Here are the latest blog posts. For older posts click here for the previous blog site. Eventually we will bring all the old posts over once we automate the process.
usvi boat show kick off – 4 nov 2013
so it continued raining until noon the day before the show. fortunately aimee had completed the stainless and the waxing and polishing so palapa cleaned up pretty quickly. the night before the show we headed out to the welcome event. of course aimee got the arrival time wrong and we showed up at 5pm vs 8pm. we had also shared this info with jeremi and his wife on another monohull “quest” next to us. this led to an extended happy hour followed by the free drink/food event at 8pm. bottom line we started the show a bit more...
read moreback to the usvi w/ tom and sheri, 2 nov 2013
so we decided we needed to get back to the usvi a few days before the show to get everything lined up. we had a great sail over with aimee’s friend alex and just got him to the dock in time for his flight back. we elected to stay on the fuel dock opposite the cruise ship dock for a few days before we move out to the nosebleed end of the dock with all the monohulls. we got another load of 15 boxes, i am afraid to look at the cc bill! here aimee demos the new palapa capichino milk frother, our favorite new toy making palapa even more...
read morehead 101 again! – 27 oct 2013
so this morning was finally d-day and h-hour for the head unclog activity. seth and i had reviewed the options previously and when i [picked him up he had his head unclog kit. two massive throttle cables for reaming out the clog and a bag of disposable rags. initially aimee had declined my offer to leave palapa during the event but fortunately jaimee came by to take her for a hike as we where getting going. as we pulled the first hose off the girls scampered to get into the dingy as the smell wafted out of the bilge. we went with the seth...
read morelaunch and out of dodge! – 26 oct 2013
so today we wasted no time heading over to the dingy for the maiden voyage. i was ready to launch out of the gate but seth wanted to wash the dingy first. after an hour of spraying we where ready to go. seth and i envisioned a multi person process but the dingy dock guys just pushed the boat forward and let is slide down the ramp (with fake wood cross bars) and splash into the water knocking the other dingies out of the way. we scampered on and started the motor with a turn of the key, you can hardly tell it is running it is so quite. i...
read moredingy completion! – 25 oct 2013
i headed in to double D just after dawn to get to the dingy project going. seth was a bit dazed but hit go on the coffee and after what seemed an eternity we where off to the dingy dock tools in hand. we got going on the hole and running cables straight away. the good news was we did not make and “extra” holes and we even had a 2.5 inch hole saw for the tachometer. on the bad news side we discovered we where short a shift cable and had to rerun the main control cable. seth even got the yamaha dealer dude to come by and look at...
read morefibergalss project 1 complete! – 24 oct 2013
marcello had sprayed the area with gelcoat the previous evening and today he came by and wet sanded everything. when he was done you could not see any evidence of a hole. amazing. i wish i had the patience to do this sort of work. i seem to do much better with projects that involve nut and bolts not chemicals! aimee and i did a final wash down of palapa before heading over to road town. seth had messaged he had secured access to all the “parts” for his dingy and desperately needed some tech support installing the engine...
read morehole removal project – 23 oct 2013
so true to his word marcello came by after breakfast and started work on the holes in the bathroom. the new head requiered new holes and left behind 4 old ones. i did not really notice these but aimee did not consider them “charter” ready and rejected my white duct tape idea. the night before marcello had hot glued 1/8 inch fiberglass in behind the holes and this am he mixed up resin, hardener and mat bits into a past and mushed into the holes. the process was pretty smooth but definitely gives off fumes. i was barricaded in...
read morekitchen sink! – 22 oct 2013
so i managed to wake up at 5am just before the alarm and was rewarded by nicer conditions. still wind but swells down substantially. the moon was still up and close to full so i had no problem navigating around the mooring balls and out of the anchorage. the plan had been to go back to peter island to install all the parts i had purchased at home depot but as i started on my kitchen sink project i discovered i was missing connectors so we decided to divert to nanny cay. we got in there at 830 and i went straight to the budget marine. i did...
read moreunder way again! – 21 oct 2013
so we had a pretty full schedule today. dropped off laundry then took the publico, aimee to the interior stuff store and me to the home depot. i spent about an hour wandering around checking off things on my list; new faucet for kitch sink, water filter for new faucet, new towel racks for guest head, new u bolts to hold engel down, batteries. i managed to get everything and then hiked down to the $ publico back to the marina. pretty convenient. i met up with aimee as scheduled and picked up more boxes; custom tervis, shades for fwd cabin,...
read moreback in the usvi – 20 oct 2013
we are getting pretty good a bouncing back and forth between the bvi and the usvi. would be even easier if i could figure out the frequent boater web site so we could skip the in person check in on the us end. we left village cay around 8am for a nice leisurely downwind sail to st thomas. aimee spent the trip recovering from all the polishing and i relaxed and sailed. we got in just in time to get over to the customs office and check in. of course it was a sunday so it cost us 35$ and took almost an hour. we where pleasantly surprised to find...
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