Almost Retired

The excitement is building.  Gail only has 2 weeks left until she is officially retired.  She has told her clients she is finished and the finality of 25 years of work as a veterinarian is setting in.

I sold my Jeep last week, so I am now car-less.  That is taking some getting used to.  I worked on cleaning Gail's car this weekend and we got that sold too.  We were lucky that someone in our marina wanted the car and is willing to wait 2 weeks until Gail is finished.  Those were the last 2 pieces to fall into place before we take off.  All of our ducks are now in a row.

We are left to marking days off the calendar.  I told Gail this morning she only has 1 more Monday to wake up and go to work.  She said she was tired of packing her lunch every day and will welcome the change as we start this new adventure.

The last month has been filled with finishing a few little items on the boat.  I decided to get an Extended Service Contract with Caterpillar on our engines.  This will give us piece of mind over the next year as we travel all over the eastern United States.  I also pulled the hailers off the front of the boat and stripped and repainted them.  I did the same with the windshield wipers.  The paint was flaking off of them, so I had them sandblasted, cleaned and reinstalled.  Finally, the boat is getting a complete wax from stem to stern.  Gail and I put a fresh coat of Semco deck sealer on the teak this weekend and I completed a buff and wax of the flybridge isinglass.  Southern Style will be looking good as we begin our full-time cruising.

In July, I took the boat up to Atlantic Yacht Basin in Chesapeake, VA for some major work.  Originally, I had only anticipated getting the stabilizers serviced, bottom painted and new prop speed applied.  However, any time you get in the yard, more things come up than expected.  While servicing the stabilizers, we discovered that they were never installed properly.  The mahogany block that holds the fins in place was rotting.  So out the block came and a new block properly bonded to the hull went in.  Of course, is wasn't just one side.  Both fins had to come out and both blocks had to be repaired.  It was a BIG project.  A week later, the new blocks were in and I was a happy camper.

Once the stabilizer blocks were repaired, we still had to perform the 3-year maintenance service.  We put new seals in and changed the oil and filter on the stabilizers.  Since the boat was out of the water, I went ahead and had them wax the navy-blue hull while they were painting the bottom and applying Prop Speed.  We also had a delaminated window in one of the doors removed and replaced.  Finally, I replaced all the hydraulic lines and couplings on the davit.  At this point, I don't think there is anything on the boat that I have not touched and made sure it is seaworthy and ready to go.

I'm sure there will be many things that come up during our trip as well as many repairs, but at this point, there is nothing on the boat that needs attention.  Having just written this, I am sure that is the kiss of death.  Something will break any second now.

We had a great visit with my brother, Scot, and his family in August.  Having 7 people on board was fun.  We enjoyed Cape Lookout for a few days and had near perfect weather.  We also hit Beaufort, Morehead City and Oriental over the week.  However, the week started with a scavenger hunt.  I had my nieces go searching the city of New Bern for the "New Bern Bears".  Whoever captured the most pictures of "Bears" on their phone in 30 minutes won cash.  Courtenay was the winner, but Abby and Lydia were very close and tied for second.  Too much food was consumed as always and Gail cooked some great meals.  Most of the calories were burned off swimming and jumping off the roof of the boat.  Uncle Keith can still hang.

Perhaps the best night was a dinner we had out at The Chelsea to celebrate my brother Scot's 49th birthday.  The meal was exceptional and a great way to cap off a wonderful week with my kin.  We look forward to seeing them in the Spring when we come up the New Jersey coast during our Great Loop.

That's a wrap from Southern Style.  We are in our final pre-departure planning.  We are counting the days and can't wait to get going.  I hope the next post will be from Ocracoke as we begin our "full-time" retirement.