Jos January 30-31st, 2020. We are finally back on board. Thank the Goddess! It took a lot of trips and a lot of bins. And, of course, it occurred during a cold snap! The trailer is packed! With what, I have no idea. But, packed it is! The van couldn’t handle the pull, so we had to borrow a truck to get the trailer to the marina. We’ll rent a truck to get it to Georgetown in the next few weeks.
The relief of no longer being on land, paying 2 rents, driving almost 40 miles round trip to get back and forth to Tocino is palpable. We had to deal with the custom mattress not fitting, but that totally worked out for the best! Now to put everything away in a logical and evenly distributed way. There is no rush, but we definitely want to be on the move soon. I definitely want to get stuff put away because the back deck and cockpit of Tocino look like Tobacco Road, as my beloved mother would say.
On Saturday, February 6th, deep in getting-shit-done mode, we got waked by a ginormous, 144-ft boat cruising down the ICW. The rocking and rolling were so bad that things fell out of locked cabinets, off of protected shelves, and generally from any location into the middle of the boat. (Insert favorite Samuel L. Jackson mf’er rendition here) David was able to hail the captain on the radio and let him know he wrecked us and the marina. As it was already going dark, we waited until Sunday to check for exterior damage.
When we examined Tocino on Sunday, we noticed that our stanchions were bent along the port side. We pitched so bad we hit the dock! David was able to track down the rep for the boat, get in touch with them, and notify Florida Fish and Wildlife to make an accident report.
We called the insurance company on Monday, had the adjustor out on Tuesday, had a rigging inspection on Wednesday and have since been waiting for a shipwright’s inspection. At this point, my most fervent wish is that the estimate does not include dismantling the entire port side interior to access the bolts holding the stanchions on. The thought of spending more months here waiting for work to be done on ‘marine’ time is too depressing to contemplate. As is waiting to hear whether the insurance company will total the boat. (Update: We finally got someone (it took fucking WEEKS) to give us an estimate we could give our insurance company. Then, we got a check for repairs.)
On a happier note, the aft cabin is just about ready for painting. After paint, it’s time for decorative moldings, cleaning, a new mattress, and new bedding. Then the continuation of cleaning, unpacking, and making ready to head north.
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