We've done nothing of great excitement in the past two weeks. At least nothing to top our last update (moving Sanibel). Jimi has worked hard everyday on the boat. On most days he gets up in the mornings, drinks his coffee and grabs a bite to eat. He packs a lunch and heads over to the boat yard. I do the same except I head over to me desk.LOL Sometimes he has projects to work on at home and spends the majority of his time in the garage. For this update I will briefly tell you what he's been working on.
Besides cleaning out the inside of the boat from our trip, the first thing he did was remove the outboard motor bracket. That made quite a difference in her look. She looks a little more like a respectable sailboat and not so ghetto. He also constructed a cover or awning over the cockpit to provide shade and keep the rain out. He says it has made a nice difference.
He designed about built 32 mast steps by hand. He purchased bar stock aluminum, made a jig and bent each step himself. Doing it this way cost us $3 per step verses buying them already made for $20 per step. He installed about half of them until he dropped his Makita from 30 foot up. However, a little attention and JB Weld and it's working good as new again.
The big focus was the engine. Six years of water dripping and mild steel rotting, he removed everything from the engine he could to better access the damage. He ordered fuel injectors, a starter, rebuilt the transmission and put everything back together. He brought it back to life for the first time in six years. It runs and looks like it will survive, but it's not quite purring, so he'll continue working it. In addition, it needs to be wired in, a cooling system added, and a fuel system built because it was not the original engine to the boat.
He found and rebuilt a windlass (motor to pull the anchor up) off Ebay.
He scrubbed the top side of Sanibel to be able to access any damage. I helped him scrub her bottom side over the weekend. Now all Ghetto is gone and she looks like a whole different boat. We're like prouder parents everyday.
He completely removed the helm (steering wheel and pedestal). He rebuilt it in the garage and spent several days painting it in the lanai. It's looking really good.
Numerous trips to Home Depot and ACE Hardware. In most cases ordering parts on line has proven to be cheaper and he does that too. UPS comes to our house almost daily.
We found a great mariners trading store. They sell used items and most of the time the prices are really good. They have all kinds of little parts we would never dream of being able to find. They also sell a lot of books and nautical items that are fun to browse.
This email does not do justice for the work Jimi has done for the past two weeks. Reading it, it appears he hasn't done much, but he has and he's been so busy and working so hard everyday.
We did make it to the beach on Sunday. The wind came from the North and was cooler than we are used to. I stayed out of the water for that reason, but enjoyed my time reading. The waves brought us piles and piles of new shells and Jimi collected a few dozen shark teeth in less than a few hours.
We also made our way to the jewelry store and bought our wedding bands one evening.
Jimi says he'll give updates periodically and he promises to even put in a guest writing. That's all for now.
Love everybody,
Lorie & Jimi
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