While we are making great progress on the preparations we are slowly turning into boatyard zombies. We eat, sleep and breath the boat from morning to midnight everyday. Problems with the steel plate we were having made gave us a feeling that it would never be completed but with hard work we persevered and we are very happy with the results. We now have the steel plate and fiberglass sheilds in place which will allow us to push small bergy bits without damaging the hull. This in no way will protect us from pack ice or larger ice pieces but will allow us some protected maneuverability in low concentration ice.
Our work sight has turned into a sprawling camp around the boat that consists of work tables, barrels, tarps and odds and ends that make our corner of the boatyard look like a small shanti town. What is great about it is that we get all sorts of visitors wondering what we are up to. We have gotten to know a fair few people here now and met some interesting characters including John an Arctic pilot who has provided us with names of people in remote villages that we can connect with, areas we should visit or can find shelter and the location of bays we can tuck in and hide from the weather.
