" When Pigs Fly"

The last few weeks have flown by!  My trip home was great in spite of some frigid temperatures and I had a good “kid fix”.  It was nice to return to the land of palm trees flowers, shorts and flip flops.  Just to be fair it’s been a little colder here the last few days too, as it has in much of the country, but highs in the 50s feel pretty good when I check the temps at home. 

The Captain at the helm.  Last day coming in to Port Canaveral

 

The Captain used his time on the boat well.  He got the last vestiges of the Pig’s former name (Fiasco) off the boat.  We are hoping the karma went with it.  The Captain has issued an executive order banning that word from being used in any fashion while on the vessel. 

He also found a place to fix the heat exchanger for a fraction of what a new one would cost.  The guys at 3 Star Radiator in Fort Lauderdale did a great job.  It’s all freshly painted and looking pretty fancy.  The Captain and I got it on the boat and was it ever heavy! We got it down to the engine room and hooked up without breaking anything or hurting ourselves, and the engine is purring again with no leaks. 

Today major work is going on even as I type this.  The new washer and dryer we purchased a couple of weeks ago are being installed.  Shopping for just the right size took us to all the major appliance stores and finally to Camping World.  RVs are close relatives to boats, especially with regard to space.  We finally found appliances with dimensions that would fit in the hole. They’re not anywhere close to house size but they will be better than dropping quarters all over the coast. 

With the purchase accomplished Captain Frank continued his research on how to take the boat apart to get the washer and dryer down to the laundry area.  Frank spent his career figuring out how to get stuff installed and he’s pretty knowledgeable and creative.  He had the fancy hand rail figured out but was brought to his knees by the pocket door that had to come out in order to create enough room to get the appliances in.  He talked to the Viking people to see if they knew what it took.  They have been pretty helpful on other things but they didn’t seem to have any idea how to accomplish this task on their 25 year old boat. 

The Captain was still convinced we could do the demolition and installation ourselves so yesterday he started in on the job of removing the old appliances.  After several hours of work that included a lot of time on the floor in some pretty interesting positions he had the front panels off both the washer and the dryer and the wall holding them in removed. There was even a surprise of concrete ballast in the washer. That was it.  He was still stymied about how to get them out of the room, and finally agreed to call in reinforcements. Luckily Clayton, the harbormaster here has a guy for almost everything.  Frank explained what we needed and Clayton told us about Geriach Engineering.  Kyle was down to the boat in the afternoon.  He could do the removal and installation and he called in an expert “wood man” named Jim Starr to take care of the door and the stair rail, all removed and reinstalled like it was never been touched.

It's hard to capture just how tight the space is.  There was no way anything was going in or out that opening until the door was removed.

 

Ready for the work to begin.  Notice the handrail. 

So today, it’s all coming together.  I’m sitting on the fly bridge typing this to stay out of the way…and running downstairs occasionally to snap a picture or two.  When you see the ones of the three guys lifting the washer over the side of the boat you might relate to why I’m relieved that Frank and I aren’t trying to do this ourselves.  It’s all pretty exciting.  I’m looking forward to doing laundry tomorrow after the last few months of laundromats and quarters.



One washer, coming aboard.

 

 

Lots to do yet but aren't they pretty?!

This past week saw another mile marker when we entertained our first guests on the new Pig.  Sherry and Mark drove over from Orlando and spent a few days with us.  The guest quarters seemed to be comfortable and we understand the shower works pretty well so it’s all good.  We learned a new card game and enjoyed the company.

Another new experience occurred last night when we got to see a rocket launch.  It was a beautiful clear night and pretty neat to watch the rocket light up the ski.

   

We have more visitors planned for February and fewer expensive projects so we are happily anticipating the rest of our winter hiatus.

  

See ya on the water