NOT YET! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

I am not sure why but she ain't up for sale as of yet. well, let's just say that there are no pictures and no add anywhere I can find. This means that i have to contact the broker and find out why the hell not! Hey, if no one knows she for sale she won't sell and as much as i hate the thought of her selling, it has to be done . . . . that is unless the condo sells. It that black hole of a situation, still lots of lookers but no takers . . so far. It really is a crazy situation!

The "iron Genny" - the engine - is already winterized which means that it is off until the spring. No starting until I have somewhere to go or else I will have to go through the whole winterization process again, along with its attendant costs. I also removed several books from the boat. These are mostly books on repairing and maintaining all of the systems on the boat. It is my winter reading - especially those on "the Mystery that is ELECTRICITY." No matter how many times I go through those books and over the explanations of electricity and circuits and all that stuff, the less clear it seems to get. I would more readily take apart of diesel engine with my limited knowledge of diesel engine, than I would try to rewire a power panel. perhaps it is because you can't see electricity, just its effects, that makes it mysterious.

I will haul out the anchor chain and lay it on the deck. I will oil it and "let it breathe" over the winter. This will free the windlass for it eventual removal and repair. I will blow $25 on a blu-poly tarp and some line to cover the cockpit for the winter, to keep the snow out. Though i will be down at least weekly to check her out, I don't want snow, of which much is predicted to fall, building up in the cockpit. The drains are at best "adequate" for handling water so long as it IS water. Snow and ice building up in the cockpit will lead to the risk of water getting into the boat interior unnecessarily. Paranoia yes, but it is a healthy paranoia.

Another Nor'easter Be Coming ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

Every time I think that I've got the sailing season put away for the winter, more stuff happens to reawaken it. This time it was an email from the Mark Geer who runs a dive service that sets and maintains the moorings at the club. Nothing major mind you, just a note that my mooring has been check, the mooring ball and pennants removed and set on the beach by the club, and a winter marker set on the chain - meaning that he will be able to find it again come spring.Now I am going to have to go and pick up the mooring ball and hall it to storage.After a season in the water, the lower half will be covered with slim and growth and, since it has been out of the water, it will all have died and will smell "simply wonderful." It will have to haul it in my car which will leave the car smelling equally fragrant.

There is a Nor'easter coming in this weekend. I just about washed away the barrier islands in North Carolina and has put a lot of coastal New Jersey under water,, and I expect it will do equally fine work here in southern New England. When I go down to get the mooring ball and pennants, I will skip over to Mystic and make sure ABISHAG is all safe and secure. The yard people have some responsibility for her care, but the major part of it is still mine, and since I DON'T HAVE ANY INSURANCE, I'll have to check her today and probably again tomorrow.

She is not yet up for sale on the website and if she isn't by this Monday I will call and "gently inquire" why. I need her to be up for sale so whoever it is that is out there that is going to buy her can find her. Secretly, I am sort of glad that she is still safely mine.

I moved and bagged all the exterior cushions for the winter. I had to move the survival life raft off the stern as well. That sucker is over a hundred pounds. I had to use a come-a-long to move it from the stern to the cockpit. i hope I never sink because I am not sure how the hell I would move it and deploy it from a rolling/sinking/heeling deck in any type of weather. Moving it with the boat tied to the dock was a chore. It's another argument not to sink the boat!!!!!!!!!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

I am heading back into my winter mode - seasonal depression. It is not made any better by the fact that I have to sell, or at least try to sell, ABISHAG. Astronomical winter is still a month away but it has already hit in me. The financial situation hasn't improved and personally, I don't see much in the way of improvement anytime soon. I have to sell the boat and/or the condo but there isn't anymore that I can do to achieve that. It is a nasty, uncomfortable feeling when you lack control of things ( or at least the illusion of control).

I got a response from CRUISING WORLD:

Thanks so much for alerting us to a sad trend that we’ve pondered.
It’s no salve to you, I guess, that what one sailor gives up may ultimately supply another with an opportunity.
AT any rate, we don’t have room for this in 2010 but feel free to join our on line community and share your message with other mariners at www.cruisingworld.com
Best to you and hang in there,
ElaineElaine LemboDeputy
EditorCruising World magazine
55 Hammarlund WayMiddletown, Rhode Island 02842401-845-5109401-845-5180 fax

So much for my literary career.

