<Written by Rachel>
It’s now been over two months since we moved our family off our boat and took her to the boatyard for this major refit. We were told the project would take 3-4 weeks. I knew to expect longer but was so hopeful that it wouldn’t be. Thankfully, we’re very much in the offseason and not missing good sailing for this…
But we’re still pretty far out from actually being ready to sail and I am starting to get worried that we’re going to start seeing good sailing weather before we have the boat ready.
As of right now, we’re still waiting on the new chainplates to arrive and be installed. Apparently, they have been shipped to the yard THREE times already and THREE times have been incorrectly fabricated. Honestly, Brenden and I just cannot believe how the entirety of the boat-service industry just can’t seem to get their sh*t together and/or care about actually sticking to a deadline or being anything close to proactive or efficient. But that’s another story for another day.
Supposedly, the new chainplates will arrive on Monday (I’ll believe it when we see it … and they’re actually the right thing!) and we might be able to get Mosaic back in the water at the end of next week. Again, I’m not holding my breath.
Even once we’ve got the boat back in the water, we won’t have the mast back for another month, probably, after that because the repaint-refinish on the mast is now backlogged with other projects at the yard.
So, anyway, I’m getting pretty antsy to get back on the boat. I miss living aboard. I miss the motion of the water as Mosaic rocks gently at the dock. I miss the cozy spaces that are ours. I miss our home.
It is really amazing to me how much the boat has grown to be an entity. She’s got a soul and being there today (well, yesterday by the time this gets posted) to see her and climb aboard for the first time in two months really brought out all the feels. I found myself just sitting, breathing in the smells and soaking in the feeling of our home. And I got incredibly sad.
Looking around, she felt so deeply lonesome. It was so cold and quiet. Eerily still and just .. lonely. She was all torn up from the men working inside, and so dirty, and just taken apart. I felt so bad for having left her alone and to still be leaving again.
So I was visiting just because I wanted to get inside and see what was going on. I wanted to check and make sure there weren’t any major mold issues developing or leaks coming in. Thankfully, it wasn’t nearly so bad as I feared. I had this pit of dread in my stomach that the boat would just be full of mold and unliveable after this venture.
Happily, though she’s torn apart and messy as all get-up, there isn’t too much mold, a little, but that was expected. There’s only one spot that does seem to be leaking steadily, but it’s at one of the chainplates so hopefully that issue will resolve when the new chainplates are installed.
I checked on the batteries, the bilge, the new head thru-hull and new transducer, the newly fiberglassed old transducer hole, the prop shaft and stuffing box, etc. We’ve got our work cut out for us in cleaning once we get her back in the water. I expect we will need at least two solid weekends of hard work to get her ready before we can move the kids back aboard. So it’s likely to be mid-April, possibly into May, before we can get settled back into our normal routine!
But we’ve got so much to look forward to this summer! With this refit behind us, we will have a solid and sturdy boat ready for some really good sailing. Evan will finish school in June and from there we will begin homeschooling, after a period of time without any structured lessons. So once we hit that milestone that will be one big thing that we can check off that is keeping us tied to one place.
So, yes, it was a sobering visit to see Mosaic today but, overall, not too horrible and I am choosing to keep my sites on the horizon and keep moving toward our goals. We feel like we’re treading water, but when you take into account all the progress we actually have made it is pretty cool. These are exciting times and we’ve got the world at our fingertips.
Don’t let yourself get caught up in everything that is holding you back. Set yourself a goal, make a plan, and you can make your life into whatever you want it to become. With some hard work and determination, we can all reach for the stars. Me? I can’t wait to see dolphins at the bow and see the sky light up at sunset as Mosaic rests at anchor, our trusty home keeping us safe and warm.
And offering us the world.
Follow our adventures and keep up to date with us on Facebook and Instagram. As always, thanks for reading! ~Rachel
