Rock Boaters For Almost Two Weeks…

June 27 to July 9 we stayed in the gravel lot for almost 2 weeks. It was rainy and cold 55 to 60 degrees 90% of the time. The guys in the yard got used to seeing me trudging to the porta potty in the morning. The mornings started with smiles and waves every day while watching with some jealousy as one after another, boats other than ours got put in the water and sailed off. It was OK actually because we had boxes stacked to the ceiling (literally), workers needing to get into the areas that we needed to stow things, we were not ready to go anywhere. Oh, and that whining sound the 4Runner started making? The mechanic who checked the car over before the move didn’t put the plug back in the rear differential properly and it came out, letting every drop of the differential oil out.
So here we are on morning one at the boat; call around to find out no one will replace the fluid, empty the Uhaul trailer and disconnect it from the car, walk to the auto parts store to buy fluid, pump, and plug, crawl around on gravel under car for an hour pumping fluid in, replace plug, then car wash to wash off all the oil on the car and trailer, return trailer, then drive to Bellingham to get our boat registration stickers and a new kayak hoping the whole way the drivetrain won’t fall apart.
Slowly, slowly we got projects done: laundry in- Bill and Shawn the carpenter lifted that 150# machine, locker completed- yay we can hang up our foul weather gear and stow the big spinnaker sail, added a valve the yard forgot when they hooked up the engine driven heater, turbo back on the engine after a hose leaked coolant, water maker in, hydro generator in, rigging up and tuned, solar panel mounts made……..and a planned splash with stuff still incomplete!
On my way to the porta potty July 8, I greeted the guys “Good morning Leroy! We go in at 7am tomorrow!!! Anything I should know?” He said make sure your batteries are charged. I am pretty sure he smiled though, because I had been observing over the last 13 days, I knew that we had to be ready at least 30 min early because 7am put in meant you were actually floating at 7am not just starting the process. Also, I noted that we would stay on the boat during the lifting process and be carried to the boat ramp. It looked like an extra-long fork lift with air bags on the fork part. I hope she will still float with all of this gear aboard…. I think we are ready, ready enough…….fingers crossed. Our rock boat neighbors went in, had a leak, and came right back out on July 2. Yikes! That night I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve and I had trouble sleeping. So exciting!