Well you can probably guess from the title that we have launched and moved to our temporary home, Burnt Store Marina. It’s now been almost 3 weeks since we arrived in Florida and lots has happened in that time. We’ve worked harder in our retirement than we did while working – well physically anyhow.
Our bee situation has been resolved with lots of effort on our part (and a lot of wasp spray). We spent about 3 days hacking away at the hive inside our mast. Mark cut more holes in the mast so we could get a bit better access to the hive. Using some pieces of our old stays, we poked away at the hive until we felt pretty good about the amount of material we’d removed from the mast. The mast was lifted into place on Tuesday, Nov. 20 and when it became vertical, a very large mass of hive fell out onto the ground- yippy for us but not so much for the guy holding our mast. He had beehive all over his shoes!😊
I think I’ve already mentioned that we are replacing our rigging. Mark removed the chainplates (long stainless steel plates that connect the stays to the boat deck) and we took them to the St. Peterburg’s rigger we have been working with to have them recreated. This was supposed to take about 2 days and instead it took 2 weeks!!!! We had to drive up to Clearwater on Tuesday morning to pick up the new chainplates and then install as many as possible so the mast could go back up that afternoon. And of course, it rained – the only rain we’ve had since arriving in Florida – when the deck has holes in it where the chainplates go. But we made it and both the main and mizzen masts are still standing 😉.
So what’s next – we have more rigging to do. The mizzen mast rigging will now be replaced and there are a few rigging parts on the main that need to be replaced. Our new solar panel needs to be installed – very exciting! We also have more boat jobs (the never ending story for a 38 year old boat!) that we will pick away at until we head back home for Christmas. Lots of fun!
It sure is great to be back on the water and living aboard again. Happy days. 🌴⛵️⛵️🌴😁
Crimson Kathryn and her crew 