Happy Easter!

Last week was another productive week.  Installation of the Maretron system is almost complete. Martin worked with them to start the last stage of verifying that all the sensors are working correctly.  Yachtsign came and installed our boat name on the port & starboard side of the fly bridge and on her stern. The signs on the fly bridge are lit, more than plenty of “bling” J  We were very excited to see her name up in lights!  The name on the stern shows off the complete logo (thank you Cecilia!)

It's really satisfying to see her with her name, we're so close to calling her "home".

Martin has plenty to keep him occupied on the boat while the electrics and maretron systems continue to be installed. I'm working on other miscellaneous tasks, many of which involve organizing. This weekend I started tackling the manuals.  Borrowing a system from Bernie, I began putting everything into binders. It's a weekend project since the guys need them during the week. I'm off to a good start with the semi-complete binders (about 11 of them so far) back on the boat first thing this morning. 

I’ve also been putting together a binder of recipes for the boat. I'm thinking that it will be easier to experiment now when I have easy access to a grocery store and Asian market.  I’ve been experimenting with Thai recipes for the past couple of months and am starting to get the hang of it. All the necessary ingredients have been added to our provisioning list and am looking forward to our expanded menu aboard Blossom.

All the cooking inspired me to plant a few herbs last week. We have cilantro, sweet basil, Thai basil and mint. I'm amazed at how quickly things grow in Florida. I already have enough to harvest!

On the social front, we bid a sad farewell to our friends, Sean & Louise who left Stuart on Friday, heading south for Fort Lauderdale. I accompanied them down to West Palm Beach where Martin met up with us and we had a “see you in a few weeks” good-bye dinner.  It will feel strange to be in Stuart without them! 

We also had a lovely Easter brunch with new friends that we met in Stuart. We enjoyed watching a spirited Easter egg hunt, a tasty brunch and talking with lovely fellow boaters and their friends.  Life in Stuart has been very good to us!

Getting things done

Work on Blossom is coming right along with the end in sight for several installations.  Brian and Troy from Celtic Marine Electronics should have our electronics finished within a couple of weeks and Maz Ocean will be finished installing the maretron monitoring system in about a week.  These are the biggest installs we are doing and require the most man hours, the majority of which are running hundreds of wires through the boat. Here’s what Blossom has looked like for that past 6 weeks or so:

Tasks completed:

V-Kool has been installed on our salon and pilot house windows. This is a film that purports to cut UV by 98% and heat by 55%.  We’ve heard some mixed reviews about window films but decided to give it a try. 

We’ve been working with Buck from Safety First to set up our scuba gear. He and Joe came out to get compressor and fill station sorted (we can fill 4 tanks at a time) and install our scuba tank holders.

Marquip has also installed the hardware for our “step across” and cockpit stairs:

Commissioning has now begun in earnest as well.  Yesterday, Steelhead was here fixing the davit (it wasn’t working and needed a new part), ABT was here fixing the stabilizers (also requires a replacement part), and Rob & Chris were commissioning the chilled water system.  Martin got into the game, successfully transferring fuel between fuel tanks. 

It feels great to see so much getting done.  The company line is that it takes “6-8 weeks to commission an N60” (as a salesman told some prospective buyers that were visiting Blossom last week). We’re 10 weeks into commissioning now but work really only started a couple weeks ago once the boat next to ours started wrapping up.  We’re hoping to take possession of the boat about 5 weeks from now.

In the meantime we're also enjoying the local wildlife!

And last but far from least, Happy Birthday Mom!!!