The last of the big projects... for now

The old dinghy.

We have been in Longboat Key for over 3 months now. Having done this for a second year (staying in FLA for the winter) we remain very happy with our selection of  "home port." Weather is decent, lots of restaurants around (not that we got to enjoy them much this year due to Covid), and various marine-specific stores and workshops nearby. 

In fact, there are only 2 things that are not convenient about our location. Firstly, it is an island, so you do have to plan for that, especially during "the season." It can be tricky -- lots of traffic, long waits, and no movement -- to get on or off the island. Most weekends we don't even try to go anywhere; we have our shopping all done and just cook on the boat.

The new tender

The second problem with our location is getting a small boat in or out of the water. Normally this doesn't concern us but (big project #1) we bought a new dinghy. Russ had to traverse a portion of Sarasota Bay to get to the nearest boat ramp both to retrieve the new dinghy and deliver the old one. Of course, weather being the uncooperative entity that it is, both days were very windy, making the task that much more of a bother. He survived. And we do love the new tender (we decided we should us a more upscale term for our tiny boat). We settled on a Rigid Boat. It's so awesome.

The view from the tender while going out to lunch on Sarasota bay.

Big project #2 just got finished today. We had the upstairs cushions reupholstered, with some new, harder foam in the seats we use most frequently. The original covers were in a faux leather vinyl. It worked, but it wasn't exciting. And we managed to ruin one of the cushions within the first week of owning the boat. We thought we'd go with a fabric this time. However, with supply chains still an issue, any pattern we selected was not in stock. Then out of the blue the gentleman who did our job showed me the fabric he was doing on his boat. Something new. Silicone.

We went with green.

And we just love it.

Out with the old (you can see the patch on the left side)

...in with the new.

That done we planned on heading out. But, a health issues raised its head. The dermatologist discovered I had a basal cell carcinoma that needed to be removed. Once the stitches are out we'll be underway. Early next week.

From here we plan on heading south. We've yet to get to the keys so that's our destination. We'll pass this way again in April or May, stay a while, then continue north to go into the river systems -- Nashville, Chattanooga, and Pittsburgh are on the list of places to get to.