Day 8: Spring Break 2018 is in the books!

Everyone slept pretty well (although Wenikio doesn't highly recommend the pilothouse bench seats)!

Most of the day looked like this. It was a pretty relaxed last day!

An evening saunter around the dock revealed mostly depressingly ill-kept boats. We did come across this gem of a boat bike, though. I mean, you could fold it up any way you want for storage!

When you see this peaking through, you know it's time to go topside...

All tucked in and saying our farewells....

See you in May!

Day 7: proof of concept

We all roundly agreed that the cooler weather has been perfect for this kind of work. As we all know, this family never does well in the heat and humidity, so all the bilge and engine room work in addition to working outside would have quite possibly ended with somebody walking the plank had it, in fact, been what we're told is more typical weather for the area. Even so, it was a beautiful day with a promise of high winds to come, so we decided to check out the dinghy before those started kicking. After some trial and error with the rigging system, the Patty Anne was launched!

Where does this line go?

Success! The Patty Anne floats! 

Somewhat surprisingly, no drain holes were left unplugged in this endeavor...

Even more surprisingly, the engine started up with very little coaxing! Dad took in on a tour up current in case the engine quit and he had to drift back. He figured we'd at least see him waving a paddle and making a fuss. Either that or we'd meet up somewhere in the Atlantic.... 

Dad's tour successfully complete, off we decided to go.... until a friendly passerby noted that, um, hey, so your engine doesn't seem to be spitting out the cooling water. Might want to check that out....

So off we went to search for diagrams, manuals, repair shops, etc.

After swinging by the local Yamaha Fixit, we needed lunch. (Of course. You knew this was coming.) 

Survey of 3 says hands down the best burritos we've ever had!

A few afternoon hours of drudge work, and then our friendly neighbor mentioned that he was on his way to the local Harris Teeter for their Thursday night steak special, so we got in on that. Pretty tasty, but a bit of Traeger smoking wouldn't have gone amiss...

By the time sunset came around, Mom and Dad were falling asleep while Wenikio was frantically on the phone and computer trying to make summer moving plans....

Day 6 - Flaming Amy's and lost items

It was a difficult night. The neighbor's lab, Nala, was out making noises just outside the windows in the wee small hours. Mom woke up and froze, convinced a vicious lab was in the room waiting to pounce. Dad woke up thinking Wenikio let in her dogs (who, she might add, aren't even in this state). Fortunately for all involved, no dogs were harmed in the night, and the slumbers continued.

Finally a sunny day. Started out about 61 degrees and got up to 81 degrees!

Starting the morning planning projects with the carpenter: bookshelf, mounting rack for scooters (more on those later...), new solar fan, refinish deck chairs...

After working all morning, Wenikio and Mom stopped and brought back burritos from famous Flaming Amy's! We ate on the upper deck and enjoyed a cooling breeze off the Cape Fear River.

New bumper sticker for the refrigerator.

       

Bumper seating on the upper deck, please.  (Wenikio says she'll take one of those bumpers out for a spin in the next day or two. Sorry CDK - maybe next time.)

The Big Jerk Chicken burrito and peach salsa from Flaming Amy's. Wenikio had a fried avocado burrito with watermelon radish pico de gallo (it was much better than it sounds).

Then back to work getting the anchor chain back in the locker that almost ate me alive yesterday...  Wenikio guided the chain with her foot (and bionic hip) while Mom operated the foot switch. Dad hauled chain.

Wenikio riding the windlass gypsy! This was moments before the anchor was seated and the windlass handle did a spectacular dive off the boat and into the Cape Fear River... lost and gone forever with an anticlimactic *plink.* Fortunately, no one lost an eye, digit, or temper, and no damage to the boat. 

Relaxing on the aft deck with iPad and a well-deserved drink.

Cheese and crackers for dinner.

Cheese! I like cheese! 

Preview for tomorrow - electric scooter stories!)

Airshow over the Cape Fear River!

Anyone we know?

SaveSave

Day 5: carpets and more anchor chains

Well, spring made a valiant effort yesterday, but winter is back today. Cold, cloudy and windy! Dad spent the first half of the day doing non-boat things, so the rest of the crew checked out the shopping establishments in Wilmington.

The boat doings started back up in the afternoon. First up, finishing up the anchor chain painting and stuffing colored little rubber markers in between the chain links with screw drivers. No fingers were harmed in this process. Somewhat surprisingly, there haven't actually been any injuries thus far! 

Note Wenikio's new bracelet of many colors (on the right wrist)

A little bit of color on an otherwise dreary day.
(Now, if we can just remember what chain lengths are represented by each of the colors...)

While those were drying, Dad retied the anchor harness down in the anchor locker.

The haunted anchor locker. It sucks you in and won't let go.

(Tie the rope to my ankle just in case.)

Getting the line ready to thread up through the anchor locker.

Help, its got ahold of me.

Reeeeeaaaach..... aaaaannnnndddd.... I got it!

Meanwhile, Mom cleaned the carpets. Wenikio obligingly tracked in some black dirt that showed up very nicely on said cleaned carpets...

Then it was on to custom fitting some plastic floor covers for the incoming workmen:

Dad arriving with the supplies.

Measure twice, cut once, right?

Uh oh, Dad's in charge of cutting this portion...
Those are big shears, mon!

Shear madness, I tell you!
I'm bored. someone else do this job.

Hold it riiiight there...

Quick, tie the rope to Wenikio's ankle!

Some other odds and ends:

Gotta make sure the new holds will support the grill and lots of hamburgers!
A nice installation - lots of 5200 marine adhesive.

While this dog doesn't bite, it doesn't latch securely either. Another problem for another day...
Time for a rum drink.

Day 4: chain hauling, drilling, and more scrubbing

Today dawned bright and beautiful. It was warmer (in the 50's) and sunny with some pretty strong winds. A good day to do things outside or that require ventilation. 

So, after getting the work computer screen mounted and safely out of the way, it was on to more demanding tasks...


Hey! It works! Look at all the pretty tug boats.

The anchor chain was said to be 200 feet. After pulling it all out from the locker and onto the dock (THAT was a workout!), we discovered it's actually 275 feet. And then after pulling off their tape markings (who does that?), we decided on the color system and set to marking lengths.

Shake shake shake! (Our arms were killing us by this point.)

Red, white, blue, and yellow.

Dad was holed up in the anchor locker (no pictures, unfortunately) cleaning it out and prepping to change out the rope harness. Between that and the engine room yesterday, every bony prominence is either bruised or busted!

Meanwhile, Mom was polishing the (very thirsty) teak. It's looking much shinier now! We also cleaned off the power cord since it was looking pretty rough. The Patricia Anne has been getting a top notch cleanup!

Hold the shelf just there...

Oh, and can you hand me a roll of paper towels while you're doing not much?

At rest for the evening.

...And getting some other kinds of work done.

(See the purple fairy lights in the corner?)