And the work begins...

Friday, March 24-2006
Scott started going through the electrical system and did a lot of carpentry work today adjusting doors, rebuilding steps and access to the engine.  I kept hauling junk topside to be tossed when the dumpster arrives.  This doesn't sound like a lot, but it was a busy, productive day.

Saturday, March 25-2006
We woke up to a light snow this am.  It didn't last long and was melted off by the end of the day.  We've been fortunate with weather so far.  I kept pitching stuff "overboard" into the dumpster.  We started ripping the teak off the deck and that is proving to be a real pain.  Some places the adhesive epoxy did worked and held, which will cause us problems. 

By the end of the day we were cold and tired.   I headed straight for bed - not a peep from me nearly 10 hours later.  God bless Alice for the electric blanket on the bed, what heaven!

Sunday, March 26-2006
I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning, it felt so warm and comfortable, but once we got moving it was OK.  We headed back to the boat and decided the first project was making someplace to be able to eat. 

In sorting through piles of junk in the aft cabin we figured out that the support for the center section of a lower bunk could also be the dinette table top.   We went over to the local marine shop, Kachemak Gear Shed, found the pedestal leg we needed, Scott did his magic, and ta-dah! we had a table.   No more balancing our meals on our laps.  Funny how small things feel like a luxury! 

This picture was taken later, after we unpacked our personal things, finished cleaning, and set up the bunks - it all cleaned up nicely!

The rest of the morning and all day we spent melting and chipping ice out of the bilge under the engine.  This had accumulated from water leaking in for the roof above and the hatch being left open.  Scott spent the best part of the day on his stomach reaching under the engine with hammer and crowbar, then vacuuming with the shop vac.  He would hand buckets of ice or the tank from the vac up to me to dump over the rail.  Many trips up and down the companionway ladder! 

Later in the day I took a few buoys topside to sit in the sun and mark them with our new name - tough job but somebody had to do it!   My plan was to continue doing my stained glass work aboard in the tool room after we got the boat moved to Kodiak so I wanted to change the name from Mish Mish (which I didn't understand anyway!) to Sea Glass.    I know I fly in the face of tradition by changing the name of a boat, but I'll take my chances with Davey Jones and King Neptune!

Monday, Mar 27-2006
A beautiful day today! We got to the boat to make breakfast and discovered that our supply of 10 year old  propane had finally run out. 

After running to McDonalds we bought and filled new propane tanks and went back to work.  Scott pulled out more ice and opened up a couple more section of the bilge.  He found a bladder tank that at first we thought it might be our fresh water tank.   After opening it up we discovered our error - stinky waste tank!  Okay, so we are inexperienced, now we are literally green! 

Moving forward from the wheelhouse is a general living space that will eventually be our livingroom, or "salon" in proper terminology.  It is unclear what had been the intention of previous owners - some odd carpentry of walls, what looked like maybe the beginnings of a bench and bunk filled the space but nothing really usable.  Scott tore out the existing work, saving wood that we might be able to reuse, some of it nice sections of oak. 

I returned to removing teak on the deck - a project that is proving to be larger and more difficult than expected.

We cooked our first real meal aboard tonight - baked chicken and potatoes in our galley and ate our our new table!   What fun, and it smelled so good while it was baking!