Better late than never...

 Well, folks, I'm finally getting around to telling you about the 2011 Annapolis Sailboat Show. It was a LOT of fun!

I don't have a whole lot of pictures because it seemed more important to use my hands for my Pusser's Painkiller. For those of you not in the know, a Painkiller is a very tasty rum drink that includes pineapple juice, orange juice, maraschino cherries, an orange slice and.... some other stuff. Coconut I think. Anyway it's the breakfast of champions. I'm sure it was 5 o'clock somewhere.

I bought ONE THING all day: a discounted Henri Lloyd rain shell. Because my old one is from high school and the sleeves are a little short.

But the boat show isn't about buying stuff -- it's about walking around and seeing everything there is to see!

The one thing I was dying to see all day was a nice selection of ranges -- too bad none of the vendors brought any ranges. Seriously. I even confronted the people from Defender about it. And they said if I wanted to see ranges, I should have to experience unpacking them because they're very heavy.

But there were heads everywhere! And refrigerating units and anchors, oh my! Really? Not a range in sight?

I had to comfort myself with a lunch at Davis Pub in Eastport. It was the only thing to do. Greg had never been there. Did I mention Greg came to the boat show with me? He is pictured here with the post-lunch painkiller.

I found lots of interesting things, including a new way to have a door to the cabin, a self-setting anchor (not so sure if THAT works), stand-up paddle boards (you all know my obsession with that!), Lonseal floors, nesting cooking pots, custom-made latex mattresses (I wish!) and just about everything else you can imagine.

Oh yeah, there are boats there, too. But who looks at those?

We also saw this super cool line-making machine. Isn't that neat? We must have watched it for nearly 10 minutes. All those spools of line are doing a sort of maypole dance underneath the block in the top of the photo. Very cool. Especially when you're two painkillers in.

And finally toward the end of the day, we sat on the dock and watched the ducks. Just because we could and because Annapolis is fun.

I highly recommend a visit to the boat show -- it's a great day of entertainment.See you there in October 2012!

Thirteen Thursday...

Continuing in my occasional series of blog memes, I am inspired to share thirteen things this Thursday:

1. So far at least 3 people have asked me if they can join me on the boat if our region continues to flood.

2. Did I mention that it's rained nonstop for a week? Everything on the boat is damp. I am running out of rags and paper towels.

3. Four people have suggested I buy a dehumidifier.

4. Dehumidifiers are large.

5. I have nowhere to put one.

6. I discovered this morning that my rubber boots have a hole near the pinky toe of my right foot.

7. I have had these rubber boots so long that I had forgotten how expensive rubber boots are.

8. As much as I love Target shoes, cute galoshes are not going to cut it.

9. I am pondering new internet access options and am soliciting opinions on Clear.

10. I have started seriously thinking about replacing the floor in Misty's cabin. I am thinking parquet.

11. Ditto purchasing a range.

12. I did not sleep more than an hour straight last night because of the thunder.

13. I'm getting nervous for winter again... I may need my mommy...

Winter is coming...

It's not even mid-November and already we've had two overnight frosts. What does this mean, readers? You guessed it. It's time to think about my least favorite part of living aboard. Winterization.

There's a lot of things I dislike about winterization. For one, it means that there is no more sailing until spring. For another, it means winter is here. And who likes winter? Finally, it means that there is an opportunity for really scary things to happen. Things like the engine block cracking because the engine wasn't winterized properly.

I have nightmares about that last one. Seriously.

So I've compiled a list of things that need to be done before winter well and truly sets in:

1. Have the marina haul Misty, scrape the barnacles of the bottom and replace the zinc.
2. Winterize the engine.
3. Figure out what to do with the dinghy.
4. Change out summer clothes for winter clothes.
5. Start obsessively buying water. And propane. And beans and rice. In case there's a blizzard. Or in case you're an irrational worrier like me.
6. Lay in a stock of antifreeze to winterize the head and the water tank in case I have to leave for an extended time.
7. Buy a second space heater from West Marine.
8. Stop dilly-dallying and buy and install the range already.
9. Buy slippers.

So you can see some of these things are slightly more challenging than others. For instance, buying slippers is much more difficult than choosing a range. Or not.

I went in to talk to the marina staff (who are incredibly helpful and nice, by the way) last week. They agreed to do the short haul and work and haul my sad, sorry little dinghy out of the water in place of my haul-out and blocking. This didn't make sense to me at first until I learned that they include a haul-out and blocking at a significantly reduced rate to the lease and that paying for a short haul is still more expensive than what I payed for my original haul-out and blocking. If that doesn't make sense to you, try not to worry about it too much. It took me a while, too. Anyway, the short haul is coming on Wednesday.

And come hell or high water I'm going to measure for a propane locker or CNG tank today and try to order the range this week. Or at least by next week...

It's good to have someone who can answer your stupid questions...

E-mail conversation between my dad and I about the range we're about to purchase for the boat:

SUBJECT: I know I sound stupid right now and I will probably write about this in my blog later...

... but what exactly do we want? CNG or LPG? Is LPG just propane?

<3 Allie

DAD:

LPG is liquid propane gas. It’s what’s in the can.

LNG is liquid natural gas. You won’t get that, it really takes humongous pressure to liquify ng.

What we want is CNG, which is compressed natural gas.

This is the one I’ve always really liked. CNG is really popular in Europe; this is one that several of the Danes had. Note the nifty broiler you wanted. http://www.seawardproducts.com/3174.htm

Can we get a guarantee on one from one of the salvage yards?


Yeah. What he said. So what do you think, readers?



Finally shopping for the range of my dreams...