Today it was all hands on deck. We convinced our kids to join us for the day to help knock off a bunch of tasks from our to do list.
To try and be efficient I created notes for all of the tasks that we wanted to accomplish today with complete instructions so anyone could pick up the task and complete it.
We had the following to do:
- Setup electrical extension cord
- Complete waxing starboard side of the hull
- Clean interior, teak and fiberglass
- Inspect seacocks, thru-hulls, exhausts and vents.
- Inspect steering and rudder
- De-winterize our fresh water system
- Fix battery connection I messed up last time
- Remove and clean speed sensor
- Reinstall lines in davits
- Remove the bulbs from our mast lights so we can order LED replacements
For the most part it went well. Owen pre-read the instructions and was prepared, Gavin was eager to get started but didn’t want to read the instructions. They ended up figuring it out together.
De-winterizing the water system was difficult without a hose, we used a large water jug to collect water and pour into each of the tanks using a homemade funnel made out of an old orange juice jug. We repeated this three times. At the same time, I cleaned and lubricated each of the deck fill caps to avoid them seizing like our pump out cap.
The water pump kept running with nothing happening and I was starting to panic that something sprung a leak over winter. But then realized my stupid mistake. Helps if you turn on the two valves in the bilge.
Excuse the dirty bilge, it’s still on our list to clean. The valves are open when they are turned in line with the hoses. Everything worked after I opened these up.
While checking the steering system I went a bit overboard and decided to see how easy it was to take the wheel off. It’s just held on by one bolt and the autopilot quickly pops off with the wheel. Leaving behind this to clean.
We also tried out the emergency tiller system to make sure we knew how it worked.
Everything on our list got done and we had a nice moment to have a snack together in the cockpit. It was a good day. Can’t wait until she’s in the water!
Leave a Reply