Even though the mast is back up and we’re officially a sailboat again(!), we’ve got a scary long list of boat projects to complete before we can leave the dock in Mobile, Alabama.
Many of you may be wondering "Where is your mast?!" I know this, because we've received a ton of emails, comments, and Facebook messages with that exact question ;)
Welp, it’s about time we get moving south, eh? With all the boat dramas from the last few episodes now behind us, we’re finally making miles south down the Illinois River. And good thing, too, ‘cause winter is hot on our keel.
Oh dear…This one’s for you dreamers out there who will one day become newbie boat owners, just like us. Take notes! Hopefully you won’t have to make these same mistakes. Last episode, we had issues with our centerboard, which were — surprise! — caused by yours truly.
This was a bit of a crazy month. We completed the last of our must-have upgrades before heading for the river, we left our homeport, we had a big going away party/celebrated Lauren's birthday, and we had some big boat expenses - some of them unexpected.
Once we returned from our shakedown sail we had a long list of projects wanted to complete on the boat. We knew we wouldn't get to all of them before leaving but that was ok, we prioritized and slowly checked off those that were absolutely necessary.
Just one week is left before we depart our home port of Racine, Wisconsin — for good!?! — and take off south down the river.
The river trip is right around the corner, and our preparations start getting serious. The list of boat projects we want to complete (as discussed in Ep 15) before leaving Lake Michigan is LONG.
A leaky marine head can be a very sh*tty situation. At one point during our shakedown cruise around Lake Michigan, we ended up with toilet water where it SHOULDN’T be — outside the bowl.
Back in our homeport of Racine, we start tackling the long list of projects we want to finish before leaving for our journey down “The Ditch.”
