Category Archives: Information

Information we discovered during our travels.

August 2013 Update on Us

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Its hard to believe so much time has passed since our last update! In good news, life is going well for Christi, Eric and Keith. Keith is thriving in every way, and while he is still all-consuming, he’s getting easier (and more fun!).

Unfortunately, this year, all three of our remaining parents have had issues arise, so in addition to caring for Keith, we’ve also had to spend a lot of time helping our parents. Christi’s dad had some medical issues that popped up early in the year — in the April 2013 post, we mentioned Christi had already gone to Las Vegas to see him five times, primarily to take him to various doctors. Fortunately, Christi’s dad is doing better now. Just as Christi’s dad started to improve, Eric’s dad — who has been ill for several years now — took a significant turn for the worse. Unfortunately, Eric’s dad has been steadily declining since then. Eric’s mom — who has health issues of her own — is having a hard time with the situation. We’ve decided that caring for children is much easier than caring for aging parents.

Eric is still traveling a lot for work. At the end of June, he went to a conference in Paris. Christi and Keith tagged along. Paris with a baby is certainly a different experience than Paris as a romantic trip for a couple. Below are photos from Paris.

Keith has come so far since the last update! He is now 17 months old. He recently got four molars and is now up to eleven teeth. He’s always amazed us with Continue reading →

February 2013 Update on Us

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The latest version of Voyaging Under Power, updated by Denis Umstot, came out in late December. We are excited to report that we (Christi, Eric and/or Kosmos) were referenced seven times with two photos. Voyaging Under Power is the bible of Passagemaking, so being included in the book is an honor. Denis did a great job with the new book.

Life continues to roll along for us. Eric has been putting in long days at the office and is traveling a lot for work. Christi is busy being a mom, which takes all of her time and energy. Keith is now 10.5 months old. Keith is getting easier and more fun every day, and Christi and Eric are enjoying parenting life more and more each day, too.

Three days after we published the November 2012 Update, Keith started crawling. He still demands the undivided attention of the person watching him. If the person watching him walks out of view, he’ll chase after them. If Keith crawls out of view of said person, he’ll stop and turn around and wait for about 45 seconds to make sure he is being followed. If he is not followed, he’ll crawl right back and complain about not being followed.

Even though he likes to crawl, he still prefers to be held. He is affectionate and loving, and likes to initiate hugs and cuddles. He’s recently become ticklish and loves to be tickled. A couple days ago, he started to “high-five.” He likes to clap and will do so every time we say the word “clap.” 

When he hears his name, he turns to look at the person who said it. When we ask if he wants milk, he invariably giggles in delight. If he’s hungry, he’ll respond to the word food with screams of joy. Though he doesn’t react as excitedly to any other words, we’re sure he understands quite a few words now.

Another kind of weird thing he likes to do is  Continue reading →

Choosing a New Muffler and Removing the Old One

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…continued from the Exhaust Wrap and Exhaust Leak (and Muffler) post. Here is what the muffler looked like when we took the exhaust wrap off:

Eric wanted to replace the old muffler with a stainless steel one. He contacted Nordhavn to see if the same muffler was made in stainless steel. It was, however, it was $1,400 vs $400 for the carbon steel version. But the bad news was that, while it wouldn’t rust as quickly as the carbon steel one, the stainless steel one was still prone to rusting, too. Hmmm… that didn’t sound good.

Eric talked to a few people and found out that Continue reading →

Exhaust Wrap and Exhaust Leak (and Muffler)

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In early 2010, we knew we had an exhaust leak. Also, the shiny metallic coating on our exhaust wrap in the engine room was starting to disintegrate, regularly shedding small silver fragments all over the engine room.

Eric knew getting the exhaust wrap off to look for the leak would be be messy, since it was falling apart. Getting it back on would be difficult and even messier. We decided it was time to replace the wrap, and hired a professional to remove the old wrap, measure and fabricate new wrap, and install it. While the wrap was off, Eric could inspect the system and make the repair.

Rather than Continue reading →