Details, details

Before we head out, we're trying everything once because, by default, nothing to do with a boats ever works the first time. This evening we pulled out our baby Weber, hooked it up to the propane system, to grill some tuna (Cath and I) and steak (Spencer). Now there are all sorts of shiny stainless marine grills out there to set you back a hundred or two. There's even a snazzy Australian one for almost a grand - yikes! I'll bet our little pedestrian Weber out grills them all for a fraction of the price. I just changed out a few screws with stainless and fitted a propane quick release to hook it up to the mothership's system. Works a charm.

We also unpacked our folding Brommies. If you've never seen these engineering wonders, just search around for "Brompton bicycle". They have a cult following to rival Apple fanboys. They are also the only bikes that could even remotely fit aboard Alizée. We tooled around Noank, just down the road from Mystic. Weee!

Also to try out is our movie system. Being able to watch movies seems an anachronism on a boat without pressurized water or even a water heater. But, if you know us, it is essential. Because the boat has to run on the equivalent of a dim light bulb, our boat theater cannot consume any significant power. Forget LED screens, DVD drives, and such. Also, we have no room for non-essentials, so in addition to consuming no power, it must be infinitesimally small. Again forget LED screens, DVD drives, and such. The end result is a tiny pico projector and a wrinkled, home made screen hung from a deck beam. Because the days are so long, we have to start the movie in broad sunlight. The picture quality doesn't get good until an hour into the movie. For some reason, probably an issue ripping the DVDs, the audio progressively lags the visual. Ah well, totally works for us!

The Wooden Boat Festival draws near. Tomorrow we will move up the river to Mystic Seaport where we'll tie up for the show. Alizée will be on display for all to see. Now that she's our residence, she starting to get that lived in look, so we'll tidy her up a bit for the festival.

My brothers and some related souls will be arriving tomorrow to hang with us during the festival. All in all, another big day coming up!