Sailed to Pelee Island Friday morning. We had the wind right on the nose and tacked all the way. It took longer but was a pretty nice sail.
The weather was great on Saturday but some boats from Ohio bailed due to high winds and storms expected. It didn't seem like a big deal so we stayed until Sunday. The storms never made it Saturday night but more were expected by noon on Sunday. We were up by 5:30 and underway by six. The wind was reported to be 10 knots. It was 15 and built to twenty. That put us at the known edge of our abilities!! The trip across the lake is 27 miles to the Detroit river in 30 feet of water. 
It creates waves like boxes. Three feet high and six feet apart. The wind stayed at 20 for some time then started failing back. We were beam to the waves on a beam reach. After I loosened up a little it was not that bad. We never got so much as splashed in the worst of it and the boat seemed to be in it's element.
The wind pushed us up the Detroit river @ 5 Knots and we covered the 50 miles in 9 hours. Not Bad!!
The fridge and radio were a great addition.

I installed the new radio and slid the VHF in next to it. The wiring job was a nightmare. I lost the old Barometer and ships clock. Replaced with a Lorus digital unit with Barometer and graph. I squeezed in a 900Ah deep cell battery to handle the refrigeration.

Replaced the manual bilge pump with a new unit.
It was easy to do and works great. I over did it with the fridge! The thing is surprisingly powerful. I set it to high and left some water bottles and beer / soda in it. The box drains into the bilge and when I found everything frozen solid and busted open the only thing to do was shut it of and thaw it out. The result was a bizarre concoction in the bilge with an interesting smell. I poured in a bucket of hot water and Mr Clean, then used the new pump to discharge it. I washed the box out and repeated until it was all gone. I installed a riser in the box with frozen stuff under and cool above. I turned the thermostat setting up to about 50% and that seems about right.

I tore out the old radio and the VHF. I built a new plate over on the S'board side by the Nav table. This little unit puts out 160 W and sounds really good. I wanted to get rid of CD's and use an I-Pod. This lets me use MP3 devices through an AUX jack and I can put music on 8 gig Thumb drives and play them through a USB jack.
BIG improvement. I'll post a picture when I have it wrapped up.

Well I finally got out and sailed. everything worked well. My crew (shown here) was a little rusty but I didn't make them walk the plank. I installed the fridge and it works great on battery power but the converter that feeds it shore power at 24 volts isn't working. I wrote to tech support and have a few ideas about what to do. The GPS is great, I think a new radio is next. Get rid of the CD's and use an I-Pod. I need to install a second deep cell battery as well. Never ends. I was watching an old guy from Michigan working on a 43 footer. That's where we are heading next. Man that is a lot of work. I use 3 quarts of VC-17 bottom paint. He needs 2 1/2 gallons!!! At 60 bucks a quart. Great heads up for what's coming.

After two weeks of hard work I am ready to launch
on Saturday. I pulled the teak slotted rails which locate
the sliding coach roof and refinished with Cetol.
Standard procedure, I bored out the holes around
the screws and filled with West System epoxy with
microballons. Re-drilled at installation. Bedded in
3m 4200 UV. Came out nice.

 Made aluminum spacers and painted everything white. The spacer that is standing is 2 inches long. This is slightly more than the ice trays. I will slide them in the slot that is created.  The rectangular plate is the backer of a larger plate  shown in the next picture.

 The plate at the back covers and protects the copper lines running between the plates. You can see the ice trays to the right. You fill them with water and add the insert. The frozen block slides out and breaks into cubes with the aid of the insert.

I rebuilt the ring around the lid. The old one was in bad shape. The box below seems well insulated ...we will see. Next step is to install the compressor and wiring. I finally got a few warm days to wax the hull. I did the blue stripes three times.
(BRAG). I have the best looking hull in the yard and that includes some far newer sailboats. I found a good deal on a 100 amp hour deep cell at Costco. I will need it with this fridge! Come on summer!!!!

Nothing to report. I have been working on my Kitchen for three weeks. A new fence is next. There is still a pile of snow by the boat and a good six inches of ice in my slip at the marina. I will get started in a few weeks. I planned on installing the new fridge compressor and cold plate in the yard but I may do it at the marina. That way I can get all the usual crap done and launch her. Here is a video on the Detroit river after a long slog against the current coming back from Put-in-Bay. It was over 90 degrees that day. Hard to imagine.