June 11, 2009 Getting Ready

We welcome all our family & friends to follow along as we embark on our big adventure. This cruise is called "America's Great Loop". Throughout this blog site we will post pictures and hopefully a daily log of what we are doing, seeing and all the interesting people we meet along the way. This is an interactive blog site, we encourage you to add your comments and questions for us. We look forward to hearing from you.


Our departure date is almost here. We are planning on leaving around June 23rd, depending on the weather. The boat has been in and out of the water twice now, a small issue with some thru hull fittings leaking. I guess it is better to get a little later start than to have problems along the way. As of today, all looks good. I will start cleaning this weekend, and packing the boat next week. I have enlisted the help of my sisters Lisa, & Joann, and my Mom, hopefully between all of us we will have some good ideas as to where we will fit everything. Jim has to meet with the electronics guy to get the computer and TV hooked up, and a few miscellaneous things.


A little information about Sales & Nails II, our home for the next year. She is a 346 Carver Motor Yacht, powered by twin volvo penta 8.1's. Her overall length is 37 ft. and her beam is 13' 2" (width). She carries 196 gallons of fuel, 70 gallons of fresh water. There are 2 State rooms (bedrooms), 2 full heads (baths), a galley, (yes, I will cook) and a salon. The back of the boat has a generous size deck which can be enclosed in bad weather. Then of course there is the bridge, which doubles as the "time out room". We have full electronics which include radar, GPS, chart plotter, VHF radio, generator, raymarine E 80 multi function navigation system, dept sounder, direct TV, wifi capability, and lots of paper charts. We also have a Brigg 10' dinghy to get to shore when we anchor out. I feel like I just wrote another real estate ad.