I can’t tell you how happy I am. We are the proud new owners of a Cubic Mini wood burning stove.
I’ve put a lot of thought into what kind of heat to put on Eleanor. Propane, diesel, kerosene, and finally settled on wood.
Wood is free, clean for the environment, safe, and readily available everywhere. I can find wood to burn on most any beach I visit. But will most likely visit carpentry shops and load up on scraps of good, long-burning hard woods. You know me, I love all things minimal, and the Cubic Mini is a work of art to me!
The vision of being snuggled up next to the fire, drinking a glass of home-made wine with Carla, reading a book on Eleanor really puts a smile on my face.
As you know Northern Europe, Greenland (in the summer), and the inside passage (north of Vancouver) are all places on our voyaging hit list. Even the Mediterranean will call for heat in the winter time. This is why we got Eleanor.
I’ll be heading back to Eleanor late in the winter to get busy prepairing for my journey to Panama. The first thing I will do is install my cubic mini!
I have to help a friend and pay off some debt by helping him build a small apartment above his garage. My mechanic was so cool to me. When I told him I was out of money he continued to work and said “we’ll figure it later”. I left him with a gold watch & band (omega) that is worth a few ounces, he didn’t want to take it, but I really hate owing anything and insisted that he hold it for me. It’s something that is important to me as my mother bought it for my father in the early 60’s, I’d like to keep it if possible. It’s too fancy for me to wear and not really practical but has some sentimental value.
I have to get the roller furling down as its frozen and go through the rig. I’m thinking about going back to a hank-on jib? There are also some ancient insulators on the backstay and I don’t trust them, need to sort them for sure.
I also have to figure some sort of autopilot, fix the shifting cables, and the engine stop switch.
I could easily spend a month screwing around with Eleanor before I take off in early April. My goal is to be in Maimi by May. My fater may join me for some of the trip, however I’m also toying with the idea of doing the whole journey to Panama off-shore so I can save the fuel cost. That however would require me to feel fully confident in the rig before I leave which will take some time and expense.
I had been planning to work 
on the rig during my trip down the ditch but I’ll have to burn 10-12 hours a day of diesel on the ICW. Whatever I do, I’m happy that the Cubic Mini will keep me company during the trip.
It’s really nice to be back on Splendid. I do find that my thoughts often wonder to Eleanor and the task ahead of me, but it is also lovely to swim in the Caribbean and lounge in my hammock.
Every day I wake up I feel that I’m the luckiest guy alive!
I’ve been having some asthma issues so I’ll be seeing a specialist in the city ($60), before I retrieve Carla and Natcho on Monday :) I’m happy to be back to a place I can afford to see a doctor, I have been putting this off a few months while I was in the states.
Eleanor really is beautiful, eah?
Sail Far and Live Slowly – alex
