Day by day we seem to be whittling down the list of to-do's for Nine of Cups. Part of the reason it's getting shorter, of course, is not only because we're working hard most days, but also because we've started prioritizing what's absolutely departure critical versus what can wait till we're at our next port … or beyond. Varnishing, for instance, is going to have to wait. (That breaks my heart!)
I've finished cleaning/polishing the stainless (not critical, but it was on the list early) and inspecting the stanchions and deck hardware. The dorades have been painted. David has cleaned the bottom and all the thru-hulls. I've repaired the sail cover and while we had the cover off, we raised the mainsail to make sure it was in good shape. We've also checked out the staysail and jib … all are in good order.
David's gone up the mast to check the rigging, cleaned the main sail track and checked out the nav lights while he was up there. He also ran a new line through an upper mast block which will help in raising and lowering the dinghy using the windlass … winching is hard work on hot days and in big winds.
The annual maintenance on the engine is complete and the sink faucet in the forward head and all the plumbing below it has been replaced. Another section of the aft deck has been repainted which includes some hefty non-skid in an area which has always been a bit too slippery. All the electronics have been checked out and seem to be in good working order. Fingers crossed! The hydraulics check is complete. We need to give our watermaker a trial run to ensure our fresh water supply, but this marina is not the place to do it. The outboard engine's purring and David is working on the slow leak in the dinghy. He also completed work on the anchor chain pipe and fixed a pesky tiny drip leak in the saloon hatch (only when it rains really, really hard).
We ordered and received new composite propane tanks to eliminate our old rusty ones. They're all full and ready to go. David's been researching a new anchor for these hard sand, grassy bottoms of South Australia. (This sounds like another BV blog post to me … just sayin').
I completed the stores inventory and the provisioning is all done! We have enough food aboard for two months, though we'll have plenty of opportunity to buy more when we arrive in Port Lincoln. When we found out that Coles delivers free on Wednesdays, we couldn't resist getting everything ordered on line and delivered. How cool is that?
What's left? Oh, there are a few more things to keep us busy, but the list is getting shorter and, yes, the current batch of brew is in bottles and aging and we're ready to bottle the second batch soon. All in all, we're on track for a departure. Assuming weather and winds cooperate, Kangaroo Island here we come.
