You’d think, since we have not been to the boat since late March except to move her to her new slip, that there would not be much to report on the cruising prep front.

(If you’re new here, we’re in the middle of a complete refit on our 44 year old, 28’ sailboat. We’ve owned her since 1992, taken her on a couple of extended cruises, and are getting ready for the “as long as it’s fun” one. The boat is 3 hours away from our on-the-market land-based home. Steady progress was interrupted by this pandemic; when our kids came home from college to finish out the school year from the comfort of our living room, we returned from the borrowed house by the boat to be with them. I’m chronicling the costs, both in time and cold hard cash, we’re incurring as we get ready to go.)

Want to see the breakdown from past months?

January

February

March

April

I suppose one aspect I have not been covering is the other one of time, namely, the time we’ve had to push back the shove off. Hard to quantify the way the rest can be. Our initial thought was to leave for Bermuda sometime in November, wanting desperately to get south to warm for this winter. That thought seems so quaint and laughable now. Instead, we can go at projects in a more leisurely manner, not needing to find decent craftspeople to do work we won’t have time to get done. We’re not really going anywhere for a while. This will translate to more hours spent working on the boat, less money spent hiring someone else to do some of those tasks BUT possibly more money spent on consumables. Time and money, the eternal bedfellows.

Anyway.

As always, these are expenses directly related to the boat and cruising prep. Household costs related to the brick-and-mortar house are not included here; if we had any housing costs for down by the boat, those WOULD be included.

GRAND BOAT MONEY TOTAL FOR MAY 2020: $1865.75

Boat project total $5.36 (consumables/required project components to make boat gear usable)

• heat shrink for electrical connections

Boat gear total $1385.55 (tools and boat parts)

• solar panels, solar charge controller, solar charger/inverter, battery monitor

• tools: crimper, stripper, yogurt maker for galley

• Smart plug for shore power connector

Miscellaneous total for May $474.82 (slip/dues, storage unit, boat insurance, gas for trip to the boat)

Hours spent working on the boat in May: ????

I am not good about starting the timer when Jeremy disappears into the garage, or plays with a circuit builder online. He is working on boat projects, mostly the new lithium batteries and all the associated components like the charger, inverter, solar monitor . . . I guess this will be a gift to the time gods, the cost of which is disappearing into the COVID ether.

June will be a burst of activity as we haul the boat out and empty the house of boat-related stuff. Then, depending on what happens to the sale of the Charlottesville abode, it’s time to go to Vermont and start the house projects up there.