Preparation for the Great Loop

Wow, have not posted any new significant adventures since the North Channel in 2009.  And here it is April 2015!!! Well perhaps that is because our travels were only short week long ones, weekend get aways, etc.  But that North Channel trip planted the seeds for our initial planning to "someday" do the Great Loop.   And now planning is high gear for a Sept 2015 departure on the Great Loop.

So for now, we will just post that we sold the Sea Ray last April (2014) and purchased a 2006 47' Grand Banks Europa in June 2014.  We spent last summer getting familiar with and planning the modifications, maintenance and upgrades we wanted to make to the boat for the big trip! And here are some of them underway....

New name board (not quite complete) and complete buff and wax:

New varnish after stripping and sanding off the old: (also not quite complete).  This is thanks to my recently retired brother in law Kevin who spent months refinishing it.  What a fantastic job, thanks Kevin!!!

Bottom stripped and sanded, ready for barrier coat and final paint:

Bottom painted and new blue LED lights installed:

Almost ready for launch....

Also had Michigan CAT do all the 1000 hour maintenance over the winter storage season.  Included valve lash adjustment, coolant change, new zincs, after coolers, heat exchangers, turbos, etc. all taken apart, cleaned, tested and reinstalled.  Clean bill of health from the tech and a healthy bill to boot!  :>)
Made many other minor modifications and improvements and hope to launch the new Sum Escape on May 1.
So stay tuned, more pics to come after launch!