Here’s a quick list of everything major we did to prepare for cruising this fall. When we have a bit more downtime, we will follow up with some “how it was made”-type posts for some of these more interesting and complex projects (denoted by an asterisk):

• Brendan fabricated and installed a bow plate:*

• We got a push pit from a boat slaugherhouse… (and installed a grill and a mount for our dinghy motor)

• Hauled out for a couple weeks to do a holy paint job on the entire boat

• Sent the propeller away to get it re-aligned cuz somebody wasn’t paying attention while driving the boat through a foggy minefield of lobster pots

• Got a dodger (thank you, Mobile Marine Canvas!)

• Put on some snazzy decals

• Stripped the cabin top paint, then sanded, repainted, sanded, repainted

• Applied KiwiGrip to the cabin top

• Built a new cockpit bench (which involved demolishing a bulkhead in the aft cabin — no more smashing knees when getting into bed!)

Still have some other major things left to do, including:

• Installing the Hydrovane
• Installing autopilot
• Setting up the battery bank
• Finishing the cockpit benches
• More storage solutions [cuz shit is still going flying whenever we are heeled over in the slightest]
• Installing water tanks

Already have a name for the Hydrovane (Spanish Alice), but if anyone has suggestions for a name for the autopilot, we are all ears!