Wednesday, April 11, 2012

An unexpected package

On Saturday, Ed stopped by the boat to start up the engine, and otherwise make sure the boat is ready to launch.  Unfortunately, he discovered that a visitor had made it's way into the boat, via the lazarette and an opening from the engine compartment into the main cabin, which we had forgotten to close up when we took off the winter cover.  The racoon drank some bilge water, ate some hot chocolate powder, and left little chocolatey footprints, but didn't appear to have damaged anything.  When Ed checked the lazarette to see whether the racoon was still on board, he found....a baby racoon.  A search of the boat uncovered another baby in a small storage area in the v-berth.  Using some tea towels, Ed made a bed for the babies in a bucket (photo), and left them in the cockpit for mom to find - after closing up any openings into the interior of the boat.  When he checked the boat a couple of days later, babies were gone, and all is now ready for launch!