Well it has certainly been a long time since I’ve posted here, and I apologize for that, but I’ve been so busy working, both at school, at work, and on the boat, that I haven’t had time to sit down and write. She’s received so many upgrades since the last time I’ve posted, it’s going to be difficult to remember them all. But I’ll try anyways:

New Jabsco Marine head- This is much better than peeing in a bucket, which is what we were doing for the first couple days we stayed aboard. Oh, did I mention we stayed aboard? Gina and I came down a few weeks ago to try it out and see how we liked it for one night, before I got too far into the project. We liked it so much that we ended up staying aboard for a week, Friday to Friday, then came down and did it again the next weekend. The first night aboard I couldn’t even sleep, I was so excited- I lay awake in the V-berth listening to the sound of the halyards slap against the mast, the wind whistle through the rigging, and the distant (actually, obnoxiously close) rumble of the highway. The next night I slept like a baby. It’s surprisingly comfortable in that berth- we laid out a sleeping bag so we didn’t have to touch the stripper cushions- and there’s definitely room for both of us. Oh, right, the head. Works like a champ. It’s got enough flushing power for the biggest- well, I don’t need to go into detail, but let’s just say it does the job. Burr, the son of the harbormaster here and a wealth of knowledge about anything boat related, helped me install it. I was also surprised at the charity of my fellow marina dwellers- we needed a certain type of hose for it to work, so we asked around for a bit and Crazy Train (Tom, a west coast sailor on a beautiful Cal 40) gave us the part I needed free of charge. This is an awesome place.

Assorted parts and pieces- Nicked these off of the deserves-to-be-sunk Bayliner the next slip over. Same generosity- the owner, who bought the boat for $200 for the radar wing, graciously let me have at it and scrounge whatever I wanted. I took most everything that wasn’t bolted down (and several things that were), including the previously mentioned head, two beautiful teak magazine racks (one of which is hanging on the new port bulkhead), a mirror for the head (hanging on the opposite side of the same bulkhead), toilet paper roll (haven’t installed it yet), kitchen sink (going in today hopefully), drawers, lots of scrap teak, and a neat little sign for the commode that reads “PLEASE DON’T PUT ANYTHING IN THE HEAD UNLESS YOU HAVE EATEN IT FIRST.”

Two new amidships cleats- Scavenged these off of Chad’s old boat the Bluefish. Drilled and installed them yesterday, and now have the spring line (the line that keeps the boat from moving too far forward or backwards on the dock) cleated to that instead of having it clove hitched to one of the lifeline supports.

Wood Stain and Varnish- Drastic improvement. I built a new forward hatch after the old one started to mold, and realized I’d better seal this wood if I want it to last. I bought a nice honey brown Minwax wood stain and stained the companionway hatchboards and the forward hatch on the dock (don’t worry, I put down a drop cloth). And today I just finished applying the first coat of Helmsman Spar Urethane on those pieces, plus the tiller and the mahogany grab rails. It looks inexpressibly beautiful- Athena is slowly becoming a yacht.

Outboard Engine- A 1974 (same year as Athena!) 9.9 Horsepower Johnson 2 stroke. I’ve never worked on an outboard before, but I know my way around my car. This thing is cake compared to the V6 in my truck. I changed the spark plugs, bought fresh non-ethanol gas, Burr helped me clean the carburetor, and she’s running great. I picked her up for a steal from a gentleman who resembled Larry the Cable Guy in both appearance and speech on Craigslist (oh, that magical website). The only downside is that it’s a short shaft (16 inches) and I really need a long shaft (+20 inches). The water intake is juuuuust below the surface at the moment, and that’s if I’m in the cockpit. If I get off the boat or go forward, however, it gets into the air and the engine starts making this horrible dying sound. Outboard engines are water-cooled, and without water pumping through the intake they’ll quickly overheat. The engine is perfect for my dinghy, though. Did I mention I have a dinghy yet? Oh, well in that case…

Dinghy- Perhaps “tender” would be the better word. Chad loaned me his 12 foot Grumman aluminum boat, and with the 9.9 on the transom the thing flies. Nice lines, too. Chad, in his usual fashion of christening his boats after marine creatures, named it the Blue Crab. We took it for a spin on the river today, whizzing past Downtown Wilmington and under the bridge, then back up the river past my marina and to an enormous oceangoing cargo ship docked north of the train bridge. Loads of fun to drive, but you have to watch out for logs floating in the river.

That’s all I can think of at the moment. My mother is coming down this weekend with the new cushions (my graduation gift) for the salon- pics will be posted when they’re in place.