Friday, June 7, 2013

s/v Kanilela: both the boat and the blog are under construction

We have two drop dead dates to finish various jobs on Kanilela. The first is July 20, 2013, for the shakedown cruise up the Salish Sea / Georgia Strait side of Vancouver Island. If all goes well we will venture to the outside and cruise south down the west coast of the Island, returning to our Coal Harbour moorage to finish the off shore list. The second date is September 15, 2013, to head south with San Francisco our preferred first landfall. We will still have things to add to Kanilela in California as that is probably the best source of solar panels and charge controllers. As all boat owners know you are never finished but our to do list is truly daunting.

With respect to s/v Kanilela - the blog, I suspect it will continually be under construction. The intent is to share our adventure with our friends. The places, the people and the life we will be living. I have loved the journey of taking the boat from the hull, cabin and deck that David turned over to us, to near cruise ready. Other blogs were the source of some good ideas and some just validated the effort and direction we were going. To the next cruisers who are embarking on their construction adventures I feel we owe some detailed explanations of how we accomplished various steps and why we felt our decisions were the right ones for us. I look forward to those "how to" blogs
The beginning of the batteries and DC system Feb-08
 

This also seems to be the right time to thank some people who had answers and encouragement when it was needed. It probably will not be the last time we credit their knowledge and inspiration. Tim Bell, David's brother, who has worked in all parts of the west coast marine construction industry from the tools to the boardrooms, has been invaluable. He has freely shared his knowledge, his sources and contacts. Eric Register, at PoCo Marine, told us to join the Bluewater Sailing Association and has shared his experience gained in preparing numerous boats for bluewater cruising. With his ocean cruising experience it was easy to take his recommendations as gospel. I must also mention Pierre Chabot, the owner of PoCo Marine, who has made it his mission to be the sole supplier to Kanilela by giving the best prices for the best quality merchandise, even better than the on line sources. To this group I will add two legends of the bluewater community, Carol Hasse of Port Townsend Sails and Nigel Calder of publishing fame. I heard both of them as speakers at the Seattle Boat show when I was working in Seattle and living onboard a project boat. I bought Nigel's two most important books, Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual and his Cruising Handbook and have tried to follow his every suggestion. Carol has such a wealth of sail and sailing knowledge and is such a truly good person I will remember our many conversations while I am out at sea. I can only hope we can do justice to the fabulous sails she and her caring Port Townsend staff have given us. These people are our mentors.

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