Toodle-oo! is nearly ready for the off – following the extensive repairs required following the lightning strike – which have been going on throughout the winter and are just finishing up now with various sea trials remaining to hone all the details.

Can’t say enough about Markel Insurance – represented by Al Golden at IMIS – they’ve been very supportive throughout and provided interim payments to (almost) keep up with the outflows of cash – which is amounting to over $125,000…

All the electronics have been replaced with new Raymarine equipment, the electrical gear – chargers, inverters, lights, etc., have been replaced and the standing rigging which seemed to bear the brunt of the strike has also been replaced.

There are just a few more items for NEB to sort out – an Espar heater that’s pumping CO gas into the salon(!), a generator that needs a new riser and a fix to the wind generator that doesn’t seem to be contributing any power despite turning like crazy and generally looking very busy.

The whole repair program has gone very smoothly thanks to Ian Mackechnie at NEB who has managed the whole thing beautifully. Jim Van der Hey at Cay Electronics has also been great and Phip Hallowell at Rig-Pro has been solid too. Couldn’t have asked for better folks than these to put her back together.

Meanwhile Laurie has re-varnished the floors, the companionway doors and the galley fiddles and we have loaded the bulk of the stuff back aboard – it’s getting real now! We even have a new teak grate for the head!

But even though she’s been in the water for a month now, we still haven’t sailed her! That gets remedied on Thursday with a sea trial with Cay (to do the electronics) and possibly Rig-Pro (to check the rigging). All just in time as we’re hoping to get off the dock and out of NEB’s billing range by the end of this weekend!

We’re headed up to Bristol to either hang off a mooring or possibly our own anchor for a few weeks… Never parked a boat on an anchor for that long…

2 weeks to go…