SSB

or short for single sideband radio. as opposed to the regular VHF radios the SSB is an HF radio and therefore we can communicate at greater distances and also have e-mail and weather on board. we got the radio as a gift several months ago... that was great but we were far from being set. turns out having the radio on board is not that easy. we had to purchase all the other components such as tuner and antenna among other stuff, plus we had to install it, get the licenses to be able to operate it and of course learn how to operate this sophisticated piece of equipment. as always esteban installed it with the help of dr. john and all the manuals and i got the licenses for which I had to take the ham test.... lets just say everything was an experience. it was learning a totally new language. but we have it! installed in a new beautiful shelve which is also home to our on board phone and several other gauges, and thanks to the licenses, cruise email and dr. john, jeff who should be now in bermuda; I think; sailing wild iris on his way to the azores, and quite a bit of reading, we already send e-mails from the boat and have the weather forecasts. so a happy ending to a project that we thought was never going to end.

galley

my galley I should say. esteban and I have assigned chores and cooking is indisputably my responsibility. i have nothing against his cooking but lets say I enjoy this task the most. he installed different faucets, one manual for salt water and the other with the pump, and the other two are for fresh water, also manual and the other automatic. the stove and oven work with propane (remember the old propane bottle he painted blue?? well, here is where we use it!) he also changed the old adler-barber fridge for a new more energy efficient one. i have to admit it takes a little time to get used to cooking in a small space with limited resources such as FOOD and also utensils and appliances, but I am getting used to it and I like it. of course esteban has to judge the quality of the food. i hope that improves after I start using the cooking book for cruisers that I ordered!

batteries

thanks to Gerome we found a great deal on 12 2-volt rolls batteries which we we purchased and installed in the main salon under the sofa bench. we chose this location, even though it was not the original battery storage area, because their enormous weight; therefore they needed to be in the center of the boat and as close to the keel as possible. once installed Esteban secured them with webbing... in case the boat capsizes (not that we are planning on this to happen) but if it happens we would not want to have the batteries fall in our heads or hit and damage part of the boat or have acid floating all over... as he says, preparing for the worse but wishing for the best!

out of the water once again

yeap, out of the water a second time. Unfortunately two of the thru-hulls disintegrated!!! turns out this is not that common but it is also something that can happen some times. whenever there is a fault ground from the dock or when there is an electricity leak from other boats galvanic corrosion may occur and so it happened to us. Our thru-hulls failed and we had a lot water coming to the boat!!! luckily this happened while still in the dock and not crossing the gulf stream. So to play it on the safe side we hauled out the boat out again and replaced all the thru-hulls plus we took advantage of the opportunity and we installed a new refrigerator system and a plate to serve as ground for the single side band radio antenna.

We also painted the bottom again. Not that it needed it but we had left overs from the first time we painted and we already had the boat out, so we did it. all this work was done in just two days, of course they were truly almost 24 hours of work each time.