The Story Has Been Sent

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

I just finished the story/article on ABISHAG and putting her up for sale. I sent it off to Mark Pillsbury at "CRUISING WORLD" and I'll wait to see what comes from it. Truth be told, I expect to get a "form letter" email but that's OK. Like writing this blog, writing that letter/article was very cathartic.

I haven't been able to get down the boat as the "plague" is still ragging. It is limited now to a cough and an occasional chill and fever, but it is going away. Actually, the weather is not yet appropriately cold enough fr me to go down and finish the winterizing. I really feel the need to suffer for some reason.

No word on the condo and no word on ABISHAG. I am afraid that I am going to go 0 for 2!

"Q" Flag

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

For those of you not up on your nautical flags and their meaning, the "Q" flag is a quarantine flag. I have the plague, not the swine flu, by a head and chest cold, perhaps a 24 hour tumor, but whatever it is/was, it laid me out for the weekend. I haven't even had the energy to check tio see if ABISHAG is "up for sale" yet. I will later, not that I want to see it. He just typing this out is taking all the energy I got.

Stay healthy.

There Is An Upside

SHIP'S LOG:

Well there is an actual upside with having ABISHAG up for sale, I can now look at catalogues and not plan and scheme and drool over all of the "new toys" that I would like to buy for her for next season. Not having any real money to spend, I know that I can't afford anything, short of maintenance items and not even those right now. So I am free to "spend" outrageously and never fear or worry over paying for them.

I can't get down to the boat today so the rest of the cleanup and decommissioning will have to wait. It is neat enough for the brokers to take their pix, so I would expect that the "For Sale" ad will be up by Monday. It will be interesting to see how long it is before we get a nibble, though considering how long it has been with the condo, it could be a long, long wait.

Sometime over the winter, I will have to pull out the windlass and get it to a electrical motor shop and see if they can re-work the motor, Considering a new windlass is about four(4) Marine Units, a couple of hundred for re-working the motor will be a steal.

I will also have the chance to redo some more of the wiring. Some of it is still pretty ratty and it would be a good thing to neaten it up. Come the spring I will also have to finish the deck. I was able to re-caulk about 1/3 of the decking and it eliminated the leaks that were apparent, and if I don't finish it, it is only a matter of time before the water finds another entrance somewhere. Based upon last spring's effort, it should not take more than a week to get it done. I still have to get that one winch on the mast working. So far though, it has resisted every attempt on my part get it going. The central shaft seems frozen for some reason. A winch repair shop feels that the pawls were put in backwards and that is why the central shaft is stuck. It happened sometime in the past and that is also why it is impossible to completely dismantle it. I will probably have to take it completely off the mast to be able to do it properly.

One rather stinky project will be to empty the fuel tank, clean it out and get all the grunge, sludge and crap that is inside out. I was reading an article about how to do it and it seems a rather simple though messy project. The most difficult part will be removing the fuel. I'll have to get a couple large fuel containers and "polish" the fuel as it comes out of the tank. "Polishing" means cleaning the fuel of all contaminates by running the fuel through a filter as I take it out before wiping the inside of the tank with "diapers" to suck up and remove all the sludge. The putting the fuel back in, "polishing" it again by running it through some finer filters as it goes back in. This should pretty much eliminate any clogging of filters in the future. Luckily, there is already an access panel in the tank which will eliminate the need to put one in before beginning the project. I think I may also add a new fuel gauge with a float to determine the amount of fuel in the tank. There currently is a pneumatic fuel gauge, but I can't quite figure out exactly how it works or if it is actually working. A pneumatic gauge works by pumping air into the tank causing the fuel gauge to register the amount of fuel in the tank. However, it just doesn't seem to work right, or measure accurately or at all. Perhaps there is an air leak somewhere. But emptying the tank anyway will provide the opportunity to add a back up fuel gauge and I might as well do it.

