I posted this on Sailnet as I used some of the forums to help prepare for the move.  In interest in not re-writing everything here, I'm just re-posting.  The big update is that Atlas is back in the water, but now it is FRESH Water.  Lake Superior.  She is at a dock at the upper harbour in Marquette, might move to Ashland, but I'll keep you updated.  Here is the update on the move….

Atlas was moved to Marquette two weeks ago and put into lake superior! (Yea!) It was a little delayed due to ice on the lake, but nothing but blue water now... I figured I should write an update and tell how it went. First of all, the people that replied and gave me a ton of great information helped a ton. (THANK YOU!) I used a lot of the suggestions, and the move was a good success. No major (or even little that I've seen) damage, and everything went smooth.

Just to review - the boat was in Rockland Maine, and was moved to Marquette Michigan. I'll add a couple of pictures of the boat on the truck, the mast wrapped, and the interior before and after the move. (Pictures are worth a thousand words…)

I flew to Rockland to prep the boat and pack everything. I also had a storage locker of stuff (sails, anchors, old rigging, etc…) that I didn't usually keep on the boat but wanted to pack into the cabin.

The boat itself: Based on feedback I left the lifelines up and didn't shrink wrap. I did take down all the vents, and tape all the hatches. Everything arrived good here. I did use a little duct tape on the main forward hatch (on the metal) this was a pain to get off. For the mast step with all the wires and hardware I first stretch wrapped it with packing plastic, then duct taped it. This worked great and came right off. For the instrument cluster at the helm and wheel I first left my canvas cover on. I used a 55 gallon plastic bag over it. It fit like a giant thing made out of latex that I won't mention here. The 55 gal bag had some lose spots so I used the packing plastic wrap to firm everything up and then duct taped the heck out of it. It came through with flying colours. 

Boom: I took the vang off and wrapped in bubble wrap to be stored down below. Most of the ropes and rigging I just left on (except the mainsheet) Everything was wrapped in moving blankets, plastic wrap, and duct tape. The boom ended up on the side deck of the boat resting on two life jackets and tied down. (More on that later) Everything arrived with no problems.

Mast: When I got to the marina the mast was half wrapped with the wires still in the spreaders but the spreaders taken off and wrapped flush with the mast at the marina's storage facility. The radar was crammed up against the wall and was bending the self levelling mount. I got the mast on saw horses and took all the rigging, electronics (left all the wires) and mechanical off the mast. This was a bit of a pain, and was a pain to put back, but I couldn't see shipping that mess all together. I did leave the roller fuller on for the headsail. I forget who's suggestion it was to use a piece of wood stuck into the end of the mast to secure the end of the furler, but that is what I did and it worked great! (See the pic)

Interior: I worked on the principal that everything will likely end up on the floor anyway, so my strategy was to put all of the heavy stuff in the middle of the floor wrapped in packing blankets and bubble wrap. The lighter stuff that didn't fit into cabinets all went on top of the heavy stuff. All the lockers were bungie corded shut, and packed to prevent movement. See the interior before and after pics. Most everything held together, the red floats moved from the bench to the floor (I figured they would) and the thing I was most worried about - the frame for the outside canvas, didn't move at all. They were wrapped to handholds with tape.

Everything went really well and I'm really happy with the move. I used Journey's end trucking, and the driver was great! We did let the schedule slip a week. I'd contacted them twice by phone and e-mail to confirm the week two weeks before the move, the week I flew up to pack the boat (and the week it was supposed to move) they called an old cell phone number and didn't get me so the delayed the move. Partially my fault and no real damage done. I did want a picture of the boat leaving Maine… Other than that, Journeys end moving was really good. I did have some frustrations with the service group at the marina, and felt like I had to stay on top of them (and in front of their desk) on everything. The first year I had the boat there I gave them about $15K of winter work (electronics, some fb repairs, etc…) I signed off on the work in October. I scheduled the boat to go into the water in May, and took the week off to enjoy time on the boat. They said everything was going great, but when I arrived for my week on the boat they had only just started the work a few days before. I spent the entire week trying to get them to finish the boat so I could actually sailed it. The first half of the week I had to stay in a hotel as it was on the hard. I guess that is why you can't keep a schedule on a boat…. Other small things drove me crazy, when they took the mast off instead of undoing two plugs for the wind speed and radar, they just cut the wires. It took me 30 seconds to undo the plugs, and an hour to re-wire them… The dock staff at Journeys end and the showers, bathrooms and other facilities are great. Everyone is helpful, but if you are getting service done sometimes it feels like you have to yell to get to the top of the list and I hate that.

Not much of a sailing video, but here is a video from diving in Cozumel in April of 2014.  I just found out I will have a slip at the Presque Isle Marina (Upper harbour by the active ore dock) in Marquette Mi this summer.  It is a 42 foot slip, and I'm happy to have a home for the boat.  Now to get it transported from Maine to Michigan...  I also will be starting a new job in Wisconsin, but it is only 2 hours from Marquette.

Year end video

A video of some of the year's adventures:

Labor Day Weekend - Rain, Fog, and Wind

Not too much sailing this weekend.  There was fog everyday until mid-afternoon, and some rain. I was going to leave on sunday, but stuck around to get a few boat projects done.  That night a storm rolled in from the east, sending 3 foot rollers into the marina.  No fun to sleep in...  See the video, this was better than it was during the night.

Another couple of good weekends of sailing.  The first weekend I overnighted at the White Islands again.  This was the site of a previous anchoring saga, but I learned from previous experiences and my new mantus mega anchor held solid.  It looks like a huge oversize chunk of iron on my bow, but it has not moved an inch in the 6-7 times I've anchored with it.  See the pictures below.  I also like the fact that the mantus can be taken apart.  I'm thinking about buying a smaller one for a stern anchor that can be stored.

