Engine in Boat - a Milestone

Hooray, Hooray, the time has come.
Mister Perkins is surely done.

Metallic Blue

We spray painted him metallic blue then the crane truck came to the yard and hoisted the beast up into the air and down to Rafael's waiting hands to be directed into the bowels of Traveler.  Some grunting, some heaving and he was resting on the new rubber motor mounts deep down in the bottom of the boat. The whole operation was like a birth in reverse.  Traveler opened herself up to receive the big blue block of metal and as it slid into place you could hear the boat settle into her dry dock cradle with a sigh of relief.  Surely this is a time of gladness, a time of celebration, and to commemorate the event I cracked open an ice cold ballena of Pacifico cerveza.

Hoist it up and lower it  in

As you might have gathered, I'm back in Mazatlan, coming here especially to see the boat receive the engine and get splashed back into the water where she belongs.  The list of accomplishments is a yard long so I'll wait until the bitter end to list those out.  And also, there is no need to risk offending the dogs, er..gods, by claiming a fait accompli when that's just counting chickens before they are hatched. We know how unlucky that can be. 

Hal admiring the engine sitting on the cockpit floor.

Boats here get stuck in the yard for  days, weeks, and months as new problems emerge as the onion gets peeled.  Hal and Nina brought their boat in for a paint job.  Then they found a leaking water tank.  On removal they found a rotten beam under the floor.  Then they found the mast step to be rotten too. They removed the mast, they removed the floor, they removed the floor joists and bulkheads and now they live in a camper in the parking lot as their boat is no longer habitable. We went through a similar thing as we peeled the onion of Traveler, watching a simple hull repair turn into an odyssey of  rebuilding and replacing.

Hope springs eternal, and I truly do believe our repair/refit odyssey is coming to an end. I've got a U.S. Air flight booked for next Wednesday, taking me back to my loved ones in the chilly northwest.  In the meantime, I'll make arrangements for Traveler to be safely moored at the marina here and someone will come by every week to check her bilges, her lines, her batteries, and her state of mind so that when we arrive in late September she'll be ready to head out into the open sea again. 

It's in the bilge,  resting  on the motor mounts.

Connie is back in Seattle, on Vashon Island of all places, getting some much needed rehabilitation for a pinched nerve in her back.  Our friends in Seattle and Olympia have been wonderful, taking us into their homes and giving us a comfortable place to stay.  We've been bouncing around there for a couple of weeks now waiting for the boat to get finished.  But I'm here in Mazatlan and Connie is on Vashon, and I miss her terribly.

Sexy new under body.

We are open to suggestions for trips or house sitting in the months of August and September so if you have any suggestions on how or where we could freeload for a week or two, drop me a line.  One thing I'm looking forward to is spending a week on a WYC keelboat in the San Juans when I get back.  We've got her reserved for 7/22 through 7/26.  Please send us good weather, warm temperatures, and lots of wind.  Ha! Like that ever happens in the pacific northwest.