More progress

Well, the sails are lashed onto the spars, and the cabin is starting to look like home. I've started the process of moving on board, and I've spent the last 2 nights on board. From this point on, I'll only be going to the house to check mail, and move stuff out. The boat is pretty much my home from now on.
Wow! Hard to believe, but it's all starting to come together.
The weather has been lousy, rain every day. Other than that, it's really cool not going to work every day. Retirement realy is great, too bad it's usually wasted on old folks.

Progress

Well, I got the enging running and it's running really great. The overhaul of the carb over the winter seems to have done the trick.
Today, the weather held off so I was able to get the masts up, and all the rigging run except for the sails.
I took the boat out and motored down the creek to check out the functioning of the autopilot. Spooked out a few people as I passed them. They couldn't quite figure out who was steering as there was nobody in the cockpit.
I think I need to adjust the "gain" on the pilot, but otherwise, it's great. Also the depth finder works.
All in all, things are going pretty well. If the weather continues to hold off, I might stay on board tomorrow night. Gotta get settled in sometime soon.

What a day!

This has been a day of good news and bad news.

The good news - the boat is in the water and the bilge is dry. It's dry around the hull fitting for the head intake, and the head works great.

The bad news - the engine won't start. Probably gook in the fuel line, but with the rain coming down in buckets I couldn't risk taking things apart to check.

The good news - the contract for the sale of the house finally arrived at the lawyer's office, signed and ready to go.

The bad news - the buyers have put off the closing until June 15th. That means I have to make another mortgage payment, etc. and it means a slightly later start to the trip.

"The best laid plans" etc.

Yahoo email list

My blog page now includes a banner to make it easy to sign up for my Yahoo email list. Scroll down to the bottom left of the blog page, type your email address into the window, hit the "Join Now" button and you're in. All new posts on the blog are automatically emailed to the Yahoo list.
Also, if you join the email list you will have access to photos that will not be posted on the blog.
Have fun. (I will, LOL!)

The first day...

of the rest of my life. Wow! I did it! I retired.
Thursday, the hospital had it's official "retirement tea" for me. About 50 people showed up, I think; I really didn't get to count. The VP of my division came and made a little speech recounting my accomplishments at the hosptial during my tenure, then I had to make a little speech, too.
I put up a little display showing my boat, the route I will be taking on the Great Loop, etc. I handed out a lot of cards for people to keep in touch. The cards list this website, my email, the mail-drop address I'll be using in Florida, etc.
My staff surprised me with more gifts - a log book, a journal and a beautiful fountain pen.
The hospital gave me a folder with some really nice gifts and told me I could choose one. I picked out a really nice pair of binoculars, something that's always useful on a boat.
Yesterday, I didn't do much at work. I just went around to people who didn't come to the tea and said my goodbyes. Then my boss took me out for a drink.
And that's it. My career in healthcare is ended. "Free at last, free at last, thank God almight, I'm free at last."
Today, I start on the adventure that will define the rest of my life. I'll be making a trip to the marina today to make a last check of the hull, tie on my docklines, drop off the bedding and a few other items.
Monday the boat will get her feet wet for the first time since October. Then I will start in earnest to disengage myself from the house. Over this coming week, I will be moving out of the house and onto the boat. Then I can give the house a good cleaning to make it ready for the buyers.
I have to pinch myself. This is really happening! Wow.

Winding down

Today is my second-to-last day of work. I'm at my desk clearing up a few last minute items. This afternoon, the hospital administration holds it's official "retirement tea" for me. Tomorrow, I'll come in, say my goodbyes, turn in my badge and keys and I'm done. It feels a bit spooky to know that I won't be getting up every morning at 5:00 to drag myself in to work.
This weekend, I'll make the last of the preparations for launch. I don't have a lot to do, mostly just tie on my docking lines, and give the boat a thorough inspection to make sure she's ready for launch. I have an appointment with the travel lift on Monday. As soon as she's in the water, and I'm sure there are no leaks, I can start moving my gear aboard.
I have noticed that as of this morning, 26 people have signed up for my Yahoo group. If there are any of you who live along the route who want to sign on as crew for a few days, let me know. I will be single-handing most of the way, so there will be room for guest crew if you're interested. I have one person signed up already. He'll be coming along the week of June 18 to gain some experience in the locks on the Erie canal. He's planning on taking his family on the Loop sometime in the future and wants some experience before he does.
As plans are right now, I will be in Waterford, NY the weekend of 6/17 & 6/18. Anyone in the area who is interested in seeing the boat should stop by the town dock in Waterford that weekend.

