gear

of course preparing for this trip does not only mean preparing the boat... the crew also needs to gear up and also prepare the toys!! like the kites for example or pimping up the little jimmy, getting the dust out of the diving and camping gear and getting our folding bikes (one came from Santa this year!!!! so many many thanks for the beautiful Christmas gift from manu, momo, maxi, colo & tommy!) the bikes are great. check out this video to see how small they can get, of course we will need to save all the space we can:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms-jmDvU24Y


Last but not least was also getting our foul weather gear!!!! not bad ah?

more electronics

radio (to be also controlled from the cockpit!!!) and the GPS!!! of course buying and installing it this is only the first stage.... then comes buying the charts :(

cockpit

the cockpit has new cushions, new table, new steering wheel, 4 more winches plus the 2 it already had, all the new electronics and nice blue bags for winch handles, lines and miscellaneous stuff.

breaker panel

not only was the old panel outdated and old but we added so much electornics, lights and other stuff to the boat that it also became too small. so another thing became necessary on our purchase list and we got ourselves a beautiful brand new panel. but installing it was really the task... I really cannot explain how difficult this was. running all the cables was a huge undertaking to say the least. we could not have done it without Bob so Bob, thank you so very much!

the anchor locker and anchor base

the anchor locker was enlarged (double the size at least) and the base was built from a grill that my father had in the storage, not the grill in the picture although a very similar one (this one in the picture was sold to alex and garry as part of the entire furniture sale before our departure).

the locker is to be filled with 230 ft. of chain at least that is what we think now... but the length can change if we notice the bow of the boat sink too much once all the rode is in. precisely the same reason why we decided to put only the Bruce in the bow. The CQR will add too much weight up front; it will come with us, we just have not yet figured out where to put it....!!!!!!!!

dodger and bimini

the old bimini was changed with new canvas and we added a brand new dodger. We constucted the dodger from and old bimini frame of a power boat that was somehow abandoned and landed in the roof of the marina office and that Eddy senior kindly gave to us.

the old dive tanks and propane bottle

and the sand blasting and beautifying continues... now it is the turn of the dive tanks and even the old propane bottle!!! notice the final color.... any resemblance with the same blue color of the hull???? I assure you is not a coincidence...

Pupi, thank you very much for the sail, as you can see we use everything, Ok maybe not up in the mast or hoisted to the fore stay, but it sure was helpful to serve as cover for the paint!! Muchas gracias!!!

hatches

after realizing that the new cast aluminium hatches were around 1200 US dollars each, the old hatches were also sand blasted, then painted silver, we changed the lexan and then installed. they look brand new and for less than 200 a piece, not bad, ah?!

sand man

Esteban decided to sand blast everything he could. The hatches, the dive tanks, the anchor and just about every piece he could beautify. our old pieces look brand new now... He created quite the beach at austral marina with soooo much sand...., but thankfully we cleaned afterwards and no one noticed!!

ports

quite the project..... not only we removed the old ports, one of which ended up in Ilana's little doll house (creo que esto solo lo entiende la familia y todos los que conocen la finca!!) but we also had to change all the wood inside which turned out to be rotten.

After the new wood was in place Esteban enlarged the wholes and he installed all new 5 ports which bring more light into the boat and change the look completely!!

the tower

one of the best projects of the boat. Esteban turned a boom from another boat that Robert gave us into the tower that would hold the wind generator, the radar, the TV antenna, a horn and a light...