Stuff to do...

There's one day left until we leave for our delivery run, which is scary. Whangarei to Wellington, one week, almost nonstop. I think we're both more than little bit nervous. It's frightening thinking that this boat is ours, and knowing that we're completely responsible for it. When you sail on somebody else's boat, it's entirely their responsibility to make sure everything gets done and everything runs properly. When you charter a boat, the charter company sits down and runs through everything with you to make sure you know where everything is and how it works and what to do if something stops working. If you forget, there's a nice little manual covering everything you need to know or might want to know while you're on that boat.

However, we don't have any of that. If we forget to turn something on or fill something up or pick up spare fuel filters or something, we're pretty much screwed. So that's what I'm scared of - being stuck out in the ocean (even though we'll be near the coast... which is probably worse. There's rocks on the coast) without fuel or with a broken steering system or a broken engine and not knowing what to do about it. Mostly my fears are engine-related. Our engine is old and not very well looked after and I really really don't want it to die. So it probably will. 

Also this is scary.

 And this is scary.

And this isn't really ideal...

Also the weather has been doing this...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/national/6596862/Rescues-in-flooded-Northland 

(I actually wish I hadn't read that. I looked up a random news article about the crazy weather we've been having, and the picture for the article was a sunken yacht. This does not make me feel better)

So bottom line, I'm a little bit nervous. I think the main problem is that we've done so many courses - we just finished our boatmasters course, which is basically about how to not die, crash or sink. So they tell you a lot of frightening stories about dying, crashing and sinking. We don't know the boat very well either - eventually I plan on knowing every single nook and cranny on that thing, but we don't even know how many pots and pans are on it or where the spare engine parts are. I think the first thing I'm going to do is read the engine manual and dig up all engine related things so I know they're there!

Moving on from irrational fears about sinking my boat and back to all the exciting things that are about to happen. We've written out a to do list for everything we need to fix and want to fix on the boat. I'm sure once we get on there it will double in size, so I thought it would be nice to compare this one to the bigger one we'll have in the future. Some stuff we need to do NOW, other things we need to do now, and some of them can wait a year. They're not in a very good order, but the more important ones are towards the top. I'll do up a working to do list that we can edit as we go through, so at least we can see when we're making progress.

The boat is actually in really good condition, and has sailed in far off places of the world. If we jumped on board with some food we could leave tomorrow, because it just arrived a few months ago and has everything the last owners needed. But we want to personalise it a bit and make it as comfortable and safe as possible.

To do list (in a vague order of importance)

Boat work:

Fix wiring for lights (they all come on at once)

Buy and install harness lines for the deck

New log book

Buy chartplotter

Storm sail/trisail

Compartment for lpg tanks with proper drainage

Make checklist of things to go over each time before a trip (lifejackets, fuel, etc)

Make a maintenance log book

Compressor for fridge

Anti foul (that's scraping all the junk off the bottom and repainting it)

Fix keel (a small job, but anything on the keel makes me nervous - it's like having termites in the structural beams of your house)

Paint deck

Engine service

Fix/hook up gadgets (speedometer etc)

Rigging - reroute a few of the lines to the cockpit (boomvang, at least 1 halyard, outhaul)

Rigging inspection - replace everything old

Install pump and drainage in head (for shower)

Buy danbuoy

Buy mechanical sewing machine with walking foot for fixing sails

Make/buy new mainsail cover

Fix bimini

Make velcro/zip on covers for around cockpit to enclose it during wet weather

Repair toerail

Repair rubbing strip

Buy and install a windlass (mechanical anchor winch)

Install grab handles on the deck

Buy and install small holding tank

Ssb radio

Spinnaker pole

Varnish teak in cockpit (some of it is new and shiny and some if it is old. This annoys me.)

Buy drogue

Small contained hydroponic herb garden (Garth promised me fresh herbs)

Install shore power connection (so we don't have to run power lines through the windows)

Attach world map under plastic to the table in settee (so I can scribble all over it in magic marker when we're talking about different routes.)

Grapple anchor

Not boat work:

Get a nz call sign

Do an offshore first aid course

Diesel engine maintenance course

So that's a big long list. But it's exciting thinking about all the work we'll get to do on the boat to make her our own. Instead of about bursting into flames while drifting towards rocks.

Love and best wishes,

Monique