As I write this it is pouring down rain - again - even though Yahoo Weather says "Light Rain." The rain and fog just refuses to let up. According to AccuWeather, we had over 8 inches of rain in June, our normal is 3. We have been going to the boat when it's merely been raining, as opposed to pouring with blowing wind. There have been trips back in pea soup fog. Most trips we've taken one or both of the dogs. They're settling back in and finding the places they like to sleep. But we've mostly been confined to doing indoor tasks.The biggest job we've worked on was running hose for the saltwater wash-down. On the first trip we decided to cut two of the five holes we'd need. Somehow it always feels ominous when cutting a hole in the boat. The first hole went from the chain locker, which has an access door in the guest stateroom, to behind the curtained area. That took pretty much all afternoon and we returned home well after dinner time, much to Dyna and Dylan's dismay. The next time we decided to cut just two more holes and all four went in quickly without a hitch! Jeff spent one more trip pulling the hose from the master stateroom through an access hatch to the engine room which required one more hole. Dylan was there to help with that one. So now the hose runs from the chain locker at the bow, aft to the engine room where we will mount the pump. One last hole in the deck to connect the deck fitting and she's ready for a trial. Hopefully we'll get that done this week.
On July 4th we had an amazing break of afternoon sun so Jeff took Dyna out to help him install new site-glass material on the fuel tanks. They've become so discolored that we can no longer see the fuel level. Jeff heard about this special tubing called Tygon from another trawler owner who has had it for several years. He says it's still crystal clear. We'll see. He said it was about the smoothest project he's done to date, and was back earlier than predicted. He stepped in the door just before the sky opened up. Went to the annual July 4th party to watch the fireworks. Fortunately, the rain slowed to a drizzle just about 9PM so we had a beautiful fireworks display before the rain started again.
The job we are most anxious to get done is touching up the cap-rail. For that we need several dry days in a row. Fat chance. 7 weeks from today is our targeted take off date.....
Somehow it always feels better when we're putting things back on the boat than when we're taking them off. It's the start of new adventures! This week we put our newly cleaned blinds back up in the salon. First I washed the windows and woodwork as it is so easy with nothing on the windows. We started testing equipment. One of the new chargers Jeff installed last time didn't seem to be working - %$#&!. We took a trip to Home Depot to buy new fuses only to discover it was the outlet splitter that wasn't working -- good news actually. Our speed sensor stopped working last season so we played with that a bit. Jeff is guessing it's a problem with the wiring, so that goes on the list for next time. Jeff replaced all of the engine room zincs. The massive hull zinc is about 30% used but since it is so easy to replace now, we're putting on a new one so the holes had to be measured. We'll keep the old one and monitor the new one during our cruise. If it wears too much Jeff can always dive and put the old one back on. We took some initial measurements for the new saltwater washdown we're installing. The job will be bigger than we had hoped - aren't they always. But we figure this will cut our fresh water usage by about half - an important consideration in the outer Bahamas and of course, if we're lucky enough to get to Cuba! More cleaning, organizing, etc. The most pleasant part of the process is thinking about our trip and what things we will want aboard - happy thoughts. We didn't get our list done as we had to get back to Castine for a cocktail cruise on a friend's new (to him) Grand Banks. We had a beautiful little trip up the 
