Pulled the boat

My lovely wife and I pulled the sailboat from the lake. There was a 70% chance of rain, but we looked at the sky and decided to chance it. The long range forecast predicts a lot of rain, ending the week with a chance of snow. We pushed the North Woods sailing season about as long as could.

We got on the sailboat late morning and sailed around until mid-afternoon. By then the skies looked threatening. Rain held off until we had the boat loaded and parked in my driveway. Luck was with us; the sails were nice and dry when we packed them away.

Unfortunately my cell phone battery died so we didn't get a chance to take any photos. Foliage season is past peek. The red maple leaves are gone but there are plenty of yellow and orange leaves yet. Loons and an eagle are still hanging around and that's always nice.

Now that the boat is up next to the house I can do a few little projects. It's in pretty decent shape overall. On our last night sail we noticed one of the running lights has to be replaced. The trailer could use some new tires. A couple months ago I purchased one as a spare. Next month I'll buy another one and replace both of them. The old ones, while worn, still hold air so that will give me two emergency spares.

I'm tempted to build an arch to mount solar panels on. We don't absolutely need it, so much will depend on the quality of the material I can scrounge up. A friend of mine built me a really nice tiller a few years ago. While on the water I noticed it could really use a good sanding and some varnish. That can be done in the basement when the weather's bad. No worries.

The idea is to have the boat and trailer ready to go at a moment's notice. Should we decide we had enough of winter cold we could hook the trailer to the van and disappear. It's good to have options.

-Sixbears