Chapter 32: Where’s the Fire, Bob?

I’m in a hurry.

And I don’t mean a “we’re going to be late for dinner” hurry. I mean a “hair on fire” hurry. We arrived here in Brunswick on June 26th., That is eight weeks ago tomorrow. In that time, Kim and I have taken 4 days off. Those were all days before launch when Meraviglia was in the service yard and the yard was closed. Except for last Saturday, which we took off to go to Augusta for a funeral (God bless you, Uncle Bob. You were my inspiration-the reason I became a doctor). Otherwise, we do boat work from 8 AM to 5 or 6 PM with a break for lunch. And on Sundays, we go to church. Love you, St. Athanasius!

The work is hot. It’s sweaty. It’s dirty. Am I enjoying it? Yes. Mostly. But there are times, especially lately, where it feels like a slog: like we’re spinning our wheels and not going anywhere. Now, in truth, Kim would not be keeping this schedule were I not keeping it. It’s me. It’s all me. That’s not to say she is not totally on board with this project-she is. But she would be moving at a more deliberate pace. Which begs the question: WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU, BOB??!!

The truth is, I’m not sure. Would I rather be sailing around that stuck in a marina on a boat that needs huge amounts of work? Of course. But that doesn’t really explain the urgency I feel. And that’s what it is: urgency. I can’t explain why, but I feel like I am on borrowed time. I have this feeling that every day we spend working on Meraviglia is a day lost-a day that brings us closer to this whole crazy thing ending before it even starts. And it’s not the money, although certainly we’re spending far more than we reckoned. It’s a feeling that life is going to catch up with us. One of us will get sick with some horrible illness (don’t laugh, if you’re younger than we-there comes a time when suddenly the news you get from your peers is exactly like that). Or some family crisis will demand our time. Or there will be a worldwide pandemic (oh, wait, we already did that one). You get the gist. Truth be told, I’ve always been a fatalist. My days most always include thoughts such as “what if Kim gets in a car wreck on her commute today?” or “I could get hit by a car on my morning bike commute today.” Yeah, it’s kind of macabre, but I think about stuff like that a LOT. Why? No idea. It doesn’t depress me. It doesn’t keep me from doing things. But the thoughts are always there.

So, I’m in a hurry. When Kim makes me take a day off, I will. Otherwise, I’m in a race against whatever’s chasing us. Hopefully, I get to sea before then!

Okay, enough navel gazing. That was probably way more info about my psyche than you wanted anyway.

Update: Six of our nine new chainplates are installed. The last three are at the fabricators getting made. Rebuilding the rotted bulkhead is nearly complete. First coat of primer went on yesterday! The shower in the forward head is progressing

And, of course, we discovered more broken stuff. The original windlass that I so lovingly serviced? It’s gone. It still worked but was bolted to the deck with only 3 of the original 8 bolts and the deck underneath was rotten. So, it had to go. Now we have to remove the rot, patch the deck, and install a new windlass. Fun! And the chartplotter that came with Meraviglia? Non-functional. Sigh. Gotta have one of those (think Google Maps for boats-sort of important to know where we are and where we are going).

Gonna do something new and exciting this coming week. But you have to wait to find out what. Here’s a hint: