First day on the boat!

The closing documents finally signed by the seller, so we headed to the boat for the weekend.   Since we're not in the water right now, we can't use our normal air conditioning/heating system since it relies on ocean water as it's "radiator".  And the nighttime temps were in the low 30's.  Chilly for sure!!  With 3 quilts we were toasty warm....our home for the next week or so....

We had a list of things that needed to be addressed.  Really just things the previous owner should have taken care of earlier...Lots of cleaning plus we had to "winterize" all the water systems since the forecast for Tuesday is 23 degrees!  With the boat out of the water, the systems would be very likely to freeze. 

Dawson Creek Boatworks is doing some fiberglass work on the bows....someone had previously repaired "nicks" on the bows.  The repair was note very well done and we want the boat to look nice.  Since fiberglass/gelcoat work is an "art", we decided to have the boat yard do it for us.

They're just a day into the repair - they'll smooth it all and make it look good as new!

We had our first visitors!!  Bill and Kay were at their coast home this weekend.  Bill texted me and said they were looking for somewhere to go....so they dropped in for a look-see with his brother Glenn and his wife!

I had high hopes for the weekend....thinking I'd be able to get everything just "so" and comfy.....but like all projects, it's harder than it looks!  Stuff piled everywhere....

But, we ended up getting alot done.  But lots more to do!  Packed up as the day was about over....still not perfect, but we had to pack it in since weather was moving in tonight at home.

Sure enough, by 4pm when we got back to New Bern airport, the ceilings had dropped.  We were in the clouds on the flight home almost immediately and didn't see the Siler City airport until we were about 4 miles away.....

Little Dinghy

The boat also came with a dinghy.  We hadn't seen it - the owner had it at his house with the spinnaker.....he had told us that it was something he'd never used and that we were welcome to it......

We unrolled it and blew it up with the air compressor (the hand pump was missing, of course...)

A little yucky......

Really just mold and grime.

Nothing some bleach, degreaser and elbow grease can't fix though!  Now just need to get it registered and find some oars! 

A Spinnaker!

I've always loved seeing the boats flying the colorful spinnakers....those billowy sails that are used with relatively light/steady winds coming from behind your boat.  They're usually big and colorful.

This is one I posted about a few years ago on the Pamlico Sound:

Here are a few I nabbed from the web:

We picked up our spinnaker today....

We'd not seen it yet...so, Duane hooked it to a pulley that raised it to the top of the hangar (about 24' high) the sail itself is about 45-50' tall....and this is what it looks like.  The letters say "TOBAGO":

Not quite as colorful as I was hoping....but will be thrilling to fly it the first time!

Getting Close!

We're just ironing out a few details for closing.....the boatyard sent me some photos of Island Girl all propped up out of the water....(we had to leave while they were still moving her, chasing the setting sun before they got her all set up, so this is the first time we've seen her awaiting the repairs)