We finalized the purchase of the Marine Trader in April and then contemplated our choices for bringing the boat home. We could have it trucked or we could “sail” it home. I have always wanted to cruise the east coast of the USA on the ICW, through the Chesapeake and up the Hudson River, Erie Canal, etc. so it was a pretty easy decision to make. “All hands prepare to cast off!”.
Prior commitments prevented us from setting out before the end of June so the boat has been stored at a dock at a marina in Jacksonville. I also have some work to do on the boat prior to starting the trip home. Those projects include:
- new house & starter batteries
- new 110v inverter
- power supply modifications at both helm stations to accommodate my favourite laptop navigation system
- new water muffler
- galley renovations (stove, countertop & storage space)
- refinish all interior cabins (new varnish)
Late in May I flew down to Jacksonville and spent 10 days completing the (temporary) renovations to the galley. You can read more about that project work by following this link: Santosha Galley Renovations. I also manged to get four coats of varnish on all the woodwork in the main cabin (galley/settee/inside helm station). With so many windows in this part of the boat the original varnish wood finishing was suffering from heavy UV damage so several new coats of varnish were badly needed.
 Santosha Galley Renovations |
I was hoping to get more varnishing done for the forward and aft sleeping cabins but ran out of time (& energy)!
On June 17 we are attending Catherine’s nephew’s wedding at a location near London. After that I will head back down to Jacksonville on June 19 to finish my project work.
My good buddy Chris Cavanaugh is going to join me on June 30 for the first leg of the journey. “The Human Seagull” (me) and “The Bad Bird” (Chris) take on the ICW. Should be interesting times aboard Santosha!
Catherine will fly down a few weeks later to meet us along the way and to relieve Chris so he can return to his home waters on Lake Huron for some of his own summer adventures aboard his beloved Twocan.
Cheers everyone!