Unfinished Business

Both Justin and I had 5 days off together, so we spent nearly all of that time working on Madrigal. We've gotten quite far in the sanding/refinishing of the main cabin...we're quite happy thus far.

Anyway, I took some pictures of it before we put the 3 coats of varnish on, so I figured I'd post those for now. I haven't taken any pictures of it since it's been varnished, but I'm sure in the next couple of days those will be up here too.







More soon!

-Jenny

vikingligr veldi

Those who know me, know that I listen to lots of so-called "viking metal" (hence the Isengard song on our playlist at right). Thus, the Ericson yachts logo on our new boat is only all too fitting for me to liveaboard :)

I love it.

-Justin

Dinghy Attack!

Justin took this pic of me as we were coming back from Southie yesterday. Notice the intense concentration going on here, even though there were no boats to be seen around us, aside from the dinghy we were towing...


-Jenny

a slight change of plans, for the better...

We've been two-boat owners for about a month now, but until now, this hasn't been quite so apparent. Madrigal was across town, where we couldn't see it, work on it, improve it.

We made the decision to have both boats at the marina for the month (which, for the record, is May 17th - June 16th...the 31 days we paid for).

Yesterday morning, we picked up the dinghy and Madrigal, and brought everything back here. We were able to park Madrigal directly next to the Fitzcarraldo, so we are able to go back and forth between the two boats very easily and readily, and have been doing so for about 24 hours now, since we brought her back.

Already we've made great improvements since we've had her here, and it looks as though it is going to be a very productive month.

I've been taking pictures along the way, so we will soon have a post with some new pictures. I have to admit, we've got Madrigal torn up inside because we're sanding down all the wood to refinish it, so it isn't looking to pretty, but the end result should be well worth it.

Anyway, back to sanding!

-Jenny

education

Only 3 more days of school left...

I feel like I'm wading neck deep in homework so I keep singing Dory's song from the Nemo cartoon.

"Just keep swimming
Just keep swimming
Just keep swimming..."

It's getting me through- slowly.

-Justin (the fish) Halteman

delays and excuses

I know we haven't updated for a while, but I just want to assure you that this blog isn't ending at all. The same delay in updates happened around this time last year because I'm finishing up all of my final papers plus trying to get the boat ready for summer (two boats this time). So, things are a tad hectic lately.

Madrigal is officially out on a mooring and we are just waiting for the Fitz to sell, though we admittedly haven't tried very hard. I'm trying to wait the 2 more weeks til I'm done with school so that I can get Fitzy all cleaned up and shiny to try to sell. So the real effort will begin then.

Summer visitors and trips are already beginning to take form. I'm scheduled (and maybe Jenny depending on her work) to make a sail trip up to Acadia Maine on my friend Mike's Pearson 42 on memorial weekend. That's a 36 hour sail from here, so that will be a great learning experience for our meager sailing skills.

The next weekend we have a Michigan friend visiting and then my grandfather might hopefully finally get here the next weekend. I really hope my grandfather can get out here. He's always loved the ocean and boats, but has never really been to the ocean haha. So he's been chomping at the bit to get here. We'll see.

More updates as summer proceeds! Pictures and fun stuff hopefully soon.

-Justin

Madrigal

"The best laid plans of mice and men go oft awry....."

So it is with the best laid plans of Justin and Jenny-- but in a good way. Remember that post a few weeks ago about the world class motorsailer we'd love to get after we live on the Fitz for a couple years. Scratch that.

Well, don't scratch it entirely, we'd still love to get that boat and sail the world and we are still pursuing Jigsaw Indexing with that in mind; however, we've happened ourselves into a new situation altogether:

We bought a new boat!

Well, new to us.

It is an Ericson 35 mkII from 1978. We got such a deal we couldn't pass it up. Somebody in our marina got tired of owning two boats and direly needed to get rid of it. We happily took up the slack and are now sailboat owners. The exterior is beautifully reworked/glassed painted etc. The working parts are great (new plumbing, electric, engine not rebuilt but gone over with a fine tooth comb updated and rewired. Thruhulls replaced. Anyway all the good hard stuff has been done. The interior needs woodwork to be finished and a headliner put in. Floors could use a good refinish. But thats all cosmetics, and we can handle it. I'd post more pics but the internet is being horrendous. Hopefully soon.

The Fitz is for sale. We will miss that boat dearly and parting will be terribly sad, but we need sails to feel a bit more free. It was a wonderful year aboard the Fitzcarraldo.

A surprising number of people actually frequent this site, so thefitzcarraldo.blogspot.com will remain as is, we will just update according to our new boat "madrigal". Madrigal is the name that comes with this boat and it is a good enough name to not warrant all the hullabaloo it takes to change a name.

Despite this extraordinary news, we will still be living on the Fitz for some time. We have a free mooring that we can leave Madrigal on and shall be doing so while we try to sell the Fitz. This will give us some good time to work on Madrigal while not living aboard. Easier that way.

Anyhow, if you have 10,000 dollars or so and would like a lovely powerboat that needs a bit of electrical updating please let us know! We need to get back down to one boat ASAP. :)

rock on.

-Justin