Wednesday January 30, 2013
 
Since I’ve been a little lax on what Matt has been up to in St. Augustine, here is the report I received from him tonight.
The boat is trashed! Â I’ll try to straighten it out before you come tomorrow. Â I don’t even have a place to sit inside the boat right now. Â I’ll be sleeping on the floor tonight…. It is that bad.
I just finished grinding the fiberglass. I used tarps to block the dust, but I still spent over two hours wiping the entire boat down. Â There is dust everywhere, and it is really itchy! Â I had to empty the vacuum three times just to get all of it.
I only got the tabs ground on the area where the fridge compressor is, the water tank area, bilge by the mast, and the settee by the bulkhead to the v berth ( where the tv is). I still have to do under the stove and sink, but may save that for another day. Â Today was miserable! Â It was so hot under the tarp I thought I was going to pass out. Â I couldn’t see half the time because of the dust, and the grinder couldn’t reach in some spots do I had to use the dremel… Which isn’t large enough to do much. Â I also cut through the fiberglass by the bilge pump into the cabin floor. Â Its a small spot, but still noticeable, and I’m not sure how I’m going to fix it.
The microwave is 90% in. Â I still need to do trim work (which i will have to make by hand) Â mount a new 110v plug in that area, and mount bumpers to prevent the microwave from sliding back into the cabinet when the door is shut. Â Because of the slope The worst it looks crooked in the cabinet. Â It 100% level and perfect 90 degree corners, but with the slope of the cabin top, it looks really twisted. Â Ugh!
The engine bay is about 3/4 of the way painted. Â I can’t get into the aft cabin to paint the back area yet, but at least the front is done. Â The steps will still be out when you get back… It’s a small jump to get down.*
I talked to the keel bolt guy from California and let him know that we wouldn’t be needing him anymore. Â The costs were just jumping up too much, and he (building keels and knowing all about them) didn’t really think that him coming all the way out here was necessary anyway. Â He gave me some really great tips though on how we should be able to work with the yard to do the job ourselves.
What do you think about keeping the hot water heater? Â We haven’t used it yet and it takes up a 3x3x3 space that could be used for other items. Â I’m not sure if we will ever use it, but I also don’t want to wish we still had it either. Â We could always get one of those solar showers that everyone uses the time we want hot water, and that works without running the engine.
Also, what about the sink in the v berth? Â If we got rid of that I think we could get much better use out of that space.
So it looks like Matt has been pretty busy while I’ve been away. Â Things are finally progressing, and with any luck, we might actually be out of here in a few weeks!
*I found out from Matt that it was absolutely necessary for the engine to come out with the transmission.  The yard knew what they were talking about, and we were lucky we listened to them.
(Also, when I talked before about the fiberglasser, he was not part of the yard, just a vendor.  Everyone here at the yard has been very helpful and quick with their work)
Regarding the water heater – we don’t have one much to many cruiser’s surprise in the Bahamas. Just some points to think about when considering not having it. The Sun shower does work – as long as you take your shower while the sun is out. Once the sun goes down the water cools of FAST. Phil doesn’t use hot water when washing dishes – something we don’t agree about, but he washes dishes most of the time so I need to not complain as I don’t want to wash dishes – i degress. When it was too cold to use the sun shower, I would heat up water on the stove and either take what I call a bird bath (washing up at the sink with a wash cloth) or add the hot water to the sun shower. It feels more like camping without hot water – but certainly do able – and that IS a lot of space taken up by the water heater that can be use elsewise, especially when on a smaller boat.
BTW, when we leave to go cruise again this July – we still won’t have a water heater.
Good luck with your repairs.
Lorraine
S/V changes
Thanks for all the information Lorraine! The reason we’re debating about the hot water heater now, is we’ve gone from Michigan to Florida, had weeks in 50 degree outside temps during the day (30’s at night), and we’ve never used the hot water heater up to this point. It was a hard decision to make, but we figured if we can make it through all that and have survived without it, we could probably do it in the future. Right now we need space A LOT more than we need hot water. I don’t use it to do the dishes, and we did talk about heating up water to put in the sun shower if need be. But we were used to taking cold showers anyway. So we’ll see how it works out.
Thanks for following,
Jessica
I’ll give a pro-water heater post. We use ours in New England all the time. We use it for dishes and for showers on the transom the most. My Bride will use it to wash her face at night too. Ours heats up very quickly and will stay hot for a long time. Also, ours gives us another 20 gallons of water storage.
I think the use on the transom is the biggest reason to keep it. In Michigan you were on fresh water, so you probably didn’t feel the need to rinse off after swimming. And so far on your cruise you have been in cold weather. When you start swimming in salt water you will want to use a transom/cockpit shower to rinse off. Also, when we chartered in the BVIs we didn’t get to shower much in an actual shower but would shower on the transom with ocean safe soap. While you may be in a hot climate, the cold water only transom shower is really too cold.
Just my opinion. Hope to read about you getting back on your way soon.
Fair winds,
Jesse
Before you toss the water heater, try using just cold water for showers for a week.
Lol, that’s what I’m trying to say here, we only have had cold showers!! 🙂
Glad the boat work is getting sorted. I can’t wait for you guys to get moving again… you’re going to LOVE the Exumas!
xx
Tasha