After the White islands I went south and east, then north to ultimately sail around the islands.

I also put up the spinnaker one day.  It was a light wind day, and I had some trouble with the setup.  The snuffer line was tangled the first time I hoisted it, but after a quick straightening everything worked out fine and I was able to make 3-4 knots in 6-8 knots of wind.  I think I would like one of the top down furlers.  It seems easier than the snuffer, but I think it would also take a pole or extension on the bow. With the big anchor up front, I'm worried about the tack gettign tangled in the hoop around the anchor.

The Chute is up, I think I could have pulled the snuffer up a little further.

The New York Yacht club was having a race / regatta thing in the area.  Lots of sailboats and lots of mega yachts.

From my anchorage in Pulpit harbor on the second night out one weekend.  I sailed around the islands and back to rock land.  Pulpit is nice because it is a short hop back to the dock on Sunday morning.

Lots of wild life and lots of lobster pots.  I did pick one up and had to cut it off with the hook knife.

At anchor in Home Harbor, it is a little south of Rockland.  

Home Harbor

I made it out two weekends ago and overnighted in Home Harbor.  It is a little place off the islands to the south of Rockland.  It is a rolly anchorage as it is only protected on 3 sides and some waves make there way in.  It is a pretty spot, with a few houses on the islands around.  I made a few loops to check out the anchorage when I came in to look for low spots or boulders.  It looked OK on the depth sounder, but when I woke up in the AM the low tide was showing a few rocks about 15 feet off my stern.  My new anchor held fine.  The fog came in and I could only see about 30 feet for most of the morning, so I waited until the fog lifter at about noon to head back to port.  It was a nice outing.

Homeport

Rocks a little closer than I thought when I woke up...

I actually cooked dinner, spuds, eggs, hot sauce and beer..

This was about 11 AM, the fog came and went all morning...

The purple dropped pin is where I anchored.

The following weekend my parents came to Rockland.  It was lobster fest so we had some nice meals and sailed over to Northhaven.  It was  a great day and the wind was perfect to have the parents on the boat.  (Not too wild, but not too slow)

Cruising and the 4th of July

It has been a while since I posted, but I've been out on the boat a few times and have been working through the bugs.  Lots of work on the auto pilot and electronics, and there are still a few bugs.  There is always work on a boat...

A few pics from the cruising and some comments.  My first overnight was to Pulpit Harbour.  It was a great harbour, and I grabbed a mooring for the night.  A neighbour came over on his dinghy to say hi.  He was on a very pretty PSC34 named Cookie.  It was a nice night, and the following week I stayed there again after having some autopilot problems halfway through a planned cruise to another island.

1st sundowner on the boat in Pulpit Harbor

My friend Eliza came to the US for the week around the 4th of July.  We spent a night in Montreal when she flew in, and then headed to Maine to spend a week on the boat.  Turns out she is a good galley wench (sp?)

We spent the first night on the boat at the marina, and had a nice lobster dinner in town.  The next day we sailed to Catine and went for a walk in the town.  We put the boat at the city dock and walked into town, about a block in we found the Tap Room.  Mmmm  beer!  The town was nice and had a lot of historical landmarks with some pretty funny signs.  The signs would explain what happened when, then have some odd info at the end like "This person was burned here, after being compelled to eat his nose"

From Castine we anchored out in Holbrook Cove, just next to Castine.  The new windlass worked great.  The first anchor set was on rock, but the second was good mud.  A tall ship anchored next to us, and was a pretty sight.

This is a new picture, and not the same spot as my first sundowner, but it is becoming a common theme...

A very nice meal on the boat, Good Galley Wench!

From Castine and Holbrook we sailed around the Penobscot river entrance, over to Belfast to check out the harbour there.  We sailed into Belfast and sailed out. I made Eliza do about 4 tacks with about 3-4 minutes between them.  It was good fun.  We anchored that night (the 4th of July) in Searsport.  This is a very open anchorage, and there was some wind, but the bottom was very muddy and good holding.  We watched the fireworks, had another nice dinner, and did our best to kill a bottle of Bundaberg Rum.  The next day we slept in, and were a little slow getting up.  But we did go for a mid-morning swim before pulling the anchor.  It was refreshing, and we used the cockpit shower with the hot water to wash off.  It worked good, and was the first time I had used it.

Old Glory on the 4th of July off the back of the boat.

The next day we sailed all the way from Searsport to the islands near Vinalhaven and anchored in a narrow anchorage next to the White Islands.  The first attempt at dropping the hook didn't hold and I pulled up a garden of kelp.  The guide book encouraged a bow and stern anchor so we dropped the main hook close to shore and the stern hook close to the rocks behind us.  This was just begging for trouble, but it was a pretty anchorage...

So middle of the night, the second anchor starts dragging.  A nice pendulum swing and we are headed towards shore.  I was watching it and caught it well in time, but what happened next was almost comical if it wasn't 1AM.  I started the motor and pulled up the tail anchor.  As soon as I put the boat in gear, I heard a sickening swish and then thump thump thump of the dinghy painter getting pulled into the prop.  (I usually keep a very short leash to avoid this, but had forgotten my trip to set the anchor earlier in the dinghy...)  So, there we are, drifting to shore with a rope  around the prop.  About this time Eliza woke up, I had her grab the rope knife (Hook knife on a stick) and I jumped into the dinghy and cut the line.  We motored the boat and set the hook and everything worked out, but the next morning I had to go for a very cold swim (we were now on the edge of the Atlantic and far away from the river) to cut the rope.  It worked out and we headed home, after a great 4 day trip.