Getting ready for an islands trip

The project area of the living room

Even though it's a crazy busy week at work, it's also time to prepare Koan for a trip to the Channel Islands that, weather permitting, we'd like to take next week. I thought this time around it might be fun to make the trip more participatory, so I'm going to be updating the blog more frequently during the preparations, and then we'll be posting location updates via SPOT while we're out there, and hopefully we'll be able to post lots of pics and video when we get back. My friend Kitty, who is a geographer and adventurer extraordinaire, will be joining me, and we may be taking out for a spin some exciting gear like a kite for aerial photography and a hydrophone, for recording underwater sounds!


At the moment I'm categorizing the unending list of projects in order of importance, and deciding which absolutely must be done before we leave the dock, which can be left undone altogether, and which we can do while we're out at the islands. 
Must do:
* install the cabin-top hand rails
* do the machine sewing on the jib and genoa
Can be done out there:
* finish the hand-sewing on the jib
* install the GPS main battery cable
* eye splice the new main halyard
Can be scuttled before this trip, but would be nice to do:
* dinghy build
* table extension over port berth
* chain locker closure
* move hanging locker from port to starboard (?)
* extend mast climber
* replace cabin ceiling & stbd bulkhead lights w/ LED


One of the big jobs we've started is the re-cutting of the jib to make it fit the furler. We began sewing the re-cut jib together on my cheap and weak and plastic home sewing machine, which eventually broke from the strain. So I spent yesterday trolling the thrift stores for a used stronger sewing machine that can do a zig-zag stitch, and came home with a Singer Touch & Sew 648. The machine cost $30, the service manual $10, new bobbins and a foot another $10 (arriving later this week, I hope), and I still need to pick up some sewing machine oil. Hopefully, after oiling, greasing and re-assembling it, I will have something capable of completing the remaining sewing of the sails, leaving us with only the heaviest of the sewing to do by hand. 


In the meantime, I'm compiling lists for everything. We have:
* a list of equipment for each crew member to bring
* a list of equipment that doesn't live on the boat but should come along for the trip
* a list of manuals & books that we want to have on board
* a list of things in our med locker
and many more. So over the next days I'll be sharing some of those checklists, as a way to give you some insight into the kind of preparation that goes into a ~4 day offshore trip. 


Welcome aboard! 
I leave you with a Koan: The real miracle.