Blocking up is hard to do.

With apologies to Neil Sedaka, who’s name has not EVER appeared here in the decade plus that I have been keeping this blog, for torturing the title of his song, “Breaking up is hard to do” but somehow that song came to mind as I watched Pandora being hauled the other day, on her way to being “blocked” for the winter.

Out she came, looking much larger than she ever looks in the water.   Conversely, the farther she gets from “terra firma” the smaller she looks and feels.  Try 500 miles from land in big seas.  Pretty tiny.

Now, she’s all set and covered for the first time EVER.   Makes me sad.There will be a nifty zipper door installed in the stern so I can get into the boat easily and still, sort of, keep out the chill winter winds.  Good luck with that.  Note that the aft solar panel was kept exposed to be sure that the batteries are kept up all the time.  I even took some scrap material out of the dumpster and fashioned a cover for our dink.  I used an electric heat gun to shrink the material.  Pretty neat cover, if you ask me.Winterizing the boat’s water systems proved to be every bit as complex as I feared.  The last time I had to winterize a boat was seven years ago and that boat was WAY simpler.

I made a list of all of the systems aboard Pandora that have water in them and  needed to be attended to.  It was a LONG list.

Air Conditioning, aft
Air Conditioning, forward
Bilge pump automatic, primary
Bilge pump bilge, secondary
Bilge pump manual, cockpit
Bilge pump manual, shop
Bow thruster bilge pump, Arid Bilge
Bow thruster bilge pump, primary
Cockpit fresh water wash-down
Cockpit transom shower
Drink water filter in galley
Engine
Fridge and freezer cooling
Galley sink faucet
Head shower, forward
Head sink faucet, aft
Head sink, forward
Head, aft
Head, forward
Holding tank, aft
Holding tank, forward
Hot Water tank drained
Maserator pump, aft
Maserator pump, forward
Shower Sump, aft
Shower sump, forward
Washdown pump, saltwater
Washer/dryer
Water tank, port
Water Tank, starboard
Watermaker
Watermaker, product hose

Yikes, the list was overwhelming and if I forgot anything or didn’t get a good amount of antifreeze into every system, I’ll have major problems in the spring.

As an aside, Brenda and I visited the Custom’s House Museum in Groton CT a few days ago and happened upon a very charming tugboat exhibit.  As part of the collection was some original art from the classic children’s book Little Toot.

I was struck by how relevant these images are for us and our time afloat.

As the old axiom goes, Sailing:  “Hours of utter boredom periodically interrupted by moments of sheer terror.”   What goes up…Must come down.  You know the feeling.Of course, as “tough” as we may like to think we are.   Most of us prefer to see days that feel like this as there is indeed, and to quote Ratty from the classic “The wind in the willows.”

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”And, I will work hard to be sure that Pandora is ready for launch and a fun filled 2019 season of “messing about”.

But, for now, it’s making me sad as, blocking up Pandora is, indeed, very hard to do.

Good news though, I have decided to fly to Antigua to welcome the Salty Dawg Rally fleet and enjoy the arrival activities that I worked so hard to put together.    In case you’ve forgotten about all that, click here to see what’s in store.

It’s going to be great!

2 responses to “Blocking up is hard to do.

Leave a Reply to George R. Hallenbeck Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *