Today we finally moved the boat back into our slip! It was a beautiful, sunny day with light winds and not much current, so the maneuvering was pretty easy. I got to do all the driving, and it went pretty well except for almost scraping a piling on the docking bit. Misogi responds to the controls really quickly with her huge (4 foot diameter!) props, and maneuvering her is actually easier than Mariah was. I had to back Misogi out of the boathouse, which was pretty tight, then pivot 90 degrees and back her all the way down the side channel. I swung her around in the main channel, and drove forward straight over to our slip. Embarrassingly, my first docking attempt was a bit cock-eyed, so I had to back out and try a second time. Thankfully, the second attempt went swimmingly (or floatingly?), and Misogi is now tied up at good ol' gate 5.
All of the decks now have kiwi-grip and are theoretically watertight, and there's only a few railings and gutters to install before the exterior is finished. Misogi's interior is extremely dirty, but the electrical system is adequately functional for living aboard, as are the water and sewage systems. Unfortunately, the heating system doesn't work, and we will probably have to replace all the fluid and bleed the air out before it will work again. Misogi's rear end is impressively ugly with the temporary roof and stained canvas, so hopefully we will get motivated to finish replacing the back deck before too long. Everything else is fairly pretty though, which is good because we're moving aboard in 5 days!
Ian--you look completely at home on the bridge. Good work, pilot!
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