Continuing with our shakedown voyage, you'll recall that Charlie and I, our 2 crew members, our dog Star and our 5 cats had finally made it to Ft. Lauderdale. With the air-conditioning installation starting tomorrow, we had many things to do to get ready. We rented a car, took the cats to a really nice kennel, and we finally took Star to the vet (broken tendons but nothing more serious.

May 30 the air-conditioning installation got underway. This was a major undertaking as there were to be 2 split units, one in each hull and a central unit. Due to this layout, the installation affected every part of the boat, including the 5th cabin which is in the center of the boat and reachable only from the outside. That cabin was particularly important since that's where we kept the cats. The engine rooms were affected as well since that's where the compressors were going. In addition the genset which would run the A/C and the watermaker was going in a locker in the cockpit. The 40 gallon an hour watermaker would be installed in the starboard engine room. We also had someone working on the refrigeration and had ordered new lifelines. What a zoo! One day I counted 6 workmen on the boat, all working on top of each other.

To add to this chaos our fresh water pump broke so we had no water. However, that was fixed by the second day of installation. In between trying to move things out of the workmen's way, I was trying to get our new SSB going. Thanks to the primer on the Sailmail website , I had figured out all the parts I needed and had ordered them prior to leaving CT. I was just now putting the system all together though. I also visited the cats every day which they seemed to appreciate. They did really well in the kennel even though this was the first time they'd ever been boarded.

Two days before we left Star inadvertently bit one of the mechanics on board. The guy raised a fuss so we paid him $100 and made him sign a release of liability so we could leave. We returned the cats to the boat the day before we left. On June 9 after provisioning and returning the rental car, we left and arrived in the Bahamas late that night.

To be continued.