Messing About

Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing... Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do...

The Wind in the Willows

By Kenneth Grahame 

My usual practice is to avoid posting here about maintenance of the boat, but friends have asked why I spend hours most days there. I'm simply messing about. I'm basically working through a list of preparations for our planned departure after Christmas for the Bahamas. It ranges from changing lightbulbs to ordering a customs sticker to changing oil in the anchor windlass to getting the fire extinguishers inspected for the year. Many of the minor items I have done personally, but some matters involve the work of others.

So do I enjoy all of this? Honestly, I do. I love spending time with family and friends, being out on the beautiful water, and being self-sufficient most anywhere. But I also love the technical side of things and trying to understand the many systems on the boat that I need to understand. So I'll continue messing about. It keeps me off the streets.