I just realized there is no photo of Mike and I on here.  This one was taken at Addy's (from Marina de La Paz) wedding in 2013.  I will work on some new ones of us real soon!

This past week major progress on Avatar.  Hauled out on Monday June 15th.  We removed two thru hull fittings and they were glassed in.  The barnacles in side the valve were amazing.  And kind of a chore to removed them.  Bottom is now prepped and ready for paint, but will be the last thing that gets done.  We installed all 3 new transducers for the depth sounder, fish finder and forward seeking sonar, hope that helps us to keep away from the bottom!  They were different sizes so holes had to be made bigger and one new one drilled.  It is never easy drilling a hole in the bottom of your boat!!!  You make sure the transducer is gooped in good and tight, so no leaks!  Topsides now ready for another sanding with fresh primer on her. New cutlass bearing installed where prop shaft comes out of the boat.  There will be more work out of the water this coming week too.........Stay tuned ;-)

In the Travel Lift Don Jose

removed valves

Thru Hull being stubborn

Antonio #1 has the right tools

Antonio #2 bottom guy and fiberglassman extraordinaire

once thru hull removed makes the hole ready to fiberglass

Antonio #2 grinding away to build back up

Bottom forward old holes and tape marking where to drill new one

Mike adjusting transducer

Modified Transducer holes

View from inside with new sonar in place

hole from old transducer

new sonar transducer

Hull thickness 

Antonio #2 and Beto #1 working on prep

Beto fine sanding

Beto and Edy covering for over spray

Avatar on her jack stands

Bow primed

Starboard side primed

Beto #1 and Beto #2 with the spray gun

New Cuttlass Bearing installed

Engine Install and Refit

Hola all, This is Mike with some comments about the refit overall and the installation of the new/used motor. We can see the small light at the end of the long long tunnel. We would not be this far without the help from Pedro, the carpenter, Cookingham, Pedro Alvarez detail artist extraordinaire and Eddie Rodriquez overall marine maintenance wizard. Without these guys we would be looking at much longer time to be this far along and not near the quality of work. We have had delays such as the recent leaking port fuel tank needing replacement. Boat projects always begat more than you originally planned but the key is getting them done right and completing them. They have worked their tails off and due to their efforts we are getting closer to go float about. The motor was installed after the fuel tank as that was the only way to get the tank out. Above it was the gen set and that needed all new framework to support it if the fur hits the fan offshore. Thanks to Marina La Paz and their magical hoist the fits on a piling. It made short work of pulling out the old Westerbeke and putting the new to us Isuzu. Same HP but a bit lighter and newer. Old one burned oil at a rapid clip and no parts available easily led to a search with friends at Cross Marine. Rob has done a bunch in advance and today was down in the engine room with us getting the mounts correctly placed for final alignment. Mount brackets to be welded tomorrow and then we go back together. Rob has the same motor in his boat and has been an immense help with this project.
Monday is a haul out for paint on the hull and bottom with some other items to attend to. After that and during will be electronics online. Then the arch will come back to the boat freshly modified and finish hooking up new solar panels, wind generator and more goodies to make things easier.
Then we think about cleaning and moving aboard and trying out the new stuff, called a shake down! Also gives a chance to check the new equipment and get used to the new electronics!
We still have a few small items for Pedro the Carpenter to do. It is partially his fault that I am working so hard in retirement. It was partially his brainstorm and setting a date for many of us to take off to the South Pacific on his next birthday, March 21, 2016. Eddie is staying to the end. My back is coming along very well and these guys have made it possible for me to keep it so and work back into shape. Still have lots to do but past experience as a Service Manager in another life has come in handy juggling and scheduling things to get done so there is a flow without tooo many delays. Also making sure the boat is prepped like my race cars so do not want any DNF's  in Mid Ocean!
Can't wait to get to where we can go sailing again and enjoy retirement. Being on a boat will make you active no matter what.  We are waiting for the relaxing times!! And hopefully only minor projects after the main refit is completed.  We are both getting pretty excited!!

Thank you Grandma Mike!
Some of you may know that it was the wish of my Grandma Mike that I get a bigger better boat to sail to the South Pacific.  She knew it has been my dream for most of my life to make this trip.  So when she passed and left me some money, I bought Avatar.  I think about her often, but today she jumped up into my memory banks.  I have been going through the boxes of my stuff that came out of my desk.  Lots of things have been stored there for the last 8 years.  I came across a type written page she had given me with her handwriting on the back "for Shelly" with a little heart drawn next to it.
The printing said:

In Passing

from "Wanderer"

by Sterling Hayden

1916 to 1986

To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine transverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea -"cruising", it is called.  Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in.  If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change.  Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

"I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it".  What these people can't afford is not to go.  They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security".  And in the worship of security, we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a person need - really need?  A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment.  That is all - in the material sense, and we know it.  But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention from the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by.  The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in the dust on the shelves of patience.  Before we know it the tomb is sealed.

dated 8/31/2007

I distinctly remember the last time I took her sailing on Eros, when she came to visit in Mazatlan in 2008.  We took her twice that trip.  On the night of the second sail, she was crying and crying.  I asked her what was the matter, and she said that some how she knew it would be the last time she would go sailing.  And it turned out, she was right.

I sure miss her friendship, love and emotional support.  I guess I only have her to blame anyway, she is the one who taught me how to sail when I was only 8  years old.  She stuck that salt water needle in deep right from the beginning!!

Thanks for sending me the reminder today Grandma!

Here we are in our youthful days, around 1992