Sunday, April 10th

We seem to have gotten back into the swing of things having had a couple really good work days.   The weather is beginning to be a factor with temperatures rising into the low 90s on a daily basis.  A large weather front moved through here one day last week that brought heavy rain filling the canopy tarp. 

(Ok, I just thought the pictures of the water falling were cool and I wanted to add them.)

To pick up where we left off... 

Carter is still working on beefing up the canopy structure.  This is the ceiling in the center passageway.  He is getting ready to secure the last post, in the center, and this area will also be the entry for the solar panel wiring.

 All wiring for the solar panels will come through this celing and continue into the mechanical room where they will be connected to the battery bank and inverter.

Carter has secured all of the outer canopy supports to the superstructure enabling us to make the all important treck to Port Labelle for the potty dump.  We have determined that it takes us approximately 5 weeks to fill the 75 gallon holding tank which we feel is very respectable and will put ourselves on a monthly schedule for dumping from here on out. It is a situation better dealt with sooner than later because when the toilet backs up here, there's no calling roto rooter to the rescue.

As usual we inevidibly attract attention when we arrive at the marina.  There are always sailors who enjoy talking and learning about our project.

Yesterday we took advantage of a slightly cooler, less breezy day and worked hard on our staining projects.  The canopy for me and handrail spindles for Carter.  Next we will have to take down the tarp (hate to lose the shade) and complete staining the topside of the canopy.  Then it will be ready for polyurethane and finally...the solar panels.

Next on the 'to do' list Carter will continue work on the sun deck and prepare the gunnel for installing the handrail.

A few other miscellaneous things. 

Below shows how the table fits into the cockpit for outdoor dining.  We take our evening meal out here quite often finding it to be a very enjoyable experience.

Next, as we were cleaning up the airstream, getting things sorted out to put back on the boat, we came across a door that we missed earlier and wasn't sure where it went.  Carter said he remembered the previous owner saying something about a door he removed from the nav station area that was made out of bamboo from the builders back yard.  So we took the door down and found where it belonged.  It is now back in its place and I love it!

One evening as we were returning from an evening whaler ride, we discussed how to dress up the windows a little. Kind of put an eyebrow on them as an accent. We painted a few options for consideration.

Total black stripe over the top of the window.  We decided this is too thick and blends in with the window.

Just a small black stripe on the top of the window.  This was too small and you can't tell anything was done.

Black on top while leaving the window gutter white.  

  We decided we will go with this one.

Here's the look from a distance.

That's about it for now.

Another beautiful sunset at our oxbow in Labelle, Florida!