Finally A Blue Post

Hello everyone.

It's been so long since my last Blue post that we are considering changing our blog name from PinkNBlueView to PinkNBlueish View. I will not put everyone through a recap as Linda did a great job blogging and keeping it up to date. So what I would like to talk about is what has been happening for me since we came back from an eighteen months sailing absence. First of all, let me tell you one thing, when they say sailing is hard on a boat, it's not as hard as sitting on the hard. Maybe it's because when you're sailing you keep up with the repairs. After a long period of sitting DevOcean's accumulated many repairs  and they all needed to be done before we launched. Not that I'm complaining mind you, I could be shovelling snow rather than working and sweating in an engine compartment. Some of the jobs that needed to be done were, new cutlass bearing, new engine panel, new contractor switch for the windlass that was advertised as water proof, new toilet pump, new pump out deck cap, new LED cabin lights and more.  These job take time, but the trips to get parts take even more time. One day I had to return to Ace Hardware four times. At one point I think the staff thought I just kept going back just for the popcorn. Yes Ace Hardware in Green Cove Spring has popcorn.   

Most people take their dogs or even cats for a walk or a drive. I'm a sailor so what do I do? I take my anchor chain out for a drive. Let me explain, our anchor chain is 200ft of 5/8" and was starting to rust. Now the job at hand was to use a wire brush to get the rust off, then use acid to clean it and then paint it with zinc paint. I would like to take the credit for this idea, but I think I heard someone mention it before.  I Attached the chain to the rear of the vehicle, then dragged it for a couple of miles on a gravel road. Do you know how long it would take to clean 200ft of chain with brushes? Thanks to our good friends Kim and Les from S/V Willamia, who owns a van with a trailer hitch, our anchor chain came back home clean 30 minutes later, mostly rust free. Sorry no pictures, I didn't want the animal protection society hunting me down thinking I was out dragging a pet around. 

                                                               Changing the cutless bearing 

Mind you not all our jobs were completed before we launched, as we probably would still be on the hard. Everyday I work a little to bring DevOcean back and stay on top of the repair. 

Don't get me wrong it's not just work and as most of you that reads our blog knows we are enjoying ourself immensely. We are and will be staying in the Abaco this year to throughly visit the area as much as possible. How can we complain, the water is crystal clear, snorkelling is great, fishing plentiful, it's warm during the day and cool at night making for perfect sleeping and best of all the sailings been fantastic. 

Life is good