Travel plans

My lovely wife and I have been making our winter travel plans since we got back in the spring. We never do exactly the same thing from year to year. What would be the point? It's like people who travel the world, but stay in the same hotel chain and never wander off the tourist trails.

We do need to make some general plans, or nothing at all will happen. The van needs some more work before we take it cross country. Next month it's going in the garage to get a diesel fuel sending unit replaced. The brake pads are looking a bit thin, but I can replace those myself. I may even try to fix the AC. I'm one of those weird people who don't think AC is a critical system, so it gets fixed last.

Last year it was all about sailing. For our next trip we plan a mix of camping and sailing. For that we'll need the small sailboat -the one I'm still building. There are some interesting rivers and shallow water cruising that the new boat will be good for.

Of course, we'll need a trailer to haul the boat. Right now plan “A” is to reconfigure a utility trailer into a boat hauler. A buddy of mine has some new heavy duty springs he's willing to weld on, so that'll help. The boat won't be all that heavy, but I'm also hoping to haul another 100 gallons of waste vegetable oil for motor fuel. With the 120 or so gallons that the van carries, that's a fair bit of range.

Plan “B” is to put the Oday 19 on jacks and use its trailer to haul the smaller boat. That would also need some reconfiguration, but it is an option.

In addition to travel plans, there's the normal day to day stuff that needs doing. The house needs some work before next winter. The door that opens onto the deck needs to be rebuilt or replaced. My lovely wife would prefer that I replace with door built from home grown lumber. Maybe that can be constructed the same time a mast for the boat is built, using the same materials and tools.

That's a lot of work to fit in between play times. Our final plans might look a little or even a lot different. One has to start somewhere.

-Sixbears