Diary of a Bad Blogger

Hard to believe it is already August!  I have proven to be a very tardy blogger :(  But I shall do my best to rectify the situation immediately...

In order to keep things nice & tidy, I am going to update you all the easy way: month by month, just as if I had actually done it properly to begin with!

May: Tomorrow Finally Arrives

Once we decided to act, things happened quite quickly!  We put an offer on "American Pie" a Beneteau 57 flagged out of Deltaville, VA, and currently residing in Annapolis, MD.  Our offer was accepted with no counter, much to our surprise, as we (& our broker) offered well below what we actually expected to pay.  We then had to work to get financing, insurance, down payment, inspections and a host of other items in order.  We flew to Annapolis for a whirlwind 3-day trip for our Sea trial and inspections, then finalized the deal; on May 20th, "American Pie" was ours!  At that point, we had a sum total of about 45 minutes of sea time on her, but were certainly ready for more :)

June: The devil is in the details

June saw us scrambling to get all of our "affairs" in order...we needed to get the house ready to list, get all of our extraneous belongings sold or donated, and start planning for our (hopefully) upcoming move.  Have you ever tried getting your children to make a decision on what to keep & what to throw away?  Not easy...

We also needed to research a host of things necessary for safe living on a boat, which includes everything from the best life raft down to the smallest connector needed for a potentially critical repair miles from anywhere!  A lot of details...

July: Manana Goes Topless

July was a fun month, as we were able to return to Annapolis & spend some time on the boat, now stripped of the name "American Pie", although yet to be officially renamed "Manana", as her lettering was not yet on the stern.  We decided (darn tax man) to flag her out of Dover, Delaware, and completed all the necessary paperwork.  We also contracted for a myriad of work items to be completed:  The hard top removed, cushions recovered, Hull buffed, waxed & polished, teak refinished, engine overhauled, and much, much more...

When we arrived on July 1st, her top was off (gasp) and she looked much better stripped of that gosh-awful thing!  Naked was a vast improvement!  We spent a crazy busy week going through every nook & cranny of the boat, in 98 degree heat & 99 percent humidity...yuck. Thank goodness we have A/C on her!  Our one major issue was a horrible diesel smell that was the result of a fuel spill that occurred while the fuel was being polished (cleaned). We spent hours on our first day cleaning the bilge, but where never able to rid the boat of the smell.

Fourth of July in Annapolis was great fun despite the heat; we managed to buy & outfit a dinghy in time to motor in to town to watch the festivities.  The sheer number of boats on the bay was mind boggling!  Awesome Parade & nice fireworks rounded out the evening.

We headed home tired, pleased with what we had accomplished, and disappointed that we never got to do more than take Manana out & motor around a bit, getting a feel for her, because the Wind God wasn't cooperating that week :(