Last day on the boat
 

Well, today is my last day - we head out tomorrow to go home for my
operation, which will keep me off the boat for several months.

However, lots has happened in the last couple of days.

The platform is up.

The rails are complete.

The refrigeration is ready for installation.

The engine room has been detailed (though still a mess physically).

The headliner has been painted white, replacing the repulsive color
which preceded it.

More electrical work has been finished.

The solar and wind systems are in place, and we get 5 amps in total
cloudiness, and 8 amps in overcast - didn't get below to see what was
happening when it was sunny. The KISS is off, as the hot water heater
is out of the loop at the moment, and that's where excess power goes
when the batteries are fully charged - which they are, for sure!

The windlass is finally out, and search begins for a new one.

Finishing work will continue in my absence, as well as some more
electrical work. As soon as I am able, I'll return to the boat to
continue/finish up the "must do before going in the water" parts.

Y'all, as usual, are invited to browse the pictures if it's of interest
to you. The last few days are in the "JulyEnd" gallery.

I'm outta here - say a little prayer for my operation, if you're so
inclined...

L8R

Skip, finished refitting for many months

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 - The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

"Skip Gundlach" wrote in
oups.com:

Well, today is my last day - we head out tomorrow to go home for my
operation, which will keep me off the boat for several months.



Best of luck to you, Skip. We'll all be praying for your safe voyage
through the medical seas.....

Have a little fun with your doctor. Tell him you only have $2000 to spend
on all this. Let's test and see if this operation is REALLY
necessary...(c;)

--
Larry

Please tell them we want you with all the parts you came with.

:{)) Ironically, that's about his fee. The gasser is more, and the OR
is considerably more, and the RR is close.

Fortunately for me (and the only reason I married her), Lydia has
insurance from her work which will keep my OOP costs to about that
2grand, unless I get another infection (the cause of failure on the
prior two), in which case, all bets are off (the copay on the
antibiotic alone was more than a grand last time; the hospital bill was
more than 30k for the week they took to find what was bugging me before
they let me out).

Back to the OOP, we're thinking of having the right shoulder tattooed
"Windlass" - our next purchase, now delayed as we have not settled on
what we'll buy - but that's another thread altogether.

L8R

Skip and Lydia, packing out

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 - The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Thanks for the sentiment!

They're just shuffling stuff around a bit - taking part of my lat and
throwing it over the shoulder to allow me to raise it, something I've
yet to achieve in over 4 years of trying, as the infra-and
supra-spinatus have not reattached to the remainder of the humerus (not
funny, I know) left behind when they tore out.

He's going to try again at the same time, and if they're not dead, and
I don't re-infect again, there's a good chance they'll hook up - and
then it's just a bunch of therapy and lots of exercises to bring them
back to health after 4 years of atrophy.

Thanks again for all your well wishes (individually, off list, and
cumulatively, on and lurked).

L8R

Skip and Lydia, packing out

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 - The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

If you have to pay for your own drugs you can save a lot by calling
around. Here in Ottawa WalMart and CostCo have the cheapest prescription
drugs and you don't need to be a member to get prescriptions filled at CostCo.

The other trick is to ask for double strength pills and cut them in half
yourself, so long as they are not coated slow release pills.

I had a heart attack at the end of a canoe race this spring and have to
take $2500 in drugs over the following 12 months but was able to cut the
cost 40% using the above strategies. I don't just build cheap boats, I
live cheap. The down side is I've only been out in one of my cheap boats
one time since the race in May. It's looking like a lost season. So I hope
you are back on the water ASAP.


--
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homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
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"Skip Gundlach" wrote in
ups.com:

He's going to try again at the same time, and if they're not dead, and
I don't re-infect again, there's a good chance they'll hook up - and
then it's just a bunch of therapy and lots of exercises to bring them
back to health after 4 years of atrophy.



I don't know about you guys, but this message has given me an awful
shoulder ache! My back is beginning to hurt in sympathy! God it hurts!

--
Larry

We wish you a speedy recovery and intend to see you in the islands this
calendar year! Ok?

Frank and his merry krewe
s/v Zombie Princess of New Orleans

Hi, Frank, Larry, and various lurkers :{))

I'll get over the pain - given the skill of the surgeon, it's actually
quite manageable, as he avoids all the nerves. The rest is just working
out.

As to when we'll leave, there is no way it will be this year. Rehab
alone will prevent that, but my estimate is that there is not less than
a month of more work to do on the boat before we can splash it and
continue with the water-based stuff (engine, comms, up the mast issues,
other systems testing, sea trials) before we can start to wait for the
right weather window to make the dash to the bahamas (where we expect
to start down the path, but may linger for months or a year or more,
depending on our finances).

However, we'll get there eventually, and all will be well, in all
regards.

And, in case any were wondering, should this operation fail, also,
we'll still go. I'll just have to accommodate my limitation. In our
original plan, having us leaving November last year, we'd expected
either a very simple fix, or a "sorry, Charlie, it will never work
right again" analysis, either of which would have allowed a speedy
departure. Of course, that was when we also expected only to do a
couple of carpentry projects, which you can see have morphed into
something entirely different. However, back to the story, so to speak,
if I can't use the arm fully, I'll just use it however I can, and adapt
as I go along.

