I like the way you think SkipperJer, I really intend on doing just that. There are a few projects that I really do want to at least get under way though. The deck hardware re-bedding for instance. I purposefully picked the Ariel as my first boat because all I have read about it has been positive. My original fist choice was the Triton, but they seem to be harder to come by, and honestly the extra 2 feet isnt really going to make much of a difference to me. I cant wait to get her to NH and in the water, the fish and the whales are a callin lol. There is just something about the sea that seems to draw me in, I guess it may have something to do with practically growing up in a canoe. Some of the best times of my life have been just poking around in a boat.