Getting closer to the Marina

After a lot of work by contractors, the Charleston City Boat Yard, and my dear husband, the boat is almost ready to go to its new home. McKenzie Estes at the Charleston City Marina has a spot picked out for us.
Meanwhile, our AirHead composting toilet is sitting in our office. After we sell a few more things this weekend, we will be heading back down to Charleston to make all of the final arrangements.
Randy "Cousin Randy" is a seasoned sailor and will be taking us down the river, through the harbor, and finally to our slip in the marina.
Waking up this morning on the water was wonderful. The boat was gently rocking and the view was beautiful. I turned off the little space heater so that I could make coffee. I'm so glad that I will be able to keep my Senseo coffee maker.

How much does it cost?

Here is our running total for our home

• 33' Soverel - $6,000
• Survey - $578.00
• BoatUS membership - $157.00
• Documentation - $198.00
• Compliance Survey - $225.00
• Boat Name Painting - $300.00
• Boat US Insurance (liability only) - $270.00
• Charleston Marina deposit - $400.00

Non-boat yard labor and parts for:

• Bottom painting (paint and labor)
• Replacing all hoses and clamps
• Removing old diesel oil
• Removing old water
• Removing and capping sewage system
• Zinc installation
  

Total: $1,800

Boat yard repairs and parts:

• New bilge pumps
• Plumbing
• Sea cocks
• New water pump
• New electric wiring to pumps
• Rudder packing
• Pulling back out for compliance survey

Total: $3,000

Repairs and equipment by Mike:

• Fuel pump plus gasket
• AirHead Composting toilet
• Sea strainer
• Flares
• Klaxon Horn
• Life Ring and brackets
• Coleman propane stove with griddle
• Leak repairs (handrails) with help from cousin Randy
• Trash and oil placards
• Wet/Dry vacuum
• Safety Netting
• SOS distress flag
• Bleeder hose

Total: approximately $1,900

Must have books:
Sailing for Dummies (used at McKays)
US Coast Guard Rules of Navigation (new at West Marine)
Chapman's Piloting, Seamanship, and Navigation (used at McKays)
The Live Aboard book (used at Amazon)
Other miscellaneous books on marine diesel engines, electrical systems, etc. (used at Amazon or McKays)
Total: $100.00

Running total: $14,928

Sovereign went into the water today

After a year on land and working every weekend for the past month, Sovereign went into the water today. Special thanks to Neil Haynes-Blue Water Surveys, Larry Knapp - Charleston City boat yard, Randy Thompson, Mike of Mike and Larry, Boat U.S., and Brian Davey. Larry Knapp at the boat yard is a great guy and gave us a lot of good advice and excellent service.
Our next step is to bring her safely to the Charleston City Marina. I'm waiting here in Knoxville for the new Garmin hand-held GPS with Charts. Mike is making sure that everything is going well in Charleston.
We've ordered the AirHead Composting toilet. I can't wait till that comes in. Climbing down the 10 ft. ladder in the middle of the night and walking to the restroom is not fun.

The long-term plan, in broad outline...

...is to go all-green eventually. Compost toidy for clean sapient emissions. For electricity, lots of solar cells and a wind jenny, maybe a towed impeller as well. Eventually ditch the diesel and go with a ~30hp electric motor, gang up a bunch of batteries, and presto! No fossil footprint at all, minimal chemical footprint as well. Then a desalinization device of some kind for fresh water at sea.

A beautiful name

Brian Davey is a remarkable artist. Brian came to the Charleston City Boat yard last Saturday and painted our boat's name and port city on the back of Sovereign. Brian is a wonderful person and gave us a lot of good advice on marinas, sailing, and the Charleston area. He also helped us check our sails and showed us how to properly fold and stow them.
If you want a skilled and professional artist to handpaint your boat's name, use Brian.
Brian Davey can be reached at bdavey55@comcast.net or 843-557-0558.

Sunrise on the Dry Boat

Electricity and Poop

Research is fun.

Currently--pardon the pun--looking into chargers, inverters, and charger/inverter combos. Thinking 40 amps DC is a bit of overkill, but better to have it and not need it. For AC, 3kW seems to cover our needs. So we're looking at about a grand and a half for power system upgrades thus far...not counting new wiring, terminal blocks, grounding blocks, gremlin traps, and such.

As for the head, we're going with a composting toilet. Got the idea online, along with the idea of using coconut bricks for the compost base. Maybe we can even use the compost to grow catnip for the feline crew.

Making Ready

Well, the boat is not yet wet.

Spent all of last weekend working all day every day to fix the myriad things a-wrong with her. The wiring needs to be redone and I'll be working on that. Many hoses are rotted and need to be replaced and I'll be working on that too. Needs a very thorough cleaning and--wait for it--I'll be working on that as well.

Heading down to Charleston for a solo weekend of boat maintenance.