August 18, 2011 Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio

I have a whole list of maintenance items to do to Excalibur. I’ll probably come up next week and get started on them. Many I will do myself, but some like fiberglass repair will require some professional help. Kip is making a new teak companionway board for me to replace one that is cracked.

For the record, we motored 162 hours on this trip which covered 957 miles. Expense wise, the numbers from my accountant, Kerry, who tracks them daily stack up as follows: We had a budget of $150 per day. We were gone 59 days and spent $6,930, or $117 per day, 77% of the budget. $3,018 was spent for docking, $651 for diesel and pump outs, $708 in fees (Welland, car rental, etc.), $789 or groceries and booze, $980 on restaurants and $817 on misc. things, as shopping, etc. These numbers include an estimated $600 we spent prior to leaving on supplies.

I should point out that these expenses are not all additional expenses as we would have many of them if we stayed home, as well as additional expenses at the garden shop, etc., so it’s not really possible for me to come up with the net additional expense of the trip.

Thanks to all of you who followed the trip. I had fun doing the blog daily and now have a nice record of our adventures. I want to thank Lew and Gretchen for being such wonderful sailing companions. Their participation enriched our trip and made it possible for us to undertake this trip. Thanks also to Kip for his Welland assistance and to Jim and Jola who visited us in the 1000 Islands.