Refitting S/V NOMAD

Things with Josh onboard are pretty good. We knew we needed to kick ass on the boat projects – with so much to accomplish. On the flip side; I do have a little boat-family here. And the views can be astonishingly beautiful.   There are monkeys around, and I have a mooring ball in the case of bad-weather. In addition, we’ve seen some decent fish when we’ve managed to squeeze in a couple of dives. Big Dog Snapper and even a nice Black Grouper the other day.

But, it’s time to really crank out the work onboard. So we did.

Refitting S/V NOMAD

The first step was getting all of my tools laid out, and in working order. The saltwater eats everything. During the tool-cleaning, Oliver came over – he’s a salty dude with a wood-working shop onboard. He’s making a solid teak table for me to clean fish, on my arch. He’s also making a nice teak table for my back deck. Handy guy, and some improvements that add both aesthetic and functional qualities.

So we bullshitted with Oliver. And then we planned the tables. Then we talked about the rest of the stuff we needed. Then we discussed solar panels and wiring and battery banks. Then a few of schools of Blue-Runner, Cero Mackerel, and Bonita started boiling the water around us. Josh grabbed his speargun and shot a couple without leaving the boat.   Boom. Fresh fish for lunch and dinner, and we didn’t even leave the boat.

Oliver said the fish were asking for it – they didn’t realize who’s boat they were around. Fair point.

I made a run to shore, as I heard the vegetable truck was coming. I got fresh veggies, headed back to the catamaran, and made a ridiculously good ceviche. No leftovers, we killed it; proof that it was ridiculously good.

Fresh Ceviche

Then we started to figure out the mess that is my boat’s wiring. If a boat is more than a couple of years old, and has complex systems – the wiring is always ridiculous. Mine is no exception. It’s actually a little daunting.

We managed to figure out the wiring (for the most part), and Josh ended up with fiberglass all over his arms. Bummer. But we had an epic dinner, had some wine, and watched a beautiful sunset. It can be a really good life, even when you’re working hard.

Right now, I’m convinced that having a mechanically/electrically savvy person onboard is a pretty big plus. The amount of things we’ve worked out, looked at, and accomplished is astonishing. And we didn’t even work all day; we took breaks to shoot fish and bullshit with carpenters.  Next up is actually wiring in the new batteries, and then adding the new solar.  I’ll write a bit more about the technical aspects of this at some point.

The next real hole in the crew is someone to cook and clean, while the dudes get dirty. That will round out a pretty solid crew onboard S/V NOMAD. Then we’ll be able to make real headway on the refit, have set roles onboard, and get back to sailing around the world. Oh, and another separation of duties means I’ll get to spearfish a bit more – which was the plan when I started this adventure.

Refitting S/V NOMAD