Happy (Happy) Chinese New Year 4715 of the Fire Rooster! After making our way back to the "dirt house" in Atlanta for the holidays, we've been busy getting ready for the next and biggest segment of the Great Loop. This season we hope to make our way up the east coast on the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, then up the Hudson River to the St Lawrence and cross into Canada. From there we'll travel the "Canadian Erie Canal". the Rideau and Trent Severn Waterways to the North Channel and Georgian Bay and come back into the United States near Saute St Marie and the Great Lakes of Michigan!
Back in Jacksonville Happy Happy got some major surgery when her 30 yr old holding tank started leaking. Replacing the old tank involved taking the master cabin bed apart and cutting a big hole in the floor to access the old tank. Carpenters, mechanics and plumbers were involved and were able to complete the work successfully.
Returning the boat back to her slip at the marina we continued our winter maintenance work (servicing the engines and generator), repairs and upgrades to our "ground tackle" (anchor, rope and chain and windlass) and continued the rehabilitation of the upper helm seating, including reupholstering the radar arch and updating lighting to low energy LED's. Happy, happy!
Our ground tackle got pretty chewed up this last season. To freshen it up we added 40 ft of high strength, proof coil chain (wow heavy!) and re-spliced the rope/chain connection.
The old setup.
TA DAAAA! New seating with plenty of storage below!
