April 11, 2014
Projects

A word to future Puddle Jumpers, do not expect to get all of those unfinished projects done once you are underway.  It seems like there will be lots of free time but there is not.  Between steering and sleeping and cooking and cleaning and being on the radio and checking the weather and plotting the course, there is maybe 1-2 hours in the afternoon to get stuff done, assuming the sea is calm enough to actually do anything.  Most of the time it is just too bouncy to do much of anything except climb into bed and maybe read for a little while.

Alan has solar panels to be wired, the new anchor light to be wired and the light in the galley to be fixed along with a myriad of other little jobs.  This does not count all of the things that were OK but now have gone wrong and have to be fixed.   The power generator that is towed behind the boat just needs to be to be attached and deployed.  It should take less that an hour but in the end it takes 3 days but it is finally done.  It is a blade on a shaft that looks like a propeller, attached to 100 feet of line and towed behind the boat.  The other end of the rope is attached to a generator mounted on the stern rail.  As we sail, the blade spins and generates power, not a lot but enough to keep the batteries full. 

I had set aside a bag or ropes that need to be spliced.  I thought this would be a good job for those long boring days.  That either Alan would do it or that he would have time to teach me how to do it.  Seemed like a very nautical thing to do and something that he enjoys and finds relaxing.  As it turned out, with no auto-pilot there was no time to sit down together and he was constantly busy so the ropes just became a problem knocking around the cabin. 

I had also planned on recovering the cushions in the cabin.  They are completely filthy but I did not want to do it until we were away from land and all of the dirt and grease and mud that was getting brought on board from the dock.  With two eight hour watches a day, I had no time for sewing, even if the sea had been calm enough to thread a needle.  So 10 yards of fabric also had to be dealt with.   Eventually it was pushed back into the corner of the bed where it got wet from the leak. 

All of the games and books and art and craft projects I brought along never came out of the cupboard.  The new jump suit and pants that I was going to sew never got cut out.