Gelcoat crack on the Starboard side before prep and paintwork
We are painting the topsides
Wednesday november 21th
Hi
Gelcoat crack on the Starboard side before prep and paintwork
We are painting the topsides
Elvina is back in the water again after several months of hard work to get her ready. Many questions have been asked about what we have done to her. This requires some explanation. We built two new watertanks, one holding tank and have strengthened the chainplate on the starboard side which meant a change in the closet as well. We have painted the topsides, made scuppers and sealed 80 screwholes from two removed tracks on deck. Under the waterline we have removed an old trimrudder and made a new aft section of the keel. Then the whole bottom has been sanded and prepared so we will hopefully not get osmosis again. We have spent about 11 hours a day 7 days a week not counting the 4 rainy days.
October 20 was our big day and we launched after a very intense week when we put all our stuff back onboard while emptying our two storage units. We slept 12 hours the first night onboard, supposedly it comes afterwards. We got a few sunny days in Mattapoisett, MA where we got organized for our cruising life again.
Elvina just before launching
We went eastwards through Long Island Sound and we had some very rainy and grey days making the first part of the trip quite dull. East River begins at the western end of the sound going through New York. It was so cool to pass all the high rise buildings at such a close distance. We passed the UN, went under Brooklyn Bridge and then we got the Statue of Liberty on our bow before rounding Manhattan. The most important thing to think about is the tide water in the rivers and having a counter current in East River meant we got the current with us going north in the Hudson River.
Kris and the Statue of Liberty in New York
79th St Boat Basin has moorings for $30 per night and we stayed three nights. New York was by our feet and we went walking! Broadway was only a few minutes away and one of the highlights there was a grocery store named Fairway. Groceries high and low and most of the time is spent trying to get through or staying out of the way for others. We are not big city people but New York gave us a lot of new impressions and we would have liked to have had more time there.
After an overnight outside New Jersey's coast and up through the Delaware Bay we went through the Chesapeake-Delaware canal. We have since daysailed in a fast pace south and have just been ashore in Annapolis, MD for a shower and food shopping. We are presently in Norfolk, VA waiting for a weather window that can take us to Bermuda. We hope to be back in the Caribbean by Christmas to again experience a winter in shorts and t-shirts.
All the best from Gunilla and Kris