When were bought Gypsy Moth she was sooo basic and there was hardly anything on her whatsoever. The owner had become ill and so she was left for a couple of years in the marina without any looking after her atall, so she had been a bit neglected to say the least.
The last couple of months have consisted of me on the internet day and night finding everything we needed to buy and getting it shipped over, while Sym's job has been near enough everything else. On the outside of her we have got all new canvas work( a sprayhood,bimini, stack pack for the mainsail and sails over hauled) in a navy blue colour cos we were thinking that when we have the boat taken out the water back down in Panama we are going to paint her navy blue !! The new canvas looks really good although we had a nightmare with the guy who was making it...his estimation of 3 / 4 weeks turned into six weeks , hence us STILL being here in the marina...and the weather has been lousy....
all the locals have been complaining about how its been the worst winter in like forever...bloody typical !! its been so cold its made being outside a chore most of the time, and we have been dreaming for warmer weather.It even snowed here, can you believe that...the secone time evfer in like 20 years!!!haha!!
Enough of the rant of the weather...we have bought everything from new dingy and outboard...a 15 HP this time!! on Quartermoon we had a 8 and it was never fast enough..it would plane with the two of us but any time there was weight from shopping bags and stuff we would get soaked...our new one is like a wippet!!! we now also have two massive solar panels giving out 400 watts of electericity...no messing around this time( not like we have not got the room on this beast) and we thought the extra electricity would come in handy when having the baby.
The electronics on the boat were really non existant and now we have everything we need,,,apart from a SSB!! we want to get one for the pacific so will look for one on ebay over the next few weeks...problem now is we are going to get back out at anchor , so we wont have a mailing address!
The inside of the boat we have a complete new galley and we have bought all the stuff for the new bathrooms x 2 ( buts its not been installed yet) she is looking tip top now and we are really chuffed.
Anyhow it has not all been work and no play. My mate Sara from back home came to visit us a couple of weeks ago for a week,, so that was a nice break for me and it was so lovely to see her. We went out for lots of meals and went for walks and a bike ride around the gated communnity of Dartaw Island!!Honestly it is like something out of the movie the Stepford Wives.
Sara on her bike(they dont have brakes like normal bikes in Britain...you have to cycle backwards to brake...takes lots of getting used to !!)
Anyhow i better get off now cos im getting evil looks from Sym and really should be helping him get the boat ready for our trip tomorrow.
having fun? x
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