Here's a quick update that I will post on our two blogs. For almost 8 years, we have had the Cruising with Rising Tide blog and the Anchors-Away! blog. Now we need to start a new story, as our last Rising Tide is headed to Vermont with it's new owner this coming weekend, via the Hudson River. We are back using anchors (after two winter seasons of camping in a travel trailer) and our new boat deserves a new blog. Interestingly enough, we have become part of an enormous on-line presence in the Lord Nelson Victory Tug owners organization. (www.lnvt.org); our boat VICTORIOUS is hull number #26. Check out the website and you will learn all you ever wanted to know about Victory Tugs and more! And we will be adding to the volume with our own angle.
During this past winter we brought home almost all movable parts of VICTORIOUS, including 6 doors, and we have been refinishing bit-by-bit. When we bought the boat last May (2015) we had limited time to do cosmetic work, let alone the important behind-the-scenes items, so we mainly worked on removing several layers of varnish from the deck and bringing on our own favorite GPS system. Ken and the boatyard in Wilmington NC where the boat had been kept, got quite a few engine/prop shaft/bottom painting, etc tune-ups done.
Other winter projects this year were to replace the tug's steady-sail mast, repair the boom, design and order a new swim ladder, make lists for spring refitting, and we also fit in a 4-week driving trip to Florida, staying for one week each in Palm Coast, Englewood, and Stuart. We have a new grandson born in October, Kenny, and we definitely made time to watch him grow into a now bouncing 8-month old.
We have not yet launched our tug for the season, as we have had a long list of must-haves and fixes. The teak deck needed to be re-grouted and many bungs replaced; we also have teak on the main cabin rooftop and the raised portion of the forward deck, and they needed the same treatment. We continue to strip red Awlgrip from portions of the teak trim around the doors and on the main sliding hatch. We may never get to the end of the painted teak! Ken and our sons added a thick bumper material all along the bilge guard outside of the boat; prior to that Ken and Heidi removed stainless steel strips that had been the "protection". We have a new alcohol cook stove and oven, replacing the electric stove that would have to run on shore power or generator. Ken is replacing the walls on the refrigeration compartments (they had started to rot) and added a new dual fuel filter for the engine. We replaced a leaky forward-cabin hatch with a better-fitting one. There are innumerable other projects but you get the idea.
In July we will go from our mooring in Cohasset to Plymouth (5 towns away but somehow a long tug ride) for the Summer Northeast LNVT Rendezvous. We are hosting and have had a good number of boat owners respond so far. There may be 10 Victory Tugs at the dock at Brewers Plymouth Marina.
For the remainder of the summer, it would be nice to spend some time in Cohasset relaxing and reconnecting with old friends. But we won't rule out a cruise downeast, somewhat of a tradition. We hopefully will be ready to take VICTORIOUS south to the Intracoastal Waterway and Florida in the fall, and can stop in some of our favorite Vineyard and Buzzard Bay harbors on the way. We've had a productive season preparing the tug, so it seems we are on track for those plans.
The new blog is victoriousvacation.blogspot.com
