#11 Are we having fun yet?

(That is Cheryl, helping me work on the hatch.) MoonShine has been home exactly one month, and I think we’ve been down to the boat to work on it almost every single day since, except for a handful of days here and there. She hasn’t even been out of the slip since we got home. I had a to-do list that shrank as I completed items, but that list grew at about the same rate as I added new things and ideas for changes. Fortunately, and this is why we bought this boat, MoonShine had a very meticulous previous owner who kept her in good mechanical shape, so most of our work has been either relatively easy and/or fun changes, other than occasionally having to climb around in claustrophobic compartments to get to things. New stainless and acrylic lights in the bedroom to replace the old and corroded brass ones, a new stainless microwave, new mattress, today we decided to go with new curtains, things like that. Cheryl has been cleaning and it’s spotless, I think you could perform open-heart surgery in there now with no problem. But are we having fun?

Unequivocally, yes.

We’ve be able to sit out and watch the gorgeous sunset view we have. It’s nice to have a great view of the sky again. We’ve had many lunches aboard and met some of our dockmates, many of whom seem to be characters, as is usually the case with people who live on boats. We’ve had supper and then watched a movie, all the while keeping an eye on the sunset. The breeze at the marina is cool off the water, it’s quiet; the hectic pace of land-life just doesn’t exist down there. Cheryl enjoys her time on the boat enough that she’s spent a night or two down there by herself. The fish bumping the boat at night keep her awake a bit, but I think she may be getting used to it.

I enjoy getting “stuff” done, be it an old car, remodeling a kitchen, yard work or just getting in miles on my bike. So I’m enjoying making lists, ordering parts, solving problems, and coming up with more ideas of how to make the boat better. Right now we’re experimenting with some different kinds of blue lights up on top to illuminate when we’re sitting up there at night. I like that kind of messing about in boats. In fact, long ago I figured out that I’m not happy unless I’ve got a big, complicated, long term project going. This certainly fits that definition. It’s not so hard or physical that I can’t enjoy it, but it’s darn sure challenging.

Cheryl tells me I’m getting a lot done. Doesn’t seem like it, but the list is getting shorter. Here’s most of what we’ve accomplished so far:

Installed a rear view mirror using one of my bicycle mirror mounts so I can see behind us, added front and rear straps to the Bimini to strengthen it, made a decal with boat registration info inside storage door up top so when the Coast Guard or a lock asks me for it, I have it right there, cleaned all the window/door tracks, fixed the door lock and invented a way to lock the door from inside, removed the useless heat-retaining belt covers on the engines, cleaned the A/C strainer and figured out the plumbing for the tub drain and the forward bilge pumps, correctly rewired the inverter, serviced the engines and generator, re-oiled the air filters, fixed the engine room blowers and added leds so I can see when they’re on, inventoried all the supplies on board, oil and fuel filters, belts, etc, and bought the correct spares and wrenches to change them, added new bedding, pillows and rugs, bolted boat hook pole mounting clips on the side of the boat so Cheryl can grab it easily, removed all the fishing pole holders from the ladder, added a handle near the swim ladder, had a diver inspect the bottom of boat and the props, fixed remote control spotlight, rebuilt anchor roller with larger and wider one, replaced both radiator caps and did some re-doing of the hoses, tested all bilge pumps, replaced house batteries and built new hold down system with battery cover, traced every battery cable so now I know where they go and what they do, bolted some nice wooden steps to dock so we can get in and out easily, replaced broken drain in aft cockpit, rebedded several loose screws in aft cockpit, removed some unnecessary cabinetry in the second bedroom, sealed the engine room access panels, added pressure regulator to city water hose connection, put together a nice first aid kit, swapped out the tachometers from top to bottom as the top ones were sun-damaged, refinished the black part of the dash, surveyed the fire extinguishers, and finally, bolted hooks to the dock supports so when we pull out of the slip it will be easy for Cheryl to hook the dock lines on the hooks.

Not bad for the first month, eh? Next on the list is mostly cosmetic stuff, maybe refinish the wood inside, new curtains of some sort, reupholster the bed footboard, things like that.

I had her apart in one way or another most of the last month so that we couldn’t really take her out, but those jobs are all done so later this week we’re going on a lunch run one day and in two weeks we’re going on a couple of day excursion to a hot air balloon festival downriver a bit. That will give us a chance to test all this new stuff and see what else we might want to do. And it’ll be fun! So yes, we are having fun yet.

I don’t have a lot of photos of before and after, I just wasn’t thinking about that, but here is the topside dash before and after:

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing–absolutely nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” The Water Rat, to the Mole.