Month: December 2015

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1 Year!

Well it has been a few days more than 1 year now that we have had, and been working on Akupara!

It is a little hard to imagine that it has been this long and that we still have so many unfinished projects. I guess the big question is, are we happy with where we are in regards to the progress we have made on her? The answer to that question is loaded. Of course not. I would much rather be sitting aboard typing this right now somewhere in Mexico or the Caribbean but we are nowhere near that of course. It would be nice if the decks were finished, or the electrical or plumbing but I am glad that we are almost complete the interior. Considering this is basically a weekend project I think we are doing quite well. Our progress for the most part has been steady, with life getting in the way a few times but overall I think we have done quite well.

So just what did we accomplish? We accomplished spending a lot of time as a family working together towards the same goal. The kids (and the admiral in regards to tools anyway) learnt quite a lot in regards to boat work and power tools and a sense of accomplishment, and hard work. We had lots of laughs, and a few arguments. We were cold and wet at times and hot and sweaty at other times. We planned, and talked and drew pictures, and had to ask each other for help. We had paint brush fights and occasionally we told each other a better way of doing things. That was mostly the admiral of course ;-).

We got to know a few boyfriends and had an opportunity to watch the kids get a little older in both their interactions, abilities and skills as well as get a little closer to being adults. I was able to teach them how to use a jigsaw, and an orbital sander, screwdrivers, and wire cutters, and a host of other things. They learnt that if you try to mix thickened epoxy to fill holes and you forget to add the hardener, the end result is a forever sticky mess that you need to go back and clean out and do your work over. They learnt that Rome was not built in a day and they discovered that real work is required to make any progress. They learnt that sometimes in life you need to roll up your sleeves and get a little dirty and that not all paths are paved in gold. In fact, occasionally you might just run into the odd cockroach along the way. They learnt that money does not grow on trees and sometimes you can’t afford to just write a magic cheque or swipe a magic card to get stuff. They learnt that if you say you are going to do something, you need to follow through and get it done and stand by your word. I also hope that they learnt that even though things take way longer than you expect, or that you do not get as much accomplished as you had planned, or that yes you might run into the odd cockroach, you still need to continue. You need to sweep up the cockroach, throw it out, take a few minutes to re-align, and then get back to work. Nobody is going to come swooping in and save you.

So are we happy with what we have accomplished in this last year? You damn right we are. Even though Akupara is a long, long, way away from being in the warm waters of the Caribbean she has already done a fantastic job of her primary responsibility, and that is keeping us all together, united and safe. Thank you Akupara!

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Seasons Greetings and all the best! Thanks for following along over this last year and looking forward to sharing our progress over the next year with you as well!

The Captain.

 

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Undermining one’s self

Undermining one’s self. What the hell does he mean by that?

You know the guy. We all know the guy. He may go by different names, and he may look a little different, but he is always the same guy. He is the guy who is going offshore. He has a very salty looking boat and he tells a lot of stories that he has heard with a far off look in his eye as though he was there. He is constantly busy working and fixing and improving his boat to ready her for going offshore. Yup, he is going to cut the docklines and sail off never to return to live a life on the high seas and in unknown little anchorages where the breeze is gentle and the rum is strong.

When you first meet him you are convinced that he is leaving any day now. After the first year of knowing him, you are convinced that he is leaving next summer, but eventually you realize that he is never leaving. You have had a chance to take a close look at his boat and although he has all of the latest must have items scattered around in boxes and piles, none of it has ever completely been installed. As a matter of fact, most of his boat isn’t ready to sail around the bay let alone go offshore. And yet he is still convincing, and lots of folks still believe him.

