Back on the boat!

Long winter, long projects, long ....     Well, it is time for a change.  The Dirt Thing as I call it is all taken care of, in a lease for a few years and that leaves us back to the boating life!

Though will say, Viking Star is I am sure rather annoyed at this whole Dirt Thing.  (There is a reason boats are referred to as She), and I am sure she has a few surprises for us as a result.  The past few days have been spent on the generator, rebuilding the raw water pump which had frozen bearings.  But as of tonight that is completed (Good deal as we leave port tomorrow morning).  Still to flush out is the water maker and its new RO membranes, reattach the auto-pilot drive (after re-building the seal in the steering pump), and will just have to see what else comes up.

This summer will be a Grand Kids tour.  Taking the 2nd oldest for a short hop into Canada (after all his Brother did that last year!), and then the oldest will be with us for almost two months - we are thinking of heading up to Desolation, perhaps the Broughtons.  Who knows, but will be fun. 

And with all that my Alternator Regulator projects are gaining some real traction.  Also will be a fun year!

Where have all the posts gone?

I noted at one time that MANY cruising blogs seems to have either a 1-2 year life span, or perhaps 7 years.  A good number of the longer life blogs we have followed seem to peter out around 7 year, guess kind of a nautical 7-year itch.  Seems at that time folks get tired of the floating life and move on to something else.  (that is, those who make it past the 1st year that is).


So, are Kristi and I packing it in?  Will Viking Star once again become a marine orphan?   No.  We are on our 9th year of full time cursing, and do not have plans (Awk, I just used the 'P' word!!)  to change.   We have settled into is this 8mo or so on 'out there' in the PNW / Inside Passage / Alaska, with winter months picking up a dock - in Friday Harbor for several years.


So - what has happened then?  Why have there been in effect NO post the past few months (err, years..) to speak of.   I offer three prime reasons:

1. Facebook.  Perhaps the biggest change we have seen.  Facebook did not really exist when we started, now it does.  And to be honest almost all the 'Travel Log' post that Kristi did are now pushed up to Facebook.
2. We have kind of ran out of things to say.  Example, the Things That Work labeled posts.  Mostly we have settled in on Viking Star with regards to equipment, so do not really have much more to offer the community.
3. This:  http://arduinoalternatorregulator.blogspot.com/   Several years ago I was frustrated by the inability to PROPERLY charge our house batteries using the widely available 'must have' regulators - so I made a better solution and made it availed to other folks if the wanted.   Up to a year ago the only way to get one was to solder up a board yourself.  That changed when I did a build, and well - things have occupied my time.  That combined with a much richer 'systems' architecture, I have been busy designing as well as shipping..

So, that is kind of it.  Technology shift, talked out, and a time consuming 'project'.  In short, that is what has happened to the posts.

The "Dirt Thing" . . .

Oh, and one more thing:  We bought a house.  I can hear it now:  SELL OUT!!!   Well, hopefully not.  See, Kristi and I are not ready to give up this cruising life, and are looking to keep the same pattern we have done for the past several years (8mo+ out there / winter over in Friday Harbor).  The House is kind of a place holder for down the road.  We will be looking to rent it out for now,  with the idea of moving towards were we rent it in the spring/summer/fall when we are out there, and use it our-self during the winter.  But that all is down the road.  For now, we have something in place for the future - and it comes with a separate shop we will use and where can can stash the old pickup - sigh, one foot at a time back into the 'Real World'...

Oh, and that Regulator project:  Well there are things afoot as the saying goes.  Keep an eye out for new news this year!

And maybe I will also find some time to make the final Cost to Cruise posts for the year we spend up North.  - perhaps the closest to a 'typical' year we envisioned.   And perhaps some posts along the lines of those  "Sure am glad I do not have a HIGH MAINTENANCE wood boat" comments I often hear.  Hint: I am a bit weary of disappointing folks with the reality of owning a well made/and maintained wooden boat.  Now those Fiber Glass boats I note in the yards for weeks at a time getting 'buffed out', well, that is another story I suppose.

Hum...   Perhaps point #2 above is not really true after all. . . .