Burning the Midnight Oil

This is a week of halves. We are half done installing a solar panel, half done with stowing, half done with the bimini top, and half done with all the other tiny projects we've got to finish before we leave next Monday like putting dowels at every seacock and adding the finishing touches to our ditch bag. 

To make matters even more complicated, I'm going to attempt another ham radio test today, and Vlad is going to clep calculus on Friday (don't ask!!). A friend of ours suggested that we also try to learn the basics of nuclear physics this week because obviously we don't have enough stuff going on. As you can probably guess, not all of this is going to get done, and I'm trying to step back and take a more zen approach, despite the muscle tension knots that have developed in my shoulders. We don't have to complete everything, just the essentials, and we'll have plenty of time along the way to accomplish some of the less pressing tasks as long as we have the parts. 

On the plus side, we now have a somewhat functional watermaker that Vlad traded work for. We have also purchased all of our supplies, and we have finished the painting and have reattached all the hardware. Here's what the workshop area looked like during the painting process:

And here's what our salon looked like while we were painting:  

It needs some of that yellow crime scene tape, don't you think?

After this experience, I have two pieces of advice for people who are fixing up a boat to live or cruise on. First, do everything you can to the boat before you move onboard. I hadn't really considered this until we started painting, but we could have saved ourselves a lot of misery if we had painted or varnished the inside prior to moving into the space. Living like an episode of Hoarders for a week was not good for our general mental well-being, though it was great for our social life since we jumped at every opportunity to get away from the tower of stuff tottering on our settee and pilots berth.

Second, if you're ever getting ready for a cruise, I would recommend a good solid month of uninterrupted work on your boat. No visiting home. No working. Just focus on getting the boat ready to go. It really is easier said than done, though, as we discovered. We needed to visit our families, and Vlad had a lot of commitments to work on other people's boats. Throw in helping out a neighbor here or there and you get what we have now. Total. Complete. Chaos. 

Ok, so it's not that bad, and I take comfort from blogs I've read where people say the last week is always hectic. And on the plus side, this last week will truly make us appreciate the next one.