So, we'll see you down island - but it won't be this year.

L8R

Skip, home, backing up the computer to send off for nav gear
installation, and about to go under the knife.


Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 - The vessel as Tehamana, as we bought her

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

On 29 Jul 2005 19:02:47 -0700, "Skip Gundlach"
wrote:



Skip, finished refitting for many months

Good luck, sailor. I've enjoyed your posts and wish you every success
in your recovery, not only for your own sake but for the very selfish
reason that I'm learning a lot about what it REALLY takes to refit an
old boat for permanent residency!

All the best.

R.

rhys wrote:
On 29 Jul 2005 19:02:47 -0700, "Skip Gundlach"
wrote:



Skip, finished refitting for many months

Good luck, sailor. I've enjoyed your posts and wish you every success
in your recovery, not only for your own sake but for the very selfish
reason that I'm learning a lot about what it REALLY takes to refit an
old boat for permanent residency!

All the best.

R.

Thanks, Rhys, and other PigFans (what else to call folks who like
following my adventures?).

I'm still expecting quite some time before I can return to the boat,
but I'm learning things in the last week or so.

The operation went quite as expected, other than that there was less
scarring than expected from the original failure during last time's
infection, only one of the (two) supposedly dead muscles was, in fact,
dead, and they took parts of two (teres major was added, latissimus
dorsi was the original plan) others to enable me to lift my arm, in the
end.

However, due to my previously demonstrated remarkable flexibility, in
order to better assure that these attachments succeeded, rather than
allowing passive therapy (swinging the arm to keep the joint loose)
during the healing time, my arm's supported on/by my side by what
amounts to a pillow, the better to keep the new muscles loose. Once
healing (6 weeks) is complete, I'll begin therapy, which will include
some painful freeing up of what will be - perhaps, even, frozen - a
very stiff shoulder.

However, in the meantime, as forecast, the pain level is minimal to
nonexistant, and I'm having to constantly remind myself not to use the
arm, as if feels entirely as though I could.

Rehab projects include getting familiar with the navigation software,
qualifying for my Ham license (with or without code, on whatever level
I can achieve), finishing emptying my home (which has an option
contract on it), and finishing selling the other boats left in my
fleet.

While I rehab, the finishing carpenter is doing that (finishing), and
the electrical guy may do some more stuff, too, though he complains
that I'm all he's been able to do for the last several months other
than fill orders, so this is a welcome break for him. Likely, we'll
finish when I get back.

Once I'm comfortable using the arm, I'll be back on the boat, finishing
out the stuff needed before it goes back in the water. That includes
remounting both bilge pumps, resetting and replumbing the aft toilet,
finishing plumbing the forward toilet (having done all but the last leg
of the hard pipe installation already), reset the shutoff and plumb the
head intake/sink outflow for the forward head, set the refrigeration,
plumb the forward washdown and filter, power and source the rest of the
salt water washdown/galley installation, replumb both of the heads'
shower discharges and set the pumps, install the new HF and VHF at the
nav, replace the cockpit scupper drain ho$e (2 1/4 x ~20 feet
altogether), install the new windlass (see new post), clean and
locktite all the setscrews for the new rails, install the side boarding
ladder, and perhaps some other stuff.

Once it's in the water, there's all the up-the-mast stuff to deal with
(the only working light being the foredeck), the recommissioning of the
engine (all the pulleys are off, the water pump needs a new bracket,
the fuel system needs redoing from the genset removal, it's not been
run in - by that time - nearly two years, i.e.), the procurement and
mounting of the very-heavy batteries and the fabrication and
installation of the appropriately strong box to restrain them, and the
sea-trials to prove out that and all the other work which has already
taken place.

As usual, there will be pictures posted during all this. One other
rehab project I forgot to mention is the sorting and beginning of
selection of all the pictures (many hundreds of which, preceding the
April start of the projects pictures already available, remain
untouched) into projects, so that they can be culled into something
more manageable than the huge number current. I'm hopeful of coming to
some decision about a web page format so that I can begin "The final
voyage of SV Tehemana" - the story and pictures, included, of how our
boat became "ours" and Flying Pig. When we head out, it will truly be
when pigs fly, given all that's happened beforehand!

So, here I am, a week out from my surgery, champing at the bit to get
back aboard, but being the good patient I am, taking the opportunity,
instead, to get the landside stuff attended to.

Thanks again for all those watching, and thinking of me/us. We're very
grateful for the support.

L8R

Skip, rehabbing as fast as I can!

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig
http://tinyurl.com/384p2 - the vessel as Tehemana, as we bought her

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

skip...damm...

good luck w/the surgery and recoup
time ... use the boat for physical
therapy.....use it as a tax deduction ;-)

Rehab like a champ, Buddy! Meanwhile, I'm working my old butt off in
the New Orleans heat refitting the Princess. Boo-hoo, poor me. I gave
in to temptation yesterday and ran the airco while replumbing the head.
That was nice!

Get better! See ya,

Frank