Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

It feels like an eternity since we bought our investment property. First day in had us creating enough of a clean space for us to get out of the motels and into the place.

Our general focus is to get the top unit ready before the bottom unit. So far we have made the bathroom good, cleared off all the window fittings (top and bottom) sanded windows at the top and begun painting, gutted the kitchen, cleared out miles of old cabling and filled all holes.

In between we have hired a truck and moved all our gear that was in storage into the downstairs unit (for now) then collected all the boxes to go to St Martin and taken them to the shipping depot. I have since learned I need to go back and let the air out of our scuba tanks.

Yesterday the builders started and gutted the basement. It’s mostly done but a lot of clearing is still needed. Once this is complete the basement will be reinspected and termite damage resolved. We have an engineer coming in on Tuesday to fully assess a bowed wall which will require bracing. Once this is done we will have the basement treated for mould. Finally we will have a lockable room put up in one corner where we can store some stuff when we finally get out of here.

The property agent has already been in to provide advice and get the ball rolling on marketing the place.

Today we are going to focus on the upstairs kitchen and more painting. Ben and Sam are coming over to help which should get us ahead of things. The kitchen is still quite disgustingly greasy. First will be to clean everything down. Then we’ll place Formica over the back wall and put down flooring. Then we’ll put on the cupboards and work surface / sink. We may leave plumbing in the sink until Monday when we have a plumber coming in for other stuff. I can handle most of it but the drain is a bit decrepit and in need of professional attention. Apart from replacing the extractor fan that should be it. We’ll probably pop by the carpet guy today and order an upstairs fitting. By the end of this week the top floor will be completely done and we should be well progressed with downstairs.

It’s now looking like we won’t get down to the BVIs until the end of the month. We will leave to St Martin as soon as possible as our gear arrives on November 2nd. Then it’s more projects. No rest for the wicked.

We have just learned that we definitely closing on our investment property next Tuesday.  Boy are things going to get busy from then on.  We have also arranged to take our boat gear to the shipping company on Friday.  On the same day we’ll also take our stuff that we’ve had in storage and place it in our new property.  Eventually it will go in the basement but it may have to go elsewhere for a bit until the basement is sorted out as it has termite and damp problems to address.

So right now we feel like we’re in the eye of the storm.  We’re currently in a motel in the Poconos going out for walks in the afternoons when the weather is favourable.  We continue to catch up on paperwork in the mornings and I’ve made huge progress ripping all the old tapes.  I am now down to just those tapes recorded on our current camera which means we’re no longer dependant on all the old gear.

We’ve been watching the presidental debates quite a lot.  This will be the first election in which we can vote so everything has a lot more meaning.  With the credit crisis happening around us this is a very interesting election.

Sadly we’ll be giving the Annapolis Boat Show a miss this year.  We just don’t have the time.  I can image worse but it’s disappointing all the same.

It’s now 4am and I’ve been awake for an hour. That means we’re back in the USA and I’m struggling to deal with the timezone change.

The UK trip was great. Big thanks to all those who put us up and gave us a bed to sleep in and for all your hospitality. Thanks also to the weather gods who finally gave the Brits some decent weather after a miserable summer.

Back here it’s now down to getting our investment property sorted out. Matters progressed while we were in the Uk but we’ve still not closed. Looks like our October timetable may have to be shaken out and reexamined as we want to put some sweat equity into the place before we leave. Over the next few days we should know more.

Helen and I are going to book into a motel for the next week. We’ve now spent nearly two months (since we sold our home) living with others and we really need to get some personal space. We have an oft delayed job of transcribing all our old videos onto DVD so they can be preserved. We will collect all our equipment and get on with this between now and closing.

In the meantime, I have revamped the main page of this site a little. The new google maps of our intended route that I recently showed now sit on there own page and will be revised as we refine our plans. The google maps web page makes this about as simple as it can be so I have no excuse.