Thanks Grampa!

I'm writing this post while the fan from my new Dickinson Newport propane heater purrs in the background. I've spent many a cold morning bundled up under my sleeping bag at the salon table. Mornings are the only time I regularly feel cold on the boat. It's a tough way to start the day. Well no more, now that the heater Grampa got me for xmas is installed.

The installation was incredibly smooth and straightforward. The refrigerator removed, the heater popped right into its place. The propane and electrical lines from the fridge were perfectly placed to connect to the heater. I was going to remove the shelf above the heater, but it turned out to be structural. It is fiberglass and is part of the hull. I drilled a hole through it for the chimney. The hole saw cut though it like butter. I was able to use an existing hole in the ceiling to vent the chimney to the outside. The ceiling hole had held a non-working solar fan which was easily removed. The heater installed, I was able to use some of the old fridge framing to form some rudimentary cabinetry around the heater. The placement of the heater and cabinetry are temporary. I'm looking forward to building some permanent cabinets around the heater when I get back to Baltimore. Maybe the cabinets will hold a place for the playstation game console and flat screen tv I dream of for the boat.

Pic is of Muffy dipping a celery stick into blue cheese dressing while we watched the playoffs and ate chicken wings. The boat is getting very comfortable. Muffy says she can imagine spending a couple weeks on it at a time. And I'm starting to have fantasies of living on it next fall while we look for a house in Virginia.