Pre Trip Week

This is the final week before departure; Ralph arrives on Monday, Neil on wednesday and Terry on Friday.

The key work list is relatively short and one key item is 'almost' done [the batteries].
I picked the batteries up in Nanaimo on my way through by taking the Horseshoe Bay ferry. Terry came over this morning to help wrestle the old batteries out and the new ones onto the boat.

The old batteries [ and they were OLD... purchased per stamp on side in 1999!] didn't have a lifting strap, so we had to improvise. No major hitches other than I need to get new jumpers made up since the terminal orientation of new batteries is different from the old. The new batteries are also more compact, so I will need to add some spacers to keep them from moving about. I think I'll raid the scrap wood pile at the float house construction site when I return to E dock after this update and see what I can improvise from that.

I am renting a life raft for this trip since we couldn't get a delivery date before our departure; unfortunately that means money down the drain but it does mean we can take our time to make a purchase decision [ i.e before next season].

I stumbled across a blog site of a crew sailing from Vancouver to Hawaii on a Valiant who arrived there in late june. I'll put the link on the side bar for anyone interested.

Over and out