Day 337, Year 6: In-Water Boat Survey
Date: Monday, September 26, 2011
Weather: Summer’s Back!!!
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

I might have been in too big of a hurry to pack up all our summer clothes yesterday as the weather today was that of a perfect summer day. We spent the better part of the morning on Windbird helping the surveyor learn his way around Windbird. He was onboard for about two and a half hours. He was all about getting the job done, but before he left he came back into the main cabin to talk to us. He was recommended to us by BoatUS and has done surveys for them for years. But he wanted us to know that he will be setting the value of the boat much higher than they are willing to insure it for based on her age. As he pointed out to us, we have done many things to keep Windbird in top shape and that, in his opinion, puts her in a different class. I’m not sure this will make any difference to BoatUS, but we will be anxious to get the written survey to present to them and see if we can convince them to insure Windbird for closer to what she is worth. She is currently insured for $20,000 more than BoatUS is allowing, but then our current insurance deductible percentage is higher. You always hope you never need the insurance, but just in case you do, a fairer value with the lower deductible would be nice.

Mark spent his afternoon on Windbird cleaning battery terminals, tightening connections, and rebuilding the base on which the batteries sit. He took the batteries out and then rewired them when he put them back. When he came back to Heather and Jed’s to pick me up this evening he declared that he is not as young as he once was. Those AGM batteries seem to get heavier every year. I spent my afternoon at Heather and Jed’s with the kids. They both took shorter than normal naps, but that just meant that we had more time for fun activities. When Mark came to pick me up, Heather invited us to stay for an Indian take-out dinner. We did this once last week and it was such a hit that we did it again today.

Tomorrow morning we will take Windbird to Falmouth Harbor to pump out the holding tank and fill up with water and fuel. We’ll be back by noon and then I’ll head out to pick up Sam and Jonah. Mark will stay on Windbird and work on replacing the hose from the forward head to the holding tank. We have still not solved our stinky head problem but are hoping to focus on that this week until we have a solution. And replacing that hose is the start.