We are now finally back in the water, but almost two weeks later than expected. The delay was due to a case, we've been involved in, which I will describe at a later time, but we do enjoy having the boat back in the water after 2½ months on the hard.

When the boat was launched last Friday, I had happily forgotten everything about it being Friday the 13th. Had I known, I would probably have thought it was pushing our luck considering our latest misfortunes, but everything thankfully went well: chway

  • The new through-hull fittings were water tight
  • Our mended transmission was working
  • The engine seemed satisfied that we have moved the exhaustion pipe up, so it doesn’t have to press out the exhaust halfway under the water

5 miles down the ICW, however, we were reminded of the date, when smoke started coming from the engine. At first we were really worried, but it turned out just to be the old generator that had seized up.

Earlier this season, it had been sprayed with salt water because of a leak on one of the hoses, so Henrik had already bought a new one (for me at Christmas). It is now installed and working!

When the boat was put on the hard just before New Years, we were told by the workers, who were doing the repairs that when they were finished with the boat, we wouldn’t be able to see that there had ever been a hole in the boat. That was maybe stretching it a bit, though, because even though it generally looks nice (and there’s no longer a hole!), a lot of the details are not properly made. If we ever need work like this done on the boat again, we’ll do as much of it ourselves.

After all, it’s easier to live with your own mistakes than mistakes made by people you’ve paid not to make them! Besides, we’ve found out that one of the guys, who’s been working on the boat has stolen money and things from us. Later, we’ve learned that he’s killed himself – what a sad story.

In the last couple of weeks we’ve asked ourselves several times if we want to continue this life. Is it worth it? Do we have too many bad experiences? But after being back on the water again, we’ve been reminded of why we are doing this, and when we sit in the cockpit in the late afternoon enjoying a gin & tonic, then (almost) nothing is better than life afloat!

Signe Storr - Freelance Journalist and friend of Boatshed