I have a belief, and I call it undermining one’s self. We all have dreams and aspirations and goals to achieve, and there are some that succeed in those dreams and goals and there are others who constantly undermine there own course. As soon as they get close to being ready to hit that milestone, all of a sudden there is another must have, or there is one last improvement that needs to be made. They happen to open the latest copy of “Cruising Broke” and see the latest and greatest digital computational electronic toilet paper dispenser that the marketing guru’s have labelled as essential for offshore survival. Now most of us hopefully shrug these off as being silly or not necessary, but some of us fall for these traps and thereby sabotage our own dreams. Now we have one more thingy that we need to save for and one more thingy that needs to be installed and by the time we get around to purchasing it, another latest and greatest and better thingy is already on the market and there goes the cycle again and we still haven’t finished the first one. And then sadly the inevitable happens, and the guy suffers a major health issue and now he can not go. And he is bitter. He is bitter with himself that he created those barriers and he prevented himself from achieving his dreams.

I truly believe that some of us are inclined to follow this pattern as a subconscious reason to not have to make the final cut of the docklines. Perhaps we are too scared of the unknown. Perhaps we are too scared of the loss of income or the loneliness or the danger or a million other reasons and we thereby create and impose our own barriers to achieving our goals.

I have fallen into this trap before and I am always conscious of falling back there again. It is scary. There are a lot of reasons to not continue fighting for our dreams. And yet all of us refuse to consciously admit that we are creating our own walls.

I say when you meet that guy and when you finally realize that he will never allow himself to escape. Stop by and talk to him a little more often. Lend him a hand on his never ending list of repairs. Get to know him a bit and accept that he is still allowed to dream regardless if he will ever allow himself to succeed.

You never know, it could be you some day.

If you have the money, and have decided this is the dream for you, go out today, buy a boat, fit it out and leave. Don’t spend any more time than that. Just do it. If like us you need to take some time in order to accomplish this dream, I will tell you that life has a way of getting in the way, and it is sometimes very difficult to hold on to that dream and maintain the course without falling into the trap of creating your own walls. But when you find yourself being drawn away, fight it and do something, anything, tie a knot, sand a piece of wood, anything to keep you connected to your dream and get a little farther down the road.

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Designing the Nav Station

I have begun designing the layout of the navigation station. Of course I really can only design the layout of the instruments and the electrical panel as the actual layout of the furniture is already predetermined.

It got me to thinking of course, what do I need, want, wish to have in the nav station area? Do I want to keep it modern and only have electronics or do I want to go a little retro and include my sextant. All of these questions has led to a list of things and a first drawing of possible layout. The list thus far is:

Pencils, pens, Ship’s Log, Handheld VHF, mounted vhf, charting tools, charts, GPS and plotter, clock, barometer, electrical panel, stereo, quick reference cards, binoculars, sextant, hand bearing compass, notepad, laptop, SSB, depth finder, 2m VHF, EPIRB, SPOT, shortwave radio, weatherfax or printer for laptop, Pactor modem, radar, and engine instruments.

I am sure I am forgetting things but at least I have a starting point. The trouble comes in the layout. On some of our previous boats the placement of some of the electronics made it difficult to operate the dials and or buttons, but having everything directly in front of your face within an easy arms reach is not possible either. And when designing the layout I need to be aware of screen brightness so that one device does not outshine another etc.

I like to think of the Nav Station as the Man Cave. It is command central and everything, within reason, on the ship should be controllable and or capable of being monitored from command central. I should be able to glance at it and know the ships status in a few moments. I hate having to call around for reports from different areas in order to complete the log entries. Yelling to the helm, what is the engine temp and oil pressure. Yelling to the main salon bulkhead, what is the barometric pressure, yelling to the foredeck, are the nav lights on, yelling to the helm, what’s our course, and on and on. All of this information should be within arms reach for whoever is completing the log entry. At least that is my opinion.

So, back to drawing pictures and adding to my list.

Ahhh the life of a boater, if you are not working on it, designing something for it, thinking about how to improve something, repairing something, cleaning something, scrubbing, sanding, staining, drilling, filling, painting, scraping, dreaming, wishing, hoping or planning. You might actually get a chance to sail! But look at the time, can’t go sailing today, gotta go back to work to pay for all of this fun. 😉

If your boat is in the water, remember to schedule some time to enjoy it as well as all of the fixing!