Time is moving quickly and so is the weather. We really wanted to be south by now but it is more important that everything goes well. Tomorrow we plan to take her out across the Bay to get the rest of our stuff to complete the move from our 380 to the 420. Since both are named Amekaya we have to identify the boats by model.

For those not familiar with the IP 420 I discussed some design detail in the last post but did not get into the interior. We will eventually post some pix of the inside. She has 2 nice sized cabins with queen-sized beds. The forward cabin bed features the ability to walk around it. There are 2 heads (bathrooms) with showers. A very large main cabin with a fold-down dining table that will easily host 6 people. The settee on the starboard (right) side of the boat opens up to a full twin size bed. In the main cabin we also have the galley with 2 stainless steel sinks, a microwave, fridge-freezer, 3 burner stove with oven and a seagull filtered water dispenser.

One of the features we added was a deck wash. Many boats have deck washes but this one did not. The yard added the basic wash with the through-hull water intake and the deck mounted connection for the hose. The deck wash is used to rinse mud and such off the anchor or deck. I added a fresh water connection so that I could rinse off salt from the anchor, the teak and the cockpit surrounds. Salt water is great for lots of things but it is highly corrosive to many things on the boat.

Island Packet boats unlike many boats are equipped with substantial tankage.We have a 160 gallon fuel tank, 250 gal fresh water and a 60 gal holding tank. We could motor to Bermuda and not put up the sails. The water and holding tanks will give us the ability to avoid the need for frequent stops for water or pumping out.

We still have a few things to get completed including the cockpit enclosures but it is hard to believe that after months and years of planning we are now just days away from dropping the docklines and beginning our great adventure.

We spent tonight stowing things so that when we move on the rest of our stuff it can all be organized for the long term. I'm sure that we will reorganize no less than every other week but we need to start some where just to get everything on.

Well, enough for tonight and off to sleep.