Author Archives: Melissa

Hello Goodbye

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Long time cruisers say that other than doing boat work in exotic locations, the cruising lifestyle is a series of hellos and goodbyes. They say you make lifelong friends, spend a lot of serious time with them while you are both in the same place, then have to say goodbye; not knowing when or if you may cross paths again. I think we must be cruising already because this is already happening. This week we were pleased as all get out to host Tate and Dani McDaniel from Sundowner Sails Again. 

Tate and Dani, with our other sailing pal John Miller of S/V Dulcinea.

Tate and Dani’s blog was one of the first blogs we started following when we started our own plan, and we enjoyed every minute of watching them progress from dreamers, to planners, to cruisers with all that entails. They bought an old Westsail 32 and refit her from stem to stern themselves, scraping and saving and doing everything they possibly could to make their dream a reality. They may be young, but they are not trust fund kids. They are just hard workers with goals who are out there challenging the status quo that says you have to give all your best years to a job, and only then can you live your dreams. These are resourceful people and we have learned much from reading their blog and communicating with them over the years.  Daniandmelissa

They sailed for a year, then put their beloved Sundowner on the hard down in Panama. Taking advantage of the low gas prices we’ve enjoyed, they bought an RV and began a coast to coast journey to see their own country before returning to do more sailing. They are truly adventurous of spirit and stout of heart! They’ve got about 3 months to go before they go back to Sundowner, and they have spent less than 1/2 of what they budgeted for fuel. I’m kind of amazed by that.

We were happy as clams to have them join us on S/V Blue Moon for race night.

After traveling across the country, they were finally in our neck of the woods up here in the Pacific Northwest, taking in the big trees, big water and bigger mountains. We invited them to park their RV in our ample driveway for a few days and come see Tacoma, S/V Galapagos, and us! I tell you, it’s pretty darn cool that we met through blogging, and that they know some of the same people we know, all through blogging about sailing and refitting boats. It begins to feel a bit like belonging to a community. 

As we are often reminded, people are so much  more multi-dimensional in person than they are over the interwebs. Of course we have enjoyed reading their blog, and watching the videos they are now making, but you never really know how you will fit together in person. Turns out, there was no worry about this at all. When they pulled into our driveway and stepped out of their rolling home, I actually felt like I had known them for a long time. We just ‘get along’ together.

The fiddler, aboard S/V Joy, a Columbia 50 . Doesn’t every boat need one of these?

We thoroughly enjoyed every minute of their visit. We talked long into the night, sat in Galapagos’ cockpit and ate too much food, went sailing on the C&C 40 we crew on, and generally hung out and became fast friends. Having Dani along on my daily walks was such a treat. I feel like we were just getting to know them when they had to leave.  I’ve got to say, it was hard saying goodbye, knowing it will likely be several years before we cross paths again.

As I look through the photos for this post I realize that we didn’t take any photos of their RV, or of all of us together. Simply put: we were having too much fun to remember to do it. Bon voyage, until we meet again, Tate and Dani!

That beautiful S/V Joy. A Bill Tripp design. Could you even ask for a prettier hull shape? I’m thinking after Galapagos…maybe.

 

 

Aft Cabin: Fait accompli!

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I’ve been waiting over two years to write this post. We finally have the aft cabin we’ve been wanting on this boat. It’s been quite the process. The problem: while large, the aft cabin offered no way for us to sleep together. This was a bit of a let down when we looked at the boat, but one that didn’t keep us from loving her anyhow. One side had been updated to a ‘double’ berth, which frankly, in boat language, means that one adult can sleep comfortably with their partner if the partner is the size of a tiny, swaddled babe. The other side was a narrow single. So basically one of us, usually me, could get a decent night’s sleep and the other one got a marginal sleep. I don’t know about you, but good sleep is the foundation upon which I stand.

The middle 'seat' was basically useless.

The middle ‘seat’ was basically useless. We just never used it at all.

