Life is never a journey that proceeds on a straight path. We move along doing a dance – two steps forward, 4 steps back, side step, swing and hold…. What seems like progress to some, may seem like misadventure, stagnation, being frozen, procrastination or regression to others.
We have taken what may seem as steps backward, hovered in the same spot for lengthy periods, turned numerous circles, and diverted off at sharp angles away from the original goal. Sometimes going backwards is required to gain the momentum needed to be catapulted into the future, toward our continued cruising lifestyle aboard Flapdoodle – Slow down! Simplify! Set sail! being our mantra. Maybe our dance is in reality going with the flow. We make decisions along the way that alter our path, but that are still heading us towards new horizons.
Before giving evidence of the present above mentioned dance, I wish to share a few relevant quotes. “SAILING The most expensive way to get somewhere for free.” – Unknown So far, the dream has been money wise, time wise, and emotionally wise expensive; BUT we are still here.
HOWEVER seen as “A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.”- Lao Tzu … the journey is more important than the destination. We move relentlessly on, or maybe continue to do circles. 
“We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated.”- Maya Angelou It is not obvious that we have made progress forward with the boat projects this week; but it seems as though all the messing around is important in order to be able to move forward. We are not taking the short cut. 
Boat work progress, as Harry’s t-shirt explains, continues to be a slow process… I think we are moving forward. Here is an example of typical boat project flow. The battery compartment is cleared ready for reworking. Two old batteries remain, that are in a different place now and are temporarily wired to keep the boat going while we wait for the lithium batteries. The 6 redundant batteries were waiting on the dock to be disposed of. A local worker asked if he could have them. We happily gave them away, explaining they were near the end of their life. It certainly helped us and hopefully they will help him.
While we await the arrival of the lithium batteries and the water maker, Harry removed the old water maker to make room for the new one.
He has studied all the fittings for the new water maker to try to ensure he has all the needed parts and to understand how the new water maker is going to go together.
Having done this he decided that the new water maker is bigger than the old one and would be better installed in the space where the hot water heater is. Next step removing the hot water heater.
This involved water spillage which drained into the sump. The sump pump did not work, so that was added to the list of things to be fixed. The hand pump was engaged to pump out the water.
Then it came time to see if the hot water system could actually fit in the space where the old water maker sat. Well it could but some adjustments had to be made. This involved bringing out the hack saw.
Now the main focus will be reinstalling the hot water heater in the new spot, but that project will not be finished until we get some fittings that have been ordered from San Diego. We have friends bringing those to Ensenada next week along with the missing water maker parts.
We see positive inertia on our dock. There is a hive of activity. Many fellow sailors are also busy preparing their boats in the quest to be ready to journey south. The list is extensive – attaching dinghy davits, updating old GPS and radar systems, attaching new refrigerator seals, adding solar panels, installing new inverters, sewing new dodgers, changing to lithium batteries, installing water makers… Some are brazen enough to say they are leaving on a specific date. Others, like us, are still hesitant to commit to a date. We are shy from being burnt from previous attempts to set sail south.
So we all have our challenges. I guess life would be boring without them. I hope you are defeating your life challenges and that our challenges bring a smile to your face, even if you don’t understand.
P.S. I certainly don’t understand.
UPDATE
As many readers of this blog have kindly replied, some have forwarded to me additional appropriate quotes. Here are some of them.
“Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music.” – George Carlin
“Energy and persistence conquer all things. ” – Benjamin Franklin
“Rivers know this: there is no hurry, we will get there someday.” – A. A. Milne
“Good things come to those who wait.” – Unknown
“All in good time.” – Proverb
It is so good to hear from you. I hadn’t gotten any updates for months and I was hoping you guys were ok. Sounds like you’re ok but a little stressed! I have a nephew and his wife that are doing the same thing you are doing but on the east coast. They have been living and working on a boat that they salvaged from athe big hurricane a couple of years ago. It’s a lot of work you guys are doing.
It is true that it is over a year since I posted a blog. Lots has happened in that time; I just hadn’t taken the time to blog about it. We have been doing well and 2022 was a year that we spent a lot of time with family in Australia.
The story of boat life. Hope the upgrades and repairs go smoothly.
The updates and repairs always have hiccups , but so far there is nothing that has not been able to be solved. Time is of the issue at present. We are trying to tackle the jobs at a sensible rate so that we are getting in other life stories along the way. Everything just takes longer than we think it should.
Thank you for keeping me on your email list. It’s always so interesting to read your writing, and reflect on our past experiences in our boat.
Once a boater, always a boater even if done virtually. There is something special about the magnetic force of the big ocean playground that we share.
There are constant unrelenting challenges every single day with a boat. The balance of asking wouldn’t it just be easier if we just lived on land versus the total beauty serenity and liberation of living on the water tips in favor of the ocean the boat and sea life.
I have admired and envied all the day to day positivity you share so well on FB. So you hang on there sister, a new day is just around the corner.
Your encouragement is appreciated. Thank you.
Yes understand not understanding. Good luck with your projects which we know always take much longer than you expect.
We certainly both have experienced this phenomenon. Glad you and Stephen are enjoying the rewards from your ongoing boat work.
Thanks for keeping us abreast of your time in Ensenada. We hope to join you there this summer.
We always enjoy your updates. Hope to see you in Ensenada this summer.
We always enjoy catching up with you. Time will tell where we are based this summer.
Please do not take it wrong if I say that — being a long time boater — living on the Curly for almost 11 years now for example — some of your comments made us smile. Not to look lightly upon the complications you describe but to be reminded of the life of the boater. Want or need to fix something? Of course you do. You know you have the tools, and maybe even some of the parts required. But where? Right? Land lubbers likely look at at boat and figure there’s very little storage area. Wrong. There are many storage areas on a boat and all of them are small, generally dark, always in places that require you to stretch or bend or get down on your hands and knees or more likely all three plus other inconveniences. And every new undertaking is a unique challenge that requires not only some mechanical knowledge but also acquiring more. No new item ever fits the space of whatever it is replacing exactly. Some adjustment or more likely renovations will be required. Perhaps these will be minor or perhaps not. And of course any device suitable for marine use can be depended upon to be geometrically more expensive that its non-marine counterpart. Following upon Jim’s comments a couple of quotes come to mind, Ben Franklin tells us: “Energy and persistence conquer all things” and A.A. Milne reminds us, “Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We will get there someday”
Fondly,
Jim and Elizabeth H.
PS Some boat challenges may require an “Oh Bother!”
Elizabeth and Jim we indeed have a shared understanding of life on a boat and I am glad it brings a smile, in retrospect we have lots of smiles in amongst all the “Oh bothers.” Thank you for taking the time to share your ideas here.