Gearing up for the last leg.

I'm so glad the season is over. It's been very hard indeed. Never before have I actually been glad to have Victor Too in Brussels. The first reason is the start of the final winter before going across. I've been planning working on her for so long, my patience to finally get going has run out a while ago.

Moreover, every day out sailing seemed to have another item break down, giving trouble or needing replacement. The last straw was the shore power wiring which has now developed a short, which means I can't plug in shore power without tripping the fuse. When we first had this in Breskens, it was after 7 hours in a Northerly force 7 to 8 so we weren't really expecting anything other than a well deserved rest.

So now all the wiring needs checking, and since most of the wires were run along the bottom of the bilge, this means I'll probably have to rip it all out and replace it, until everything is ok again. None of the wires are seperately fused, so there's no way of checking which wire is faulty without disconnecting every one.

The upside of this is that I can now do it properly. I've already redone all the 12V wiring connections up to standard, now the 220V system will get done as it should. It's just a lot of extra work I wasn't counting on doing.

I've been making lists in my mind of things to do and get done. It's time I made a proper project planning where everything gets some time slot as well as financial provision. A lot of things depend on other stuff being available or getting measured. This week will be spent away from the boat and trying to devise a comprehensive plan. Next week-end is pretty much booked full, so the start is set for October 31st.

So after a difficult season with plenty of set-backs, now's the time for making the immediate future a bit brighter. Because, after all, I love working on my boat. Especially augmenting equipment and building my ocean crossing future is something which I enjoy thoroughly. And that time has arrived. We're in the last straight leg.