When we bought the boat there was a worn out mattress on the ‘double’ side. That had to go quickly. For a short term solution I bought a foam mattress on Amazon, meant for an RV, and cut it to fit the space. That was a good solution for awhile, but we always knew it was temporary.

A minor upgrade, but a world of difference in the short term.

This year we got serious. I went to the boat show in Seattle and spent the day with an agenda to talk to mattress manufacturers. I knew this was going to be pricey because it’s a big space. I used a king sized mattress cut for a V berth by way of comparison, although I knew it would be a bit more than that because we have a large middle piece. The lowest bid I got was from an east coast firm that quoted me a price of $3700, plus shipping for a bed that felt pretty good on the showroom floor, but I was not sure how long it would last. At that point, I really didn’t know the right questions to ask about foam quality. That was a low ball price with very basic fabric covering. The other bid I got was closer to $5000 after taxes. Again, that was for the basic model. I’m not known for choosing the basic model of anything. I can upsell myself like a champ.

Ikea had a natural latex mattress, but I would have to do all the work myself, and I didn’t actually want to, especially as the mattresses alone would have been about $2200 after taxes. I was okay with that price, but not sure I was up to handling the task willingly. Sometimes I just want to pay to have things done. This was one of those times. Every time Mike would see me toying with the idea of doing the whole thing myself to save money, he would shake his head and say, ‘No, Lucy.’.  I love that man, but already I was getting a little concerned we’d have to choose between a new strong track for the mast and a decent bed. I consider the idea of ‘compromise’ to be a challenge for me to get my cake and eat it, too. The little grey cells in my head began to work.

We decided to press the ‘pause’ button for awhile and get the final design on the template in the aft cabin completed so we’d know exactly what we would be working with. We played with measurements and made a cardboard template, then a butcher paper pattern from that. I took measurements at intervals along the hull to get the curvature right. I learned how to do this on You Tube, where people learn how to do everything these days. What a world we live in.

Measuring for the curvature.

In the end, we ended up with this expanded sleeping space.

We lost a tiny bit of walking space on the right, but nothing in the middle since we couldn’t walk there anyhow. We don’t miss the few inches we lost on the right in the photo.

During our ‘pause’ we played with combinations by redoing the foam in both of the other cabins, educating ourselves on foam types. We were killing the proverbial two birds with one stone; a metaphor that while violent, is apt. We created our ‘rumpus’ room in the v-berth by using a firm foam base with a medium foam on top of that. It’s good for sitting, fine for sleeping if you like a firm mattress. We love that space now and are able to sit and watch our DVD’s on our new little TV/DVD player combo Mike wrote about. It will be a great guest cabin.

We used the old foam with a 3″ latex topper to remake the midship cabin. It’s a luxurious sleep now. We liked the latex topper from Sleep On Latex so much we decided it was a win for the aft cabin. One decision down.

On a whim I took our pattern up to Seattle to Friendly Foam. The young man who helped me was, indeed, friendly as he wrote out the bid for something close to $6,000. Without upholstery. That’s just for the foam, cutting, and gluing.  Ouch and OUCH! I bowed and scraped my way out of the shop, trying not to run,  wondering what I was even thinking of going in there. I mean, these people probably do great work, but they pay Seattle real estate prices for their shop.

In the end, we took our pattern, our latex, and our desires to our local Best Foam and Fabric shop in Tacoma and they did the cutting, gluing and upholstery for us. Let me tell you, there is something grand about having an expert you work with who knows his topic and is willing to spend some time educating others. We love this place and will always go to them first whenever we need upholstery or foam for any kind of project. If you live in Seattle, make the drive to Tacoma before you make a decision on who is going to do your foam and upholstery. They are awesome and their prices are more than fair. We ended up using a three layer approach with a 3″ dense base layer, a 2″ medium layer, and the 3″ natural latex topper. After making sure these fit perfectly (they did!), and covering them with the PUL waterproof fabric, I took them back to be upholstered.

Three layers of foam.

