Traveling Team Fischer

We have had so much to learn since we started this chapter.  As you may recall, when we bought our camper, we didn’t know what we didn’t know.  this resulted in a broken frame and a list of repairs we hadn’t planned on.  With that experience rather fresh in our minds, we carefully inspected each boat we considered buying before making an offer on this one.  We were pretty confident we were aware of her issues, and they all seemed like they should be quite manageable.  We felt sure the survey would be straightforward and painless.  The first part is a haul out, so the bottom can be inspected.  The plan was to keep her on the hard long enough to have fresh bottom paint applied before getting back in the water, to avoid a second haul out, and save some time and money.

However, as they often do, plans change.  There was a pretty significant crack in her keel.  Hearts sank, stomachs clenched, and stress levels reached new highs.  What did this mean?  Was this a deal breaker?  Do we have to start our search over?  The surveyor was consulted.  Yes, it needed to be repaired, but no, it was not a deal breaker.

After checking with a few experienced folks at the yard, the consensus was that it could be fixed.  So lesson one was on how to repair the crack.  When the repair was done, others were so impressed with the results that job offers started to come in.  None were accepted, but it felt good to get that kind of recognition.

Once bottom paint was applied, she could splash down and get ready for the sea trial portion of the survey, which was a much smoother process.  In total, she was on the hard for two weeks.   We were beginning to understand some of the jokes we’d been hearing about owning a boat.  The popular “BOAT stands for Break Out Another Thousand” was starting to make sense.

Since that time, we’ve been doing a lot of deep cleaning, painting, and repairing or replacing something every day.  Favorite projects show immediate results, like replacing a port light and a fresh coat of paint in the galley, or deep cleaning cushion covers and scrubbing floors in the salon.

Critical projects are not so visible, like cleaning sludge out of tanks and replacing leaking gaskets.  We try to sprinkle in enough instant gratification projects to keep our momentum moving forward.

The ongoing use of elbow grease and cleaning solutions has been pretty good exercise, and keeps our hands squeaky clean.  We have been grateful for our long list of projects at this time, when so much of the world has closed non-essential businesses, and everyone is trying to practice social distancing.  Our routine has been pretty close to the same since January: get up, go to the boat for the day, then come home to eat and sleep.  Well, we used to  try new restaurants and/or have a beverage at a favorite bar on the way home, but that is on hold for who knows how long.

As of Friday, April 3, we will be joining the majority of the USA under a Stay-at-Home order.  We have collected the food we provisioned on the boat, secured her, and will remain in our camper until the end of the month, or whenever the order is finally lifted.  Our days will likely be filled with deep cleaning and organizing the camper, getting caught up on some reading, taking walks in the lovely sunshine, and planning out the next list of projects to tackle when we are on board again.