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Every great craftsman imagines that somehow their gained expertise will somehow allow him to avoid the pitfalls, delays, added expenses, drunk workmen, accidents, injuries, broken tools, and surprise projects that shall befall the lesser mortals. After all, proper planning and expertise should make Murphy's law your little bitch right? Well, I'm no expert craftsman, and boat maintenance in general is still pretty fresh to me. Still, I had visions that our grand electric conversion project for our sailboat 'Tempo' would go smoothly, come in under budget, and that the boat would be back in the water in 3 or 4 days. Somewhere, all the master boatsmen of ages past are laughing their asses off at me.

Chronicled herein is the grand installation of a pair of electric motors for our sailboat as well as a 'should have been expected' ton of unexpected maintenance. As Rumsfeld once lamented, "there are known unknowns." Lurking in every boat haul out, they'll bite you in the pocketbook every time. So, while the electric conversion proceeds like clockwork, the rest of the boat snowballs into an avalanche of maintenance. Amid this, the state forced the closure of the boat yard, we lose our temporary slip for the boat, squalls flood the yard, and both Christmas and New Year's holidays come to pass. Between delays and suddenly revealed critical projects, one might wonder when the boat will ever actually touch the water again, and at what cost!

As the bills mount, and huge parts of the boat are separated, I said to Charlie, "I swear, I just came in for a bottom coat of paint!"