Here’s the final cost breakdown. By way of comparison, I had to order one queen sized topper and one full sized one in order to get enough latex material for the entire cabin. I ordered the latex myself because the good folks at Best Foam couldn’t get a better price than I could at Sleep On Latex and they were impressed with the quality of latex I showed them.

Foam:  dense and medium, 1100$
Latex: $570
PUL fabric: (used 40% discount coupon from HobbyLobby) $78.00
Upholstery Fabric: major discounted find at Hancock Fabrics, may it rest in peace. $120
Upholstery labor: $400

Total cost: $2,268 , a savings of at least 50%. Sweet. The only labor involved for me was covering the foam mattresses with the PUL fabric. Best Foam and Fabric couldn’t do that for me because her sewing machine was for heavy duty fabrics only.

In a previous post I wrote about how I wanted to be able to lift these mattresses up with ease to get to the stowage underneath. Getting to the stowage isn’t as hard as we predicted it would be so we are forgoing that little project in favor of other, more urgent things.

The bed feels luxurious and should last 20 years with good care. We are very happy with it. Now I get to design bedding! The little grey cells, they are working their magic.

And here is a link to the last post in this series, whereby we finally get sheets.

Ta Da!

Pillows are storage for blankets and other bedding.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Random, Disorganized Thoughts on Moving Aboard

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We are on board Galapagos at the dock this week for the first time ever, testing out this ‘new and improved’ lifestyle we’ve worked so hard to achieve. This morning I awoke with mixed feelings, which, I suppose, is natural. Having worked for the last week in a focused, almost manic way, to get our house scrupulously clean and move all of our personal supplies and thingamabobs out of the house, we are both just dog tired. And speaking of dogs, we miss our Skippy dog. We really do. He went to stay with Andrew and Jill until our renters are gone and we are back in the house. It’s weird how a dog gets under your skin. But seriously, you can eat off of any surface in our house if you wanted to. It’s that clean. It looks like a frickin’ hotel.

After our 5 day cruise, Mike worked on a list in his little notebook. Now the list is growing every day.

Today I’m just not thinking much about how strangers are living in my house. Instead I am looking around in this boat and reflecting on how great it is, but how very much there is to do, and also how very much neither of us want to move anything on board. We just like that it wasn’t junky looking on the inside. Past tense. We liked the clean, sparseness that is an almost empty boat. But that’s not going to last. Already I am irritated with the number of items that are out in plain view in the salon. And the aft cabin is just a downright shame. We are waiting for our mattresses to be upholstered so we are sleeping in the rumpus cabin (v-berth). This means I have to remove all the rumpusing stuff from that cabin, make the berth sleepable, then the next day I have to undo everything and replace it like it should be. So I’ll need to add that to my morning routine, which now goes from about 7:30 to noon. Half my day is already gone.

One thing about this week is that 6 days is really not enough time to bother putting everything away. We’d just have to get it out again in less than a week. So we are going to live out of containers for a week. Woo hoo. Even my containers are disorganized.

Why bother stowing this stuff? We’ll be back at the house next week.

This was Mike’s first day getting ready to go to work from the boat. Neither of us got much sleep last night since we are not used to sleeping that close together, we were both still running on adrenaline, we have never slept in the v-berth, and the boat was making a ton of noise because of wind. Sleeping at anchor is different. Mike’s preternaturally good hearing is not a gift when he’s trying to sleep and there are a million noises. Also, I realize how much light there is in the city, and in this marina. Tonight I will put something over the hatch in the forward berth. It’s too light in there for sleeping.

I will be working this week as well, but since clients come to the boat to see me, I better get up and put all this shit away. I can’t have people coming down to a boat that is in disarray. Maybe that’s another good thing about working from the boat. Lights a fire under my rear to keep this salon looking decent.

My alarm woke me this morning and the boat was cold. Seriously, it was warmer in the cockpit than inside the boat. This does not bode well for living aboard next winter, which is probably going to happen. I just don’t want to think about that because….cold…damp…. On to the next thing for now..

