Refit

In October 2018 we sailed from Gloucester, Mass., to Portland, Maine, and pulled Billy Pilgrim out of the water at Maine Yacht Center. We expected to just store the boat there for the winter, and we’d work on it until we launched it again the following June. The best-laid plans. Unfortunately, Tim got sick that year, and the whole world got sick the following year. In March, 2021 we started going up to Portland at least weekly to work on the boat. We learned to be plumbers and electricians and carpenters and canvas workers and all other manner of tradespeople that work on boats. We ran hose and wire and installed through-hull fittings and electronics and a stove and a new head and an electric winch, and a lot of other things. It was all a little challenging. We walked among the 8-hour-a-day guys, and they tolerated us, but we were climbing a steep learning curve. We climbed slowly.