Terrestrial Logistics

After spending the last five days on the road or in the air, we are now back on Sunset Island with our car and non-boat based belongings awaiting our arrival in Beaufort, NC.

We departed Everglades City last Monday afternoon Anne driving our vehicle and myself in an NCOBS' Van.   Destination one, Seafarer Marine, Ft. Lauderdale, FL to stock up on supplies and materials for summer boat projects.

We arrived in Beaufort Tuesday evening.  Wednesday, Anne caught up with friends and searched for a summer rental while I completed some OB work.  Both Tuesday and Wednesday night we thoroughly enjoyed celebrating our Beaufort homecoming with friends.

Thanks to Jeff A. for being a wonderful host and allowing us to crash at his place.

Thursday we deposited our car and gear in Beaufort, and drove westward in the NCOBS Van.  We visited with my family and some longtime family friends on Thursday evening.

A couple early morning hours of driving on Friday and we arrived at the NCOBS Office in Asheville, NC.  By mid morning our friend Luis was shuttling us south to Greenville / Spartanburg airport (GSP).  Our Friday the 13th flight was uneventful and Trish's car, pre-stashed at the Punta Gorda Airport by my parents a week earlier, allowed us to completed the journey back to Sunset Island.

Ahh - the simple life of cruising is fraught with complex logistics.  Perhaps when we commit to living aboard full time these complexities will diminish?   Perhaps it is just the price to be paid for the more quiet, peaceful times on the water.

A bit of progress on the keel and a frenzy of packing

Between packing up Outward Bound gear for summer programs and attempting to figure out what we need to pack for a summer, maybe more, on the the boat; we did mange to complete the installation of the keel on our dinghy project.

We used a combination of thicken epoxy and wood screws to affix the strips of red oak.  A single 3/4" thick strip, intended guard against wear, runs the length of the hull.  From amid ships aft the depth of the keel increases to nearly 4".

We still have some finishing work to do on the keel before panting the hull.