Friday, September 19, 2014

Separation anxiety

With just about ten days to go before we depart, I must say that I am having some serious anxiety about leaving.  But not for the reasons that may be typical --  I'm not really worried about the boat, or the challenges of the sea, and not even all the people and places I will miss here.  Instead, I am anxious about not being able to easily get stuff!  I realize how incredibly easy it is now to get the things that we need for the boat -- engine parts, sewing stuff, mechanical stuff, electrical.  Just being in the US and having the Internet at our fingers makes all of that quite simple.  And being in the Bay area makes it even easier -- we have dozens of chandleries and specialty stores within just a few minutes drive.  Just this past week, I went to several chandleries (Whale Point, West Marine, Svendsen's); a place specializing in marine diesel alternators; and worked with two machine shops to get some parts made, and another shop to have some aluminum parts anodized.  And I'm not even thinking of all the stuff I ordered online this week!

So I am just a bit freaked out by the idea that very soon things like these will become much more difficult.  I realize that there are still lots of things available in Mexico, but for some really specialized things I think it will be either a long and annoying search, or it will simple not be possible to obtain without importing it from USA (and dealing with the cost/delay/bureaucracy of doing that).
We have been going a little crazy trying to decide what spare things to get.

Just this evening I came to the conclusion that our sump pump is dead -- we have a little sump pump because our shower is lower than the waterline, so the shower (and bathroom sink) drain into a little box, which is then pumped overboard.  I had *just* ordered two days ago a spare sump pump, so that is good... but of course, we should now get another spare!  Why is this stuff all breaking now?!  (In a separate post, I will write about two other unexpected projects which popped up this week... sometimes the project list feels like one step forward, two steps back!)


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