In the cruising world, there are times when one season is a wrap, and the next is forthcoming. These shoulder months are when you think about where you move your boat to prepare for the next season -- perhaps get out of hurricane zones or get out of ice zones. For us this means getting ready to sail down the Pacific Coast.
We had a lot of work to do to prep for our trip down the coast -- which is quite different than our Alaska trip. First, we will likely put up the sails for most of it. Second, Dan is going with a crew of buddies and I'm going to babysit the cat and fly down to San Francisco. So that means we have to figure out where to put everyone and all the stuff for the crew that will be onboard. We had some maintenance work to do. We had spare parts we wanted to have on board that we'd deferred while in Alaska. We had updated charts for new regions, better tracking systems, checked our satellite systems etc.
We upgraded our autopilot system to the latest Raymarine version. Ours was original from 2010. Still in good working order, but we wanted a spare. So we bought a new one, and packed up the old one so that if we should ever have a failure there was one waiting to swap in. The installation was relatively painless and amazingly required no trips to the chandlery. I have a quite a supply of boat networking parts just waiting for moments such as these!
The second major replacement was the high output alternator. The one we installed in February failed and thankfully under warranty. We also got an extra one of these. The alternator keeps our battery system charged and is a critical system--similar to the autopilot. If we don't have the batteries charged, well the autopilot isn't going to work either.
With me not planning to be on board for the trip down the coast, it was important that Dan do all the stowing and provisioning. I wouldn't be there to ask 'where are those noodles?' So it was best that I just clear out and let him put things where he'll be able to find them.
The cat, is less than thrilled with the change of scenery, the hectic life at the marina, the moving of all the gear and was especially concerned because I was not on board. While Dan had every cupboard torn apart to work through the projects, I traveled to Tucson to see our son Dylan off to his junior year of college and to oversee some repairs and help with cleaning out of our family home there. It was definitely not a vacation!
The sprint of the last two weeks have flown by and we ended the week sending Dan and his crew of 4 off to the big blue. Weather looks good. Systems are a go. List is checked. Crew is on board. Our next update will be from California. Onward!
I love this boat cat. :) (Angie)