Another decision point

Graham arrived on Friday night. He brought with him some bad news. Unfortunately, the extent of the dry rot inside the boat was worse than we thought. The wood beam directly below the mast, inside the cabin has quite a large crack. From an initial inspection it seems that the dry rot on the coach roof around the mast continues on down below. The wood worker at St. Davids had a look but wanted the tanks taken out and the bathroom disassembled so that he could get a good look at the mast step before he gave us an estimate.

While we were in Grenada it rained and rained, we found all of the leaks and they were extensive. We ended up having to lay a tarp across the coach roof at night, to avoid running about with bowls and towels. We realized that we had to have the entire roof redone and of course we knew early on that the cockpit had to be completely redone (remember Graham put his finger through part of the cockpit on day 2).

So Graham asked for estimates on these things:

• Coach roof: Strip, replace rotted plywood, replace hatches, fiberglass and trim in teak to tie into the decks, move main traveller forward on coach roof, out of the way of the companionway and also to allow for a Bimini to be made to keep us shaded during sailing
• Mast partner components and mast step if necessary: Reinforce and replace rotted or worn wood
• Cockpit: Replace all sides
• Bimini: Graham and the sail maker designed a shade cover that we could have up while we are sailing to keep us all shaded. Absolute necessity
• Missen Sail: Our missen sail won't unfurl since it is to old and misshaped

The yard manager threw out end of December as a estimated completion time!!! Yup, here sets in the major disappointment. Graham came home totally defeated. He felt terrible. You can imagine that if the time for completion estimate is December, the money for the reno's is BIG. So now we are left with another decision point. The good news is we always have options. We are never stuck. It is just time to revise the plan and maybe we will come up with an even better plan than original. Love to hear you thoughts on the options....or maybe there is even an option that we hadn't thought of.....let us know.....if anyone is still reading.

• OPTION ONE: Fly to Grenada in September and visit boat yard regularly and supervise work. Pros: we are close by Cons: It will be brutally hot, yard is way out of the way, with no beaches, grocery stores, etc, we would need to rent apartment, costs go up, taxis back and forth
• OPTION TWO: Buy a new boat and continue the work on the old boat and sell once complete: Pros: we might have a new good boat Cons: seems everyone we talk to says that they had renos when they bought their boats, to make their boat passage ready, we would also need to carry the costs of two boats, until the old boat sold, we like our boat (aside from the rot)
• OPTION THREE: Stay in Canada til the end of January, put the kids back in school and find work: Pros: we could make some more money to pay for reno's Cons: we don't have a place to live or any furniture, we would need to find short term work, we would be disrupting the school year again, I am ready for life changing ADVENTURE not 9-5, I want to be back for Alex to start grade 10, so three years starts now, regardless what is thrown at us.
• OPTION FOUR: Sail on Dad and Cheryl's boat while ours is being fixed: Pros: we still gain the sailing experience to allow for our March departure across the Pacific, we get to see some amazing places and spend time with Grampa Griff and Nana Cheryl Cons: we won't be making any money to pay for the boat reno's so we will need to carry those costs for the duration of the trip, it may be difficult to sail together(?), the boat might we a little tight
• OPTION FIVE: Move to the family farm in Tantallion and homeschool the kids: Pros: Graham has always wanted to live on the farm and no one is living there right now, it would be life changing, it wouldn't cost much to live Cons: still no income, unless Graham or I get a job at the nearby mine(?), a bit isolate (ain't no Toronto)

Ok, folks.....what do you think....lets here it.
Julie