Aside from that, the only work that "needs" to be done is to paint the bottom and put on new zincs and ABISHAG will be ready to go. Of course, there is always the eternal projects list but there will be nothing that absolutely needs to be done. It has only taken me about three (3) years to get her ready to go.

CAPTAIN'S PERSONAL LOG:

I am hoping that she sells quickly. I am hoping she doesn't sell. I am feeling very schizophrenic right now but then it is winter. What do you expect?

Little By Little

SHIP'S LOG:

I visited ABISHAG yesterday to clean her up for her photos. The brokers will be by in the next day or so to take some for the advertisement that she is up for sale. I more arranged stuff so that it was neat rather than did any real cleaning. I also packed away all of the clothes that were on the boat. They went into plastic bags with several dryer-softener sheets to prevent mildew and keep them smelling fresh. (Hey, do knock it, it works!) I have decided that I am not going to haul anything home if it can be stored on the boat over the winter. With a little preparation, most everything can stay. This repeats two benefits: 1.) I don't have to repack the stuff and haul it all home for the winter and 2.) I won't have to haul it all back in the spring and put it back in place on the boat. I am always in favor of less work!

Some stuff did go: batteries(9 volt size, C's and D's) for the various small items that use them; electronics like the GPS units and the like; and some food stuffs that won't make the winter and which I might as well eatnow. I hate winter. I hate that I have to spend winter here!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

There is a strange feeling of detachment as I ready ABISHAG for her winter sleep. I am going through the motions. Everything is getting done but there is no passion. Something is missing. It is as if I am a yard worker working on a boa that is not my own. True, she hasn't been sold yet and may not be by spring. Heck, the ad is not even up yet. Still, there is a distance, a separation, a slip of some kind happening. It feels weird. I can't quite name it or explain it but it is there.

For Sale - ABISHAG

SHIP'S LOG:

I went do to the Mystic Shipyard today. I paid off the balance of the winter storage fee(Ugh!). I took the sails off the boat and horsed them into my little P.O.S. of a vehicle. Then I went over to the broker's office and handed in my "Listing Agreement." Having done some online searching, the only Camper Nicholson 39 foot Center Cockpit Ketch I could find for sale was in Malaysia and it was going for $98,000. So I decided to let ABISHAG go for $90,000. Boy, that was tough putting down that number. I guess that is the price of a dream. The broker didn't balk at it and still seemed very upbeat and positive about getting the boat sold. I still feel awful about it. Perhaps she won't sell, but things being as they are, I have to hope that she will. It is a nasty situation to be in.

I drove the sails over to the sail loft where I have work and hauled them upstairs. I drop them on this huge pile of sails that need washing before work could be done on them. I talked with John about doing grunt work in the loft and he said he would get back to me. At the very least, I will probably get to wash all the sails as soon as they find a place to do it. The downstairs where it is usually done has been co-opted for the build of a boat and there is no room, or very little, to undertake the project. But it will have to be done. There are few things more fun than wrestling with wet, uncooperative sails. You end up cold and wet and exhausted. Fun! Fun! Fun!!!!!!

Even more fun was going back to TYC to retrieve the dinghy. Evidently, when we had that Nor'easter a couple of weeks back, the dinghy took a hit. It is an inflatable, soft bottom dinghy and to keep you from stepping through the soft bottom, it is equipped with an inflatable floor with several wooden panels in it. The wind must have somehow gotten under it because it was gone who knows where. The dinghy had been retied so it must have broken loose or tipped over or something like that. Some one down at the club had retied it but not before the floor went somewhere on a journey of its own. I will have to contact the manufacture and inquire about the cost of a new floor. The dinghy will be going with ABISHAG if she gets a new home and it will have to be usable. I wonder how many Marine Units that will be?

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

I am depressed. Not clinically depressed, but depressed nonetheless. After all, it is November, on of the worst months. As Rumpbole of the Bailey says, "No Sun, No Flowers, No Warmth, November!" I had been hoping that I wouldn't have to strip out the boat again this soon. I should be still moving south, not on the hard in Connecticut. But here I am. There is something good and wonderful coming I am sure, but for the life of me I can't see what it might be. The again, hope spring eternal!!!!