February 11, 2012
We exhausted the vendors at the Seattle Boat Show which I wasn't sure would be possible. You know it's not good when I'm walking around and a vendor sees me and says,"John went that way." So they know us, or at least John by name and I am guilty by association! We logged long days, both weekends and loved every minute of it. We learned a lot about water makers, the newest trends in electronics, Rib's/engines, serpentine belts to name a few. We come to decisions and then change our minds-the indecisiveness is crazy. I think we came to the conclusion to not get a wind generator as the output in amps is low and since we will be in tropics, solar panels and our Honda generator should do the trick. Those boat bucks will be transitioned to a new Symmetrical Spinnaker since we will doing mostly light air sailing. We also will not get a Sat phone at this point as it will not be necessary for going down the coast to Mexico and once we are ready to Puddle Jump to SouthPac we can decide and purchase if need be. We have the SSB but will need the Pactor modem for Sail mail/weather/communication.
The good news is that the Radar Arch is off the boat so that the Dinghy Davits can get welded on. We are ordering the rigid boom vang, RIB/engine although we are still debating between the 9HP vs 15HP. We will be hauling out in about a month so that is when the push will really start to get work done.