5 months and 2 weeks until departure and I'm almost ready to go now -
well, aside from the 200 lbs of food that still need to be packed, and
two more 'educational' sea trial trips that I need to make.

An item on my to do list since the last sea trials trip was to
reinforce the trailer. When the garbage truck backed into WiTHiN
strapped down to the trailer on the morning we were due to depart for
Vancouver Island, I realized that I didn't have adequate structure on
the raised bunk supports to stop them from skewing forward and
backward. When the truck backed into the bow, the vertical bunk
support tubes rotated back and absorbed a lot of the impact. It was a
lucky break. If the structure was as solid as I thought it was, the
damage to WiTHiN's bow would have been far worse.

Still, it illuminated a flaw in the trailer design that I didn't see.
The temporary solution was to use tie down straps in tension to
provide a sort of strut, but I didn't want to rely on the straps for
hauling a heavy, fully loaded boat across western Canada. So, I welded
on some steel struts which I think are much better - photos below.

I also added about 4 feet to the tongue extension tube. One end of the
tongue extender is latched to the hitch on the truck, and the other
end is latched onto the trailer hitch on the trailer. When the dolly
wheel is down on the trailer, this long extension tongue is used to
back the trailer way down the ramp into the water without backing the
truck into the water. Since WiTHiN needs to sit up high on the bunks
to clear that keel, I need to back the trailer very far down the ramp
in order for her to float off the bunks when launching. Visa-versa
when loading back onto the trailer. The previous tongue extender
wasn't quite long enough and we were putting dents in the hull from
forcing too much weight on the bunks when launching before.

One of the measures I can take to lessen the load on my battery, solar
panels and wind turbine, is to use AA batteries for some of the
portable electronics like my iPod, backup GPS, backup VHF radio, Viliv
mobile PC, and emergency power for the SpiderTracks tracking beacon. I
bought three AA battery holders and wired them up to the 12 VDC
sockets that cam with my solar panels. This makes for a compact 12 vdc
battery pack that can power any device with a 12 VDC cig lighter plug
- almost everything. When the batteries die, they can be replaced from
a stash of a few hundred AA batteries that I will have on board.

I had a foam mattress made for the prototype boat and it fits
perfectly in the cabin of WiTHiN, so I placed it back there onto of my
Ventisit mesh pad. The foam mattress has a vynyl cover, so it 'should'
stay reasonably dry. If it does get wet, then I can remove the foam to
let it dry out. I also replaced my heavy duty Ocean Sleepware sleeping
bag with a light quilt and sheet - far more comfortable in 16 +
degrees C weather. I will pack the Ocean Sleepware bag for the start
of the journey from Tofino, because even in the middle of summer, it
can get quite cold out on the water. I'll also be using the heavy duty
bag for the sea trials next month.

Speaking of sea trials, Bryon and I have changed the date for our east
coast of Vancouver Island trip to leave on Feb 15th rather than Feb
1st. We plan on starting in Nanaimo and heading north to Port Hardy.
Discovery Channel is meeting us along the way to finish filming a
segment they started during the lake trials on Glenmore reservoir many
months ago.

Other recent work includes figuring something to hold my bed pan, and
building something to protect the spare drive leg when it is stowed in
the bow compartment - photos below.

WiTHiN is packed pretty tight. I am going to make a diagram showing
the location of everything and laminate it and post it in the boat. I
already can't remember where stuff is.