Hi all! It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Sorry for not posting—I’ll actually be surprised if any of you are still here reading along. The good news is that Dream Catcher should be back in business @tendervittles for 2017.

Here’s a brief on what’s been happening. We were off the boat for basically all of 2016—jet setting, basement living, house and cat sitting, etc. As the year closed out, we got back aboard only as the winter holidays neared.

As those of you familiar with boats will know, these floating queens HATE to be left alone. And Dream Catcher has definitely been acting like a woman scorned. In her ire, she’s decided to throw one thing after another at us the past few weeks.

We already knew about (and had a plan for) a terminal problem with one of our engines, and we expected some other issues to arise. But Dream Catcher has been a real witch. So you wanted your Honda 2000 to work? Sure, I’ll do that—for 2 weeks. Then it’ll blow its alternator in the Land of No Parts. You like having a freezer? Well, screw you! Bozo isn’t much for sewage? Bwa-ha-ha (evil laugh). I will KILL your macerator pump and make you buy the $600 version, the only one available on island.

Bozo has been pretty stalwart through all of this. The long-awaited engine swap actually became the least of our worries. He battled all the other issues with a relatively limited amount of swearing, while I tried not to think too much about the bank account (and landed a timely end-of-year project that helped. Yay!).

Anyway, we’re now fully mobile, with a brand new dinghy engine (yes, that died too), and a functioning head, refrigeration (no freezer still), and other essentials. It’s not perfect but it’s enough.

The message is clear. This girl is ready for a refit. 

She’s been a great for us since darn near the turn of the millennium, almost without a break. Fortunately, giving her a complete makeover was already in the plans. Now she’s finally safe enough to allow us to get to it.

Next stop Florida!