Frequent readers are likely tired of hearing about how ocean sailing is hard on a boat. But it is the reality, and after putting a few miles under her keel Madrone needs some care.
There is nothing major broken aboard, and we’d likely make it many more miles in safety. But there are plenty of systems that are due (or if we’re being honest, overdue) for periodic maintenance. We’re firm believers that if we take care of the boat by spending the time to be proactive with maintenance, the boat will continue to take care of us.
By the time we arrive in Brunswick, our to do list has swelled to more than 100 items. Some are small – cleaning up a few rust stains here and there, addressing a couple of small leaks that are only wet in the worst weather. But some are more major – service for our trusty Yanmar diesel, new sails, electrical upgrades.
To keep track of everything, we resorted to a simple project management tool – a Kanban board. It’s a good way to visualize work in progress, is easy to implement, and provides the additional benefit of rewarding you when a task is completed – who know that moving a post-it note could be so satisfying.
We have our work cut out for us.