Some random thoughts...

on the price of Gasoline.
I will be doing quite a bit of motoring while in the various canals that lie along my route. For this reason, I included gasoline as a major item in my cruising budget. Now that the price of gas has gone through the roof, I have to rejuggle my budget to make allowances. That got me thinking about what's really happening here.
Consider: Prior to 1964, a "dollar" was actually a piece of silver of a certain size, weight and purity. A gallon of gasoline cost about $0.29. Today, a newly minted Silver Eagle (offically carrying a face value of $1.00) costs about $13.73 in Federal Reserve Notes (FRN's). So...with gas selling for $3.119 (FRN), that works out to 4.402 gallons per silver dollar, or about $0.227 per gallon in real/silver dollars. Once again, what's happening is NOT that gasoline is getting expensive, it's that dollars are gradually becoming worthless.
Last summer, my home marina had to sell gasoline by the 1/2 gallon, as their pump was so old it didn't have a "2" for the first digit in the price. I guess they will be selling it by the quart this year.
I can't wait to see what the price will be in Canada. Their "dollar" has even less value than ours.

Yahoo email group

To make it easier for folks to keep up with my whereabouts, I've started a Yahoo group. This service allows emails to be sent to a group of people at one time, instead of sending individual emails. Hey! I'm retired, remember? I can't spend all my time writing individual emails to everyone. (As much as I'd like to, there just won't be that much time that I will be connected to the web.)
If you'd like to get email updates, please join the group. To join, visit:
WalkureVoyages
and click on the "Join this group" button.
Thanks.

A splendid party

Saturday night my staff from the hospital treated me to an evening at "Cheesebugers in Paradise," the local Jimmy Buffett restaurant. Nearly all of my staff attended in honor of my retirement. They presented me with a wonderful brass bell for the boat, and a shadowbox of mounted fishing lures. We drank, we ate, drank again. A splendid time was had by all.
Afterward, some of us regrouped in a local pub and I brought my guitar and played a few songs.
To all the staff who participated "THANK YOU!"
Now I have just 5 more days to work. Next Thursday, the "official" retirement tea will be held at the hospital.
All the arrangements for my pension are now complete, and the first direct deposit of pension money is due in my account on June 1, the same day the buyers want to close on the house. It's a little scary, but it is really happening.

Map

I ran across a map of the Great Loop and posted it here for those who would like to follow along. Click on the image to see a full size version.
The dark tracings on the map represent the several options the cruise offers. I will be taking the Erie & Oswego Canals to Oswego, NY, then around the eastern end of Lake Ontario, the through the Trent-Severn to Lake Huron, along the northern edge of Huron to Lake Michigan, down the east side of Lake Michigan. I will also be taking the more easterly of the two tracks between Illinois and the Gulf.

Getting closer...

The buyers were to have signed the contract on the house yesterday. My lawyer should be getting the papers today or tomorrow for me to sign. If all goes well, the closing should be "no later than June 1."
On another front, I was at the marina last weekend installing the new head. It's done except for the through-hull for the intake. The parts should be arriving today or tomorrow, so I will install that on Friday. Then a little scrubbing on the hull, top off the oil in the engine and the boat will be ready to launch.
I've also ordered some "nanotech" paint which is supposed to block heat flow. I'll try it on the interior of the hull. We'll see if it works. It should help keep the cabin cooler when the sun hits the dark exterior.
I also ordered an autopilot. I will be single handing this journey, so having an automatic helmsman will be very helpful.
I have to do a little touching up on the brightwork around the companionway and on the mast, but that can be done after launch.
It looks like I will be launching May 15. My last day of work (ever?) will be May 12. Once the boat is in the water, I will be moving on board and cleaning out the house. Once I'm settled in on the boat and the house is sold, there's nothing holding me back. Wow! It's finally happening.

It's getting real

This week I had two offers on the house. At the first round both offers were for exactly the same price, so my broker sent them back and asked both to rebid. At the second round, one family offered $15,000 over their first bid. So, this afternoon my broker will be bringing me the contract to look over.
The price I'm getting for the house is very close to double what I paid for it. Not bad for six years.
If this deal goes through, I will have enough cash in the bank to cruise for years. If I choose to continue living on the boat, I shouldn't ever have to go back to work. This is the dream, and it just may actually be coming true.

