On the Road!

Wednesday, January 22, 2013

0400 After several false starts, we're on the road to SUNSHINE. It's been a very tough start to a new year. Both Anna Marie and I came down with flu like symptons that the Doc called upper respiratory infections. We were feeling pretty miserable and decided to hold off on our planned January 2 departure. Besides, we still had a couple of hours of work at the shack before we could leave. We just haven't finished because we haven't been feeling well.

If that weren't enough, we had two other serious family issues that needed our attention. Either one of the situations or both, have priority over our cruising. While neither situation is fully resolved, we felt comfortable going to Florida for a week to check on SUNSHINE. We'll be in close touch with the home front and, if needed, we could be home in two days time. Should the situations drop below the boiling point, we'll launch the boat and cruise south. As of now, we're playing it by ear.

Because of the fiberglass project being done SUNSHINE's keels, we needed to get to SUNSHINE to see what Tom (the fiberglass guy) was doing. All of our communication has been via e-mail. We wanted to meet him before the project is completed. Tom came highly recommended and he has a great reputation.

This is the back drop that had us leaving the bitter cold (11degrees) NJ landscape.

We drove for 14 hours, finally stopping at a motel in St. George's, SC. we will monitor the situations at home and decide if we launch the boat or return home in about a week. In the meantime, we'll clean the boat and get it ready for use.

Thursday, January 23, 2013

After a short six hour drive, we arrived at SUNSHINE's summer home. Tom, the fiberglass guy was working on the bottom. It's the first time we met him. He told us what he has done so far and what needs to be done. He should be finished by Monday.

Over the weekend, the boat will be hanging in the slings while he work on the bottom of the keels. That means we won't be able to sleep in it, so we got a campsite in a county park about 10 miles south. We brought the tent because we knew that was going to happen.

The boat is very dirty, even on the inside. Since Tom has a lot of grinding and sanding still to do, we decided to wait until he finishes before we begin the clean up chores. It looks like we have about a weeks worth of cleaning and prep before we can launch.

We are impressed and very happy with the work Tom is doing. He stellar reputation is well earned!