Spring comes early around here

The weather is warming up which means longer early morning walks where I can appreciate the beauty around me and grab shots like this because I am not freezing my butt off. While I walk, I think about that other sign that Spring has sprung... the Defender catalog

The Defender catalog is to boat folk as the JC Penney Christmas Catalog was to American kids back in the day. Chock full of goodies that you dream of and which provide motivation to be a very good girl in hopes that Santa would bestow said goodies upon you. If you think about it, the whole idea of a fat dude breaking and entering into your home while you sleep is kind of creepy but I digress...

We are at the point in the refit where we need to start making final decisions as to what equipment we will purchase and install. This gets tricky because the marine world is full of all sorts of gadgets and doohickeys which are cooool and also expennnnssive. As Mark continues to tick off rebuilt chain plates and port lights off his list, I've made another list. The shopping list.

• Main sail  
• Running rigging ( Here's hoping the our Dyneema Experience turns out to be a great one!)
• LED Nav lights (have the mast tri color, need to get bow and anchor lights)
• LED interior bulbs and new reading fixtures
• Small chartplotter- we are using charts as back up and Open CPN on a laptop so a small chartplotter as further redundancy is all we really need)
• SSB and data cable- Ugh. I really wanted to go Sat phone but we already have the backstay prepped
• Origo Stove- Mark is making motions about wanting to keep the propane one we have but as bringing it up to safety standards far exceeds the cost of the Origo- I win.
• House bank batteries- yes, we have some but not enough. We need MORE POWER!!
• Anchor and ground tackle- I want a Rocna. I will name it Hudson....
• EPIRB- so if it all goes to hell, we can be found and the video posted to YouTube.
• Life Raft- Some cruise without one. We have kids so we are cruising with one.
• Davits- I wanted to skip this because they are expensive and unattractive. I think Mark is going to win this one.
• Dinghy- Definitely going used and ugly on this one. New, shiny dinghys have a tendency to runaway from home
• Dinghy outboard- again, looking for a used but functional ugly one
• Padeyes and jacklines
• Offshore deck vests
• WiFi booster- I need my internet. How else will I be able to get on Facebook and tell you what I had for breakfast and other important information?
• Froli sleep system- I am a Princess and yes, I can feel that pea...
• AIS- maybe. maybe not. We'll see...
• SPOT satellite tracker- for our mothers to be able to see where we are from the comfort of their homes.
• Watermaker- we go back and forth on this one. We've got DIY instructions to make your own or we could have one installed which will save time, but definitely not money. Totally undecided on this but this can absolutely wait until later. I hear they sell watermakers in Florida too.

Other than some non-exciting purchases for smaller household goods that will work on a boat, that's about it. There are plenty of peeps telling me that this really isn't enough equipment and that we will be roughing it. If I wanted all the comforts and convienences of home, I'd just stay home. Which would be a good thing because if we start going nuts and add a washer and dryer, a dishwasher, a sauna and a hot tub we won't have room for the kids or the money to feed them with.

Mark looks at the amount of work left to do to make the boat water tight, then sees all the equipment yet to be installed and says " I said we could leave in November but didn't specify what year". Oh no you don't Mr. We are out of here by November of this year so go back into your man cave and get cracking. It would make me very sad to leave without you...