The sails proved to be one of the most awkward tasks to finish off. Whilst it didn't take long to set up the headsail after being shortened, fitting the stackpack on the boom was fraught. After several attempts and conversations with the sailmakers and Z-spars we took out the feeder at the end of the boom (rather brutal!). We then had to fashion a smooth entry in the extrusion and with a little help from a former Storm competitor that we'd met, managed to fit pull the bolt rope at the foot of the sail through boom with the material of the stackpack around it. With the sails up and after a day spent compounding the deck she looked so much better.
With several wet and windy evenings in prospect we thought that we'd spend what we'd save on marina costs on the interior and get the main bulkhead between the saloon and the heads sorted out. We gave in to the temptations to buy not one but two ludicrously expensive but very attractiveDanish oil lights. Together with the downlighters that now replaced the fluorescent strip lights and some strategically placed reading lights we had all illumination options imaginable from bright working conditions to atmospheric. There's nothing nicer that being snug down below when the wind and rain are raging outside, it was just a shame we were in a boat park and not safely tied up in some more remote part of the harbour like we used to be on the Beaulieu River.
Eventually most of the jobs were completed, as always most took longer than expected. I'm really impressed with the NMEA 2000 instrumentation, it all worked straight away after being extended. Finishing off the portlights and fitting blinds was the opposite; I couldn't face replacing all the screws with ones that were the right length so just ground them off but it was a long messy job. With most of the restoration materials and tools taken off the boat it was possible to build up a stowage plan and fit in all the bits and pieces we'd grown accustomed to having on a cruising yacht. "A place for everything and everything in it's place" is the theory but putting it into practise took many trips to various shops and chandleries, yet another dent in the credit card and lots of time but we did get there and are now, at least, are reasonably organised. We've found that a boat is just like a house, you have to live in it for a while to find out what works and what doesn't. 
It felt good putting the charts and all the other navigation stuff back in the chart table, we could imagine being out to sea even if we couldn't be there yet. Now that the electrics are largely finished and from a sailing perspective it's only the deck organisers that we're waiting to fit (which we can easily improvise) we're ready to go as soon as the weather improves.We celebrated being "back in commission" and hoped for better weather sooner rather than later. There's still rather a long todo list but it's mainly things that are non critical that can be deferred; it's time to see how she sails! So frustrating not being able to take her out yet after working solidly over the past eight months; as Paul (The shipwright) said "its time for her to start paying you back".
