Almost melted in the hot sun

My lovely wife and I have been getting the boat ready for our trip. I changed the plugs in the outboard and rewired the charging plug. My dad just happened to have built an outboard stand. He doesn't have an outboard. Of course, he won't say he did it for me, but we both know. Thanks dad.

I must admit to not being quite acclimated to working in the hot Florida sun yet. By noon time I thought I was going to melt. Heat stroke is no joke so my lovely wife and I took a break until later in the afternoon.

We could leave with the boat the way it is now. However, I'm going to tweak a few more things before heading out. Some projects are easier to do on the hard than on the water. The thing about boats is that there is always more that can be done to them. At some point if you don't say “good enough” the boat never leaves the dock. The trick is to make sure the essentials are done.

One thing that's been missing this trip has been organization. Before leaving New Hampshire, we wanted to have everything organized. It didn't go well. At some point we threw our hands up and tossed everything in the van. After all, we could always sort it out while staying with my daughter in Massachusetts for a few days.

Then on the way down we got into a little fender bender. The time that would have gone into organization went into trailer repairs. Not only that, the accident tossed things around a bit. Finally, we are sorting out the mess. The sailboat is small, so we must organize. That's the only way to fit in all we need without forgetting anything. My lovely wife made some progress with organization while I was working on the outboard. It won't take much to get everything ship shape and Bristol fashion.

While it's not as exciting as dancing with the dolphins, boat work has to be done. We are in no hurry. It's not like we only have a week or two down here. We aren't exactly on vacation. When the time stretches to months, it's a lifestyle.

I'm also enjoying time with dad, as I'm lucky to still have him.

-Sixbears