Three Months, Two Weeks, Four Days, Seven Hours, Five Minutes & Six Seconds
That’s how long the Pilot House Reorganization has taken. It’s finally done, as these pictures will attest. I threw away four trash barrels of junk and packing material. I repacked all of my tools, spare parts and associated fasteners and bits and pieces.
Front of the Pilot House
I have listed everything and where it is and what it is packed in.
My goal was not only to know where to find stuff should I ever need it, but also to make the engine room in particular, less prone to floating debris, should a disaster ever take place.
The last step will be to organize the lists on the computer, so when the shit hits the fan, I’m not leafing thru my hand written sheets, trying to figure out what I wrote and of course, not seeing the one item I am looking for.
This also means that Dauntless is finally ready to move. Next week, she will move ¾ mile up river to the boat yards, where her nice round bottom will be cleaned and painted. A bottom I know well, as its very efficiency has allowed this entire adventure and the greater adventures to follow.
Lastly, to be more diligent than the last time, I have scheduled the next Pilot House Reorganization in my Samsung Note calendar for April 12, 2035.
Yes, you read it right. 20 years from now and if I am a lucky person, I’ll die just days before !
Starboard side under helmPort side Helm Station. Computer, Maretron, Router, AIS on upper shelf. Lower shelf has bins of my most used electrical parts
I’m an eclectic person, who grew up in New York, lived overseas for many years and have a boat, Dauntless, a 42 foot Kadey Krogen trawler yacht. Dauntless enables me to not only live in many different parts of the world, but to do it in a way that is interesting, affordable, with the added spice of a challenge.
Dauntless also allows me to be in touch with nature. As the boat glides through the ocean, you have a sense of being part of a living organism. When dolphins come to frolic, they stay longer if you are out there talking to them, watching them. Birds come by, sometimes looking for a handout; sometimes grateful to find a respite from their long journey.
I grew up on the New York waterfront, in the West Village, when everything west of Hudson St. was related to shipping and cargo from around the world. For a kid, it was an exciting place of warehouses, trucks, and working boats of all kinds: tugs and the barges and ships, cargo and passenger, they were pushing around.
My father was an electrical engineer, my mother an intellectual, I fell in between.
I have always been attracted to Earth’s natural processes, the physical sciences. I was in 8th grade when I decided to be a Meteorologist.
After my career in meteorology, my natural interest in earth sciences: geology, astronomy, geography, earth history, made it a natural for me to become a science teacher in New York City, when I moved back to the Big Apple. Teaching led to becoming a high school principal to have the power to truly help kids learn and to be successful not only in school but in life.
Dauntless is in western Europe now. In May and June, I will be wrapping up the last two years in northern Europe, heading south to spend the rest of the year in Spain & Portugal.
Long term, I’m planning on returning to North American in the fall of 2017 and from there continuing to head west until we’re in Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, where we will settle for a bit.
But now, my future lies not in NY or even Europe, but back to the water, where at night, when the winds die down, there is no noise, only the silence of the universe. I feel like I am at home, finally.
View all posts by Richard on Dauntless
3 thoughts on “Three Months, Two Weeks, Four Days, Seven Hours, Five Minutes & Six Seconds”
I did the same thing in preparation for our trip. I created a spreadsheet of every spare part, with tabs for electrical, plumbing etc., labeled bins with a location code referenced on the spreadsheet. Inventoried tools, organized and took home unnecessary redundancies. Keep spares of crucial tools Incase one breaks or goes for an unexpected swim. It drove my husband crazy, but he appreciated the end result !
Did we have the same parents ? My dad was a navy airplane mechanic and my mom was Scottish. She kept a pristine home and dads tools were always put away clean in felt lined toolboxes. He should have been a surgeon.
How’s the system going two years later ?
Ha, I’m great in the planning and design, not so good in the execution. I think after designing the system, I lose interest.
This also is why the best functioning boats have a couple running things. Like raising a family, it’s best to have a mom and a dad.
I did re-organize everything this past August and took pictures, but have not updated the spreadsheet.
Though I can’t imagine not knowing my exact fuel consumption or how much we roll with or with out the paravanes.
Dauntless at Sea 
tidy
I did the same thing in preparation for our trip. I created a spreadsheet of every spare part, with tabs for electrical, plumbing etc., labeled bins with a location code referenced on the spreadsheet. Inventoried tools, organized and took home unnecessary redundancies. Keep spares of crucial tools Incase one breaks or goes for an unexpected swim. It drove my husband crazy, but he appreciated the end result !
Did we have the same parents ? My dad was a navy airplane mechanic and my mom was Scottish. She kept a pristine home and dads tools were always put away clean in felt lined toolboxes. He should have been a surgeon.
How’s the system going two years later ?
Ha, I’m great in the planning and design, not so good in the execution. I think after designing the system, I lose interest.
This also is why the best functioning boats have a couple running things. Like raising a family, it’s best to have a mom and a dad.
I did re-organize everything this past August and took pictures, but have not updated the spreadsheet.
Though I can’t imagine not knowing my exact fuel consumption or how much we roll with or with out the paravanes.