The Great Wander

I’ve been writing a about our difficulties.  Lightning strikes, no power, stuck at a dock.  I was beginning to think my blog about sailing was going to be about boat repair and that was it.  I am happy to write this time, though that we are making headway!  We are beginning to think about weather windows, not quite there, but we are getting there.

When lightning hit our boat, we lost all electronics, our alternators, one of the starters, the fridge ran when the breaker was off.  There were a lot of issues.  Before that we had a broken motor mount (those arrived the day after the lightning strike).  After that we found the rotten bulkhead.  We also found some wall panels that needed replacing, along with finding a few other leaks in the headliner.  

There were a lot of issues that we were finding because of the lightning strike.   Some were related to the lightning strike and some were not.   And as a lot of people have said, though it’s hard to stomach at times, there was some blessing in the delay because we found these other issues that both make the boat stronger and improve our overall living day to day.  The other big upside is that we have removed most panels from our boat and know, where most of the wires are running as well as where most of the plumbing runs to as well.  We really know a lot of the ins and outs of the interior of the boat.

We learned how to and successfully replaced motor mounts.  We replaced the rotten portion of the bulkhead.  We guaranteed that the core of bridge deck is solid.  We have found and fixed a number of little leaks throughout the boat. 

We now have power to some systems as well.  Working with our electricians we prioritized the fridge and freezer.  Next is going to be running water and lighting.  We have started the installation process on our electronics as well.  The individual who is doing that has been up the mast a few times installing pieces and we’ve begun running wires for the navigation electronics.

We also have repaired our sailbag.  The sailbag stores the sail on the boom when it’s down.  When we got the sail and the sailbag on, we discovered that the zipper was torn off of the bag in several spots, and there were several holes that had worn through the bag.  Sandy is pretty adept at sewing and she stitched it back up.  One of the battens was also broken, and we think we have a good fix without replacing it.

We’ve made headway.  There is still some work to be done, but we are now starting to think about looking at weather windows to leave.  It’s almost time to give One Life a good wash down and try to remember how to sail!  We’ve learned a lot about the mechanics of the boat, we have a mostly new electrical system.  The navigation equipment is improved over what we had before.  

We are still going to have work to do.  It’s a boat.  That’s what they do, the cruise across the water and break…or so I’m told.  But many of the issues that we were concerned about have now been addressed and we feel much better about setting sail once we are able to.