365 Days & Counting: What I Learned at the Boat Show

Time to change the nature of this blog. Up until now we have posted when on vacation on Mowzer. Now that it is officially the last year before we go to live-aboard status we have a lot to accomplish.

Yep, you read it here in black and white, by November next year we should be aboard Mowzer and in the middle of a refit that will set us up as real bona fide cruisers. I have to keep pinching myself to believe it is real and then feel the need for a paper bag to stop the hyper-ventilating.

Now, onto the second part of this post's title. As is our Thanksgiving (Canadian) tradition, we headed to the Annapolis Boat Show for the weekend. In October 2009, we made the trek and it changed our world. We met John and the crew at CYOA and agreed to purchase Mowzer. I can tell you, that was quite a show! Since then we have visited on an annual basis, enjoyed looking at the shiny new boats, picked up a few items (including a SailRite sewing machine last year) and generally dreamt of the changes that were to come. This year felt quite different as we went with a specific purpose, to scope out the equipment we feel we need to add to Mowzer before setting off into the wild blue yonder. Here's our list:

• Radar - will go with Raymarine since we already have Raymarine instruments including our chart plotter
• AIS transceiver - this is an add-on to our VHF and chart plotter that will allow us to transmit our boat info to others and to receive boat info including size, speed & name from others.
• Water maker - after much reading and debate we have decided to go with the Cruiser RO system that should produce up to 30 gallons of potable water per hour
• Generator - Honda 2000 - to produce all that glorious water among other things
• Solar panels - we definitely want to augment our power supply as greenly as possible so we'll start with two 125 watt Solbian panels. These are thin flexible panels that we will attach directly to the Bimini with zippers and Velcro so we won't need a heavy stainless steel frame manufactured and added to the boat.
• EPIRB & personal AIS beacons - these are safety devices that will send out alerts in the horrific circumstance that we find ourselves needing dire assistance. Hopefully these will never actually be used.

Along with these items that we'll be adding, CYOA will be delivering Mowzer out of charter with new canvas (sails, Bimini, sail bag, helm cover & cushions), trampoline, and thoroughly serviced engines. Basically she will have a spring in her step and should be raring to go.

Now, what do we have to accomplish in this year? Well, we have to sell our house, downsize three generations of stuff, arrange all the little details and the not-so-little details, and be ready to go at this time next year.

Quick, pass me that brown paper bag!!