I have a few little projects to get done this week. We are remodeling the hanging locker in the aft cabin. Seriously, these are just huge caverns of wasted space right now. Mike will do a post on his part of that. My part, today, is Bilge Kote and some fabric headliner I need to use up. I need to get my butt off the settee and get started on that. I’m noticing a trend here.

This is in the salon. I used that thick fabric headliner to cover the walls. Clean appearance, and it absorbs sound also.

The aft head is a mess. I want to put everything away, but there is a leak in the deck drain above the aft head. I hate those deck drains. They are too small, and I don’t understand why water has to drain anywhere but immediately OFF the boat. In a perfect world I would pay someone to put drains in the bulwark. Why is it even possible for it to drain into the cabinet? We have a fix in mind. It’s on the list. Meanwhile, everything is out on the counter. It is chaos.

There are too many different places leaks can occur on this thing.

I do love having a hot shower inside the boat. I thought it was ridiculous when we bought her. I was wrong. It is luxury.

We are discussing the galley remodel. Seriously, it is LONG overdue. Take a look at what’s underneath those sinks. It’s a leak waiting to happen. Oh, wait, it’s already leaking. And those drawers have to go. They are narrow and deep. Just try finding anything in them without emptying the drawer. There is a lot of wasted space in that area. I want a cabinet with pullouts or shelves.

What do you think? Time to pull this out and start over? Love that big gob of silicone on the right? Excellent.

And this:

Narrow. Difficult.

This week we played ‘What’s That Smell?’.  On warm days, when you come to the boat, the cockpit has a weird smell. Then you open the companionway door and WHEWY! Until you get air circulating, it’s pretty bad. Of course, people always think ‘it’s the head, or your hoses’, but it’s not that. New PVC pipes. Excellent holding tank installation. No leaks. No smell. It’s the bilge. My nose knows. Looking down in the bilge we notice something that looks like transmission fluid, but it’s not. However, it is possible it is hydraulic steering fluid. Mike took the shop vac to it and cleaned out the bilge.  Problem solved. The smell went away almost completely. But these lines to the hydraulic steering are old and travel through fiberglass tubes so it’s likely there is a small leak, but enough that over time fluid collects in the bilge. They will be replaced. Pretty sure that’s the issue as the boat has always had that smell to some extent, and we’ve had to mess with the steering a couple of times. Just say ‘no’ to nasty boat smells.

That's our boat in the South Pacific. Notice the Minto on the foredeck. Notice the double furling foresails. Notice how pretty she is.

That’s our boat in the South Pacific. Notice the Minto on the foredeck. Notice the double furling foresails. Notice how pretty she is.

Let’s see, what else? Oh, dinghies. Still considering options there. We’d still love the Portland Pudgy, but $$$ and also they are back ordered on the liferaft kits. We would have to order everything now to be sure to have it by next year. We don’t have the money to do that now so we’re looking at options.  A previous owner of this boat had two dinghies: an inflatable and a Minto sailing dinghy, both kept on the foredeck on passages. Hmmm. He emailed us his thoughts, having a ton of experience on this particular boat. We are strongly considering his views for many reasons.

On the Women Who Sail local page, a woman was selling her nice hypalon dinghy and a Minto that needed transom fiberglass work. We drove out and made a deal on both of them, offering her full price. She declined a deposit, saying she didn’t need one.  I texted I would pick up today. She texted ‘thumbs up’, which meant, to me, that this worked for her. Then she sold the inflatable to someone else the same day. Then she told me that the Minto was no longer available. Huh? Or rather WTF??  Karma will not be kind to her. That was a dishonorable thing to do. I’m still angry because this week is Mike’s birthday. That little Minto would have been a fun birthday gift. But it has got us thinking about our options again. So we’ll stick with that. I’m sure there must be a reason the Universe intervened on that purchase. Maybe the hypalon had a leak? Who knows? When the right combination of boats comes together, it will work out.

Random, fairly disorganized thoughts. Like my boat right now. Ok, procrastination through blogging over now. The aft hanging locker is calling my name and it’s getting irritating. I must bow to its wishes and make it pretty.

It will be a fascinating week! We are looking forward to it.