More upgrades

I have finally received the new solar panels. What a struggle to get them. It seems there is a nationwide shortage of panels. I got the only two the supplier had in stock. Amazing. At least I did get them, and now they have to be installed. The panels are the semiflexible type that can be mounted directly on the deck. They can even be walked on. (Most panels have a glass face that would shatter if walked on.) The trick will be to locate them where the dingy will not shade them. The two panels together produce about 3.5 amps of power to help keep the batteries topped up.
Speaking of dingies, I just finished work on the new dingy. It's a 6' pram from Clarke Craft. It is actually about half the weight of a rubber inflatable, and much easier to maneuver. It will have 3 eyebolts installed to connect to a lifting harness. The harness will connect to one of the main halyards so the dingy can be lifted onto the deck. I still have to build the chocks that will hold it in place. That will have to wait until the weather breaks a little and I can get to the boat to work on it.

Now millions know us...

...or at least thousands. In the March/April issue of Wooden Boat magazine, on page 91, there in all her glory is Walküre. Of course editors never quite get things right; they misspelled the name, but you can't have everything.
If you look closely, you can see yours truly relaxing in the cockpit while the boat self steers (in virtually no wind.)
I've posted a copy of the same pic the magazine used, for those who can't get to a newstand. Enjoy.

Upgrade time

Well, the time has come to start the process of upgrading the boat for the big cruise. First item on the agenda is the head. Yeah, Ugh! A nasty topic, but it has to be handled.
It seems the Great Lakes in their entirety constitute a "no discharge zone." This means that even treated waste cannot be dischaged into the water. Authorities bordering the Lakes, especially in Canada, insist on inspecting all boats entering waters under their jurisdiction. They require sanitation systems that are competely self contained, with no possible manner of discharge. Since portable toilets can be picked up and dumped overboard, they are illegal in Canadian waters. Of course, Bolger designed the AS-29 to use a portable toilet.
So, back to the drawing board - literally. I've had to measure the head space on the boat and try to design a self contained, permanently mounted system. I purchased a "Head Mate" compact marine head. This will fit easily into the space designed for the portable. I also bought a holding tank, but now I have to figure out exactly where to mount it. As soon as the weather permits, I'll take a trip to the marina with the tank in hand and test fit it into the three possible sites I've identified. Once I decide where it fits best, I have to run the necessary hoses.
Once all is said and done, I will have a solid waste handling system. This will be important as the boat will be my home for a year.

Ugh, snow!

As I write this, the Northeast is being slammed by a major "clipper" storm. It is expected to dump up to 10" of the nasty white stuff on the Mid-Hudson region. Once upon a time, in my younger days, I did a little skiing. Even then, it was not necessary for snow to come to me, I would gladly go to the snow. Now, as I get older and have all but given up skiing, I have no use whatsoever for the snow.
I am so looking forward to the next year when I will be following summer around the country. A whole year without snow - WOW!

Winter doldrums

Just checking in. Not much to report. The boat is in winter storage and awaiting the spring thaw. Stopped by the marina last weekend just to check things and all was fine.
Planning continues for the cruise. I may have found my crew, I'll know more in January.

Drying out

This morning the boat was hauled out and put on blocks for the winter. While this is kind of sad, (I hate to see any boat on the hard) it is also gratifying.
Just after the travellift had picked the boat out of the water, the marina crew powerwashed the bottom to get all the algae off. It was good to see the copper bottom looking bright and shiny. And the whole bottom appeared solid. I guess I did a pretty good job of building and sealing the bottom. Everything looks solid and new. Now it's a matter of winterizing the engine and getting a tarp over everything. One more weekend of work and she'll be ready to take on the winter.
Spring can't come too soon.

Folding masts!

Here's a picture of the boat with the masts folded down.

The masts are down

I stopped by the marina yesterday and took the masts down in preparation for the haulout on Monday. It was raining so I didn't get to do a proper fold on the sails. That will have to wait until a dry day.
One interesting thing happened yesterday that got me thinking about another aspect of the cruise. I made contact via the 'net with a woman who owns land, including an island, along the Trent-Severn waterway in Canada. She invited me to stop and tie up at her island while I'm traveling the Trent. I plan on taking her up on it.
What this calls to mind is the idea that one of the greatest pleasures in taking a trip like this is the people you meet along the way. I'm thinking that it would be great if there are other people who live along the path of the Circle cruise who would contact me before I set out. This way, each place that I visit, I'll already know someone there, someone with local knowledge of what's worth doing and seeing. Each stop along the way would be like coming home, and seeing something new at the same time. What a great way to travel!