My, turn. The Zeus needs clothes.

Set up for this:  "Honey, I'm done.  It's ready to be patterned for a cover.  You have two hours."

First, should I be flattered that he has faith in my skills, or should I be pissed.  I was a combo of both.
Cue in sound of Lisa or Marge Simpson snarling.

So I threw together a pattern based on research and other covers I have seen.  But if you don't have the actual object there to finalize? it tain't gonna work out.

So, I go with the basic 'box' design.  It means that it will be the shape of the boat, but not fitted and thus windage will be a problem.  I installed straps below, but I've seen plenty of covers where that just isn't enough over the bow and stern.

Tim will say it was his idea all along.  Tim's life got threatened a lot.

Remember, when the sail loft is open..no 'suggestions' while there are rippers, scissors and hot knives present.

So, another photo story for you.

The boat is rigged to simulate where I need to put the openings for the davits.

My assistant.  She sucks.

After the plan B pattern was put in place.

Once again, my suckass assistant (she is blended into couch).  And who knew that
thawed out freezer gel packs made fantastic pattern weights.

Finished product after being cleaned of dog hair and chalk marks.

It's the little details......

Down in Key West, and it freakin' fits (but baggy as I predicted)

So, we decide to try the old grommet and bungie cord method of fitting the bottom of the cover, and it worked, and made it easy to slide on and off right before lifting.

Yeah, don't try this at home.

Pleased that measuring by paddleboard is working and the promise of wine for reward.

Zeus, the one of a kind super electric dinghy.

And my husband our our Kiwi friend Russ will be happy to recreate it for $1 million.  That would be in US, not NZ.

Let's start with the basics.  The dinghy is a ultra-light (well....at first), carbon fiber rigid dinghy that weighs less than 100lb empty.  Cool little dinghy.  Actually was tested by the NZ coastal rescue and they couldn't sink it.  Go visit their website or Facebook page.  www.octenders.com

Tim got together with Russ and explained his plan...to which Russ replied.  "You are quite mad, mate."

However, you can't dissuade Tim, he's a man on a mission.  To help explain:  We found a superlight dinghy and equipped it with a Torqeedo/Battery bank/solar power.  It can take one person for a romp at 10-12kts, or it can recharge itself for the practical anchorage to shore trips every day. As back up, you can hook her up the big boat either under shore power or the generator if needed.

We are still testing the actual performance data, but at a normal cruising speed, she lasts a long time.

So first step--we help OC to figure out how to get a boat to the US.  You know with customs and all that.  I think at first they didn't want to, which is understandable because they were more just a local, make as you go business. But they got through that, and we had the boat shipped to Kansas so that Tim could start his mad genius work.

Think..."It's alive.  IT'S ALIVE!"  and then cue in Danny Elfman's "Weird Science"

So, below are a few pics.  We named it Zeus to keep with the Elysium theme.

Gel coat being applied over the base.

Packing for shipping.

Off to the cargo ship.  We had the info, so Tim and I tracked it on VesselFinder.com.

After arrival in Kansas, the battery platform was built and batteries installed.

The first part of my involvement in this escapade-a cover for the battery bank/seat.

Okay, it doesn't really have everything on this switch panel, okay, it has everything except cabin lights. 

Arrival in Key West. Not all power cells installed yet.

All power cells, and front nav lights can be seen.

Zee Torqeedo.

The control that run from solar to batteries.

Evidently, we thought we were buying a boat to go explore, but apparently its to practice....

....our skills in carpentry, electronics, plumbing, you name it.

We were THIS close to getting our boat fixed up and ready for the season when I get the call....hey, Kim, at the marina, the boat next to you got struck by lightning.  Just thought you'd want to know.
(Side note: By season, we mean thumbing our nose at potential hurricane threat)

#(*@&#

Tim was already heading down to put the final touches on some other projects, so he bumped up the trip by a day to see a) how bad the damage could be for us and b) deal with insurance if needed.

Turns out it could have been worse.  We did have to replace the control unit for the auto pilot, replace some wiring on the the thruster and replace thruster control.  Oh, the big thing was the comms network between the inside station and the cockpit was fired.  Since it was a combo of the old Raymarine Seatalk and NMEA 2000 it was sort of blessing to get it all NMEA now.

But as we have learned from our Hunter lightning strike....it's the ghost in the machine that can bite you in the butt.

Besides the step aside for lightning, the latest boat updates:
New windlass
Rebedded the midship cleats (well, we didn't, our awesome buddy Jorg did)
New dinghy
New propane sensors/alarms, one in galley and one in lazarette,  all remote connected, so if something goes weird, propane gets shut off
FINALLY GOT OUR MMSI!

...and there's tons other stuff, but since I can't get my Chief Engineer to write them down, there's no way I can remember.