in the garden/yard looking back at our little home with the For Rent sign hanging above the door we said a rather emotional goodbye to Glenisla, in Edinburgh. The realization that soon this little home would be alive with the sounds of another brought a sense of closure and a need for a deep breath--really, we are moving onto a 60ft schooner as a family to sail where the wind and our whim take us?! So we shut the doors on the two white panel vans that contained all our worldly goods and made the 430 mile journey to "Grandma's" house in the New Forest. Normally we would have made this journey in one hit, however, we were not driving a speedy little car, but two whales, so we took it a bit slower and had a two night rest with friends, Duncan and Sarah in New Mills, just outside Manchester.

On Friday, we were treated to a tour of the river valley where the mills used to be, now mainly ruins, and a gentle walk up a hill to gather a view of the surrounding area of the Peak District. Each night came to a close with fabulous food, wine and company. A fabulous start to this next chapter in our lives.

We arrived at Maureen's Saturday evening and we were treated to another lovely meal, but after a bit too much fun at Duncan and Sarah's, we were all feeling a wee bit tired, so it was early to bed to prepare ourselves for the unpacking of the vans on Sunday. 

Thankfully the unpacking happened quickly and easily. Things are a bit less organized than we would have liked, and I think we have come to realise that we still have too much stuff and will be taking a lot more of our possessions to the charity shops before we push off, but at least we have somewhere to start from. Now the real work of sorting our possessions from Nigeria and Edinburgh into one organized, easily moved onto a boat, set of boxes. Wish us luck, I imagine this will take a few days!