It's been a long winter....

It's been a reeeeaally long and cold winter here in Stockholm, Sweden... When we planned our preparations ahead of our departure in May, we thought we'd spend the month of March working on the boat.The last few years, March had marked the beginning of the spring. Unfortunately, right now, it is the end of March and it snowed yesterday. Since Polar Seal is standing outside, wrapped in plastic, we are very limited in how much work we can do right now.The minus temperatures prevent us from:

• Removing the shrink wrap. Cold temperatures = risk of snow. Risk of snow = bad stuff.

• Repainting the hull. Our plan is to scrape the hull bare of all the anti-fouling that has been painted on so far, apply a few layers of primer and then another few layers of anti-fouling. If the temperatures are negative by the time the epoxy primer cures, it might crack and that would be BAD.

• Installing the solar panels. Technically, we could do it. But with the shrink wrap on top of the deck, we have limited space to work. Besides, it is as mentioned above very COLD :)

In the meantime, we keep ourselves busy getting the apartment ready to be rented out, sorting out and throwing away stuff. And on the upside, Stockholm is really pretty these days! Duvnäsviken, March 2018Nandi, a friend's boat at our marinaThe waters of Duvnäsviken aren't sailing-ready!Polar Seal, standing on the hard to the rightRyan inspects the hull. All the paint will be scraped away!More sailboats in icy watersCurrent situation at our marina.