We've been busy getting the boat ready once again for a big trip. We plan on leaving the last week in June to travel America's Great Loop. We'll head north up the Hudson River, west on the Erie Canal, north across Lake Ontario to Canada, west along the Trent Severn Waterway to Georgian Bay, south down Lake Mchigan to Chicago, we'll travel on the Chicago River, the Chicago Sanitary & Ship Canal, Illinois River, Mississipi River, Ohio River, Tennessee River, Tenn-Tom Waterway, Black Warrior-Tombigbee Waterway to Mobile Bay, and then the Gulf of Mexico, head east to Florida, and south down the west coast of Florida. Once we make it to Fort Myers, Florida our loop trip will be complete. We traveled the other parts of the loop in 2013. We'll be called Gold Loopers & able to fly the gold burgee off our bow.
We'll then cross to the east coast of Florida through the Okeechobee Waterway and continue on to Palm Beach & our condo on Singer Island. We'll stay in Florida for the winter, think about going to the Exumas in the spring, then head back to New York for the summer, maybe.
In preparation for our trip we had a full enclosure made for the flybridge. We were reluctant to have the enclosure made because we liked the open look & feel of just the bimini top. After the last trip, when so many days were cold, wet & windy we decided a full enclosure was a necessity. Now that we have it, we love it!
We moved the gas grill further aft on the flybridge so it would be away from the new enclosure. We like the new location much better.
We installed a new davit system. We now have a St. Croix tip-up davit on the swim platform & it works great. It makes it much easier to use the raft.
We installed a combo washer/dryer on the boat. No more searching for marinas that have laundry facilities, then dragging dirty clothes down the docks to use machines that usually don't work very well anyway, not to mention all the quarters we had to use. Our new unit works great & will make living on the boat for months so much easier.
We installed new maple & holly flooring in the hallway. Didn't realize how bad the old carpet was until we ripped it out. We liked the new floor so much that we also put it in the bathroom.
We installed a new & bigger anchor roller. Now the anchor chain rolls over it smooth & quietly.
Al actually jumped in the water to change the transom & shaft zincs. He said some colorful words because the water was so cold, but he got it done.
Now the boat is ready to go, we just have to add our clothes, food and six months supply of dog food & treats.
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