I now began serious vessel prep. I unstepped the Ariel’s mast, zinc chromated it and gave it a black and white sectional finish with enamel paint. The top of the masthead was painted in a black and white checkerboard pattern. I added a radar reflector, VHF antenna and a light. The boom and spreaders were also painted black and white.

I modified the mast head and tack pennant fitting to accept parallel forestays. There were two backstays also. I wanted the downwind rig that had earlier intrigued me so much. The wire to rope halyards were replaced by hardware store type nylon line. The ends were dip whipped and secured by bowline knots. There was a double block for the fore triangle to allow each jib its own halyard. A triple block allowed for two main halyards and a boom (topping) lift.

The old wire halyards became the new life lines. There was a middle lifeline and a lower border, and I wove my own life safety net around these lifelines. I replaced all the huge original thru-hulls. I removed the head and glassed in the thru hull fitting holes. The marine toilet would be replaced by a bucket, or a toilet seat over the outboard well. A friend of mine welded a fitting to the sink thru hull that allowed salt water to be pumped thru the existing faucet.

The forepeak became the "garage." I removed the cushions as they took up too much space. I mounted eight plastic five gallon Sparklets bottles in those stackable plastic cases you see on bottled water trucks. A separate hand pump would be used to retrieve this water. The main inboard water tank was filled with water for rinsing after a salt water shower. Any soap made with coconut oil (it may be palm oil, I forget) will make a great lather in salt water. Joy soap is the cheapest and most widely available.

The quarter berth cushions in the main salon were cut off where they extended under the icebox and the galley counter. This newly created space was sectioned off with plywood and turned into storage for canned goods. Over the hanging locker on the starboard side I mounted a kerosene Sea Swing stove. These are “gimbaled jewels" and a blessing to small boat voyagers. I carried five gallons of kerosene and five gallons of alcohol with spare burners, but I only used the alcohol to preheat the kerosene burners.

While hauled out I did that bottom job blister repair thing that I care never to do again. I replaced the rudder wrist pins with bolts. The rudder shoe was removed and re bedded. All the deck fittings were removed and re bedded with backing blocks. The window frames were removed and the plexiglass was replaced with tempered automotive safety glass. The existing fasteners for the frames were ground flat and drilled out to accept thru-bolts. These bolts would also allow the application of prefabricated removable storm port covers, from either the inside or the outside. The deck was given a non skid "sand in the paint"surface. A skydiver’s wings were painted on the transom. This was a good looking boat.

There was still much to do, as I now had to learn celestial navigation. This was a main key that was needed. I wasn’t just going to sail up and down the coast. I was going to get into this little space ship and blast off into outer space.

I took the time to learn the math. It’s easy. I got an old WWII Navy surplus David White sextant from a Vanguard owner. To gain a better understanding of celestial navigation, I got in my car and drove up and down the pacific coast highway taking “sights” along the way. When I got home, I did the math and tracked the movement of the car and the sun. Now I knew what it was all about. So easy...you have two points of a triangle....one is the nearest pole...the other is the ground point of the body ...the third point.....well its too much to explain here.

I mounted a platform on the stern rail and put two weatherproof speakers underneath. I piped the shortwave time signals into these speakers. I used a tape recorder to record the weather that came at 48, 49 and 50 minutes after the hour on radio station WWV. I obtained a sea generator with a heavy duty propellor. I also installed oversized running lights on an anchor pulpit that I fabricated out of mahogany.

Search and rescue items included a used EPIRB and an Achilles inflatable. I fashioned some galvanized hardware store fittings to make a scuba tank with which to fill the inflatable. I tried it out, just in case, and it worked. It was better than nothing. The inflatable was stored on the coach roof. The scuba tank was stored in a cockpit locker with the hardware store galvanized fittings attached to the valve ready to be attached to the inflatable in the event of catastrophe.

The time was getting close. According to the books, this trip should be done late spring and it was late spring. Time to provision. For food I had close to1000 different canned items, as well as dried fruits, nuts and pastas. And there were eggs straight from the chickens. Coated in oil, these eggs do not need refrigeration and will last several weeks.

Throughout the time spent preparing the boat, I continued studying, reading, researching and questioning others who had already made the trip. All this attracted attention and people began to see what I was doing. Still, I wasn’t taken seriously – until I gave two weeks notice at my job.