Bye Biscuit

Well, after a month on the market Biscuit aka "little boat" has been sold. I did get to take her out for a final sail with the buyers yesterday morning though. It was blowing about 12 knots and flat water, perfect for selling a boat! I have to admit I was a bit choked up watching the new owners move their stuff onto the boat, we have had such GREAT times on her it was hard to let go.
It does give me some more time to focus on Solstice though, so tonight after work I finally ripped into her systems a little. Say goodbye old rusted water heater, hello new force 10 stainless water heater. I actually didn't get the new one installed today, but I did clean out the spot where it will mount after I get the space painted. I also started to drain off the old fuel in preparation for starting the engine. There is a lot of fuel in her and I will need to get a least one more 5 gallon can to put it in. I was quite surprised at how good the fuel looks but I am still going to drain it all and put new fuel in, along with new lines and filters. Better safe than sorry. I don't know how much I will be able to do until after vacation next week but I would really like to hear it run before I go away. We are heading to P.E.I. for a week with my brother and his wife for a motorcycle camping trip. Should be a blast.
I hope to get some pictures up of the engine and fuel system later this week so you can share my pain of crawling around a dirty bilge and working in ridiculously tight places.
Happy sailing

Dirty Boat

I finally got a bit of time to start to clean up Solstice on Monday after our fantastic weekend sailing Biscuit. I spent almost 2.5 hours pressure washing the deck just to get rid of the years of accumulated filth . We also got her sails stored safely away in our garage attic and started to get things out of her cabin. You can see by the picture what we are up against in the dirt arena, thankfully the interior is not nearly as bad as her deck! If I get some free time next week I really need to start working on the engine, it's just that I don't know when I will have free time!
We have had a few friends over to see the project and we have yet to be called crazy!
I leave you with a picture from our long weekend on Biscuit.

Sadie, the sailing dog.

Sailing the "little boat"

For the time being we have two boats, and we are now calling Biscuit "little boat". Next to Solstice she is small and adorable, like a toy. We are sailing "little boat" this weekend. It took all of a day to get her ready to go in the water. We cleaned the boat's topsides and deck in a morning. Dennis waxed topsides while I painted the bottom in the afternoon. Solstice will take longer simply because she's bigger, but she's still fiberglass and will only require the same minimal work. There's a lot to be said for that.

This afternoon I had the unglamorous job of wiping the mildew and mung off the interior of the little boat. When we find a free day (or two), this will be the first job on Solstice. After that was satisfactory, I proceeded to provision and pack for our upcoming trip which took the rest of the evening. I precooked the rice and paired foods down to what two people need for a weekend. Storage space is limited and we want the cooking to be easy.

We could be doing a million things at home or starting work on Solstice, but the summer is made for sailing, and as long as we have a boat to take us, we will sail. Priorities!