Category Archives: Living Aboard

Weekend Update Ramble

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Contrary to what it may look like, I haven’t abandoned the blog completely. And there’s actually a lot going on. Here’s the news in brief:

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One more year to enjoy the fall colors in the yard!

We have a move aboard date from the marina of December 1! We’ll be trickling down to the marina probably after the holidays. Originally, our plans were to move aboard November 1. Andrew and Jill have moved into the house, and they were to be joined by another young couple, John and Melina,  to share expenses and keep the house in the family for awhile longer. That plan needed to be changed when the marina had no room in the proverbial inn on the November 1 move-in date. Oopsy! That created some considerable stress for about a week or so.

But as is so often the case, this roadblock turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Also on November 1, Claire and Dan came home from Guatemala for 6 weeks. We narrowly avoided a situation whereby Claire and Dan would be moving in while John and Melina were moving in while Mike and I were moving out while Andrew and Jill were moving into our room from another room. Whew! It makes me tired just to write that extended sentence. And dealing with all the furniture moving? Ugh. Crisis averted, John and Melina will wait until after the holidays to move into the house. Thanks, guys! We love you.

More fall texture.

More fall texture.

As a result, we get one more holiday season in the house, with all our kids and their significant others! That makes me real happy. Since Dan and Claire will be in Edinburgh for Christmas this year, we decided to combine our Christmas and Thanksgiving holidays and celebrate what we are calling ThanksMas. So on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, while the rest of the country is out shopping and keeping our buy-more-stuff economy strong,  we’ll be safely ensconced in our family room opening stockings, drinking mimosas, and playing some pretty awesome games to celebrate the whole season. There will be prizes. Oh yes, definitely. We will make it a day to remember.

While I’m pretty stoked about ThanksMas,  I notice that it’s really put me off my holiday stride. With 58 holiday seasons under my belt I’m used to having a certain amount of time to gear up for the traditional Thanksgiving and Christmas. First we get Halloween out of the way, then I begin to consider the Thanksgiving menu. Decisions are not actually made until well into November. I don’t generally get out the Christmas decorations until the day after Thanksgiving. I better get my ass in gear since we’re living in a small time warp around here. Ho ho ho. Maybe a tiny tree for Galapagos? Just saying…

And speaking of Galapagos, things are in full swing getting ready for the big ‘move our crap aboard’ that will be happening in December. To be fair to us, we don’t have a lot of stuff anymore. We’ve pared down so much that I’m not really sure what we’ll be bringing with us except for our winter clothes and personal items. Everything else is already there. And we are so good at tossing things out now. Really good. My dreams of having a boat that isn’t always a complete disaster inside could actually come true.

We have a lot of charts and chart books. They will get their own special place.

We have a lot of charts and chart books. They will get their own special place.

Along these lines, to create easier stowage, Mike has been fitting all of the hanging lockers with deep shelves like we did in Moonrise. This makes those nice big lockers so much nicer since we now get to use all that vertical space. This is a bigger project than it sounds. In a house, closets have square corners and they are usually the same size all the way from ceiling to floor. On a boat, each shelf is a different size and micro-shape. It takes a long time to get a shelf to fit just right. Plus, what if the boat is moving when you are using that level to get the shelf just right? Everything has to be complicated on a boat.

He experimented with using wire shelving in this aft cabin locker. It turned out fine but it’s likely to be noisy underway unless I dampen the sound, which I will do. Still, we are dead pleased about how each of us gets an entire shelf and big bin of our very own! The other lockers have wooden shelves as the wire just wouldn’t work in them.

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In preparation for moving aboard, we have also put in an additional dehumidifier. We have a large one in the main cabin. It’s a GE and I bought it at Home Depot. It’s been excellent. We bought this additional small unit for the aft cabin. We are very pleased with it. It uses desiccant technology and puts out gentle heat, which helps keep that room both warm and dry. This unit we got on Amazon. It drains directly into the bilge, so we don’t have to empty it all the time. Galapagos is a big boat and has a lot of good ventilation even when she is closed up. But we have had a very wet fall so far. These make the interior a lot more comfortable and will help keep mildew at bay as well.

Our new dessicant technology dehumidifier. Love it!

Our new dessicant technology dehumidifier. Love it!

Mike is also working on new lifelines as I write this. And guess what! They are RED! Yes, Galapagos is getting dressed up in her party clothes, ready to rumble, ready to set sail. She will ride the waves in style with her pretty red dyneema lifelines. He’ll do a separate post on how he worked all that out, and also give you his ‘cheap boat trick’ cost-savings secrets. I am excited to have lifelines that do not hurt my hands when I grab them. Seriously. Of course, eventually that dandy red color will fade in the hot sun. At that point, they will be pink. So pink and turquoise, our hull color. Galapagos rocks the world of color.

The only downside lately is that I think my beloved camera may be dead. Mike took it in to be serviced recently and the guy said something like, ‘Why service cameras like this? They are basically disposable. You should just buy a new one.”.  I think the camera may have heard that and his words acted as a curse of death. This was not a cheap camera when I got it and I don’t really want to have to buy a new one. But damn. Should I expect more than 3 years out of a mid-range camera? I have a little more experimenting to do to make sure it’s actually DOA, but until then, I have to live with cell phone photos. And so do you, readers.

Finally, I took some readers up on their challenge to further my experiments with the tank digester. There will be another blog on that subject forthcoming. More experiments, using real SCIENCE,  are in the works. That’s the nail biter I’m leaving you with.

Cockpit Cushion Toppers: A Cheap and Easy Boat Trick

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Regular readers will recall that we recently had new mattresses made for our aft cabin. Part of that remodel was the purchase of some rather expensive latex foam toppers for the berths. These came at a cost of $570 for the space. That’s not an insignificant cost, even though it was completely worth every single penny. As every boat owner knows, boat beds do not come in regular sizes like your earthbound beds. Therefore, in order to get what you need, you frequently have to cut to fit. And you know what that means.  That’s right. That means extra material. Extra EXPENSIVE material!

That nice 3″ latex foam. We still love it.

When we picked up our new mattresses we were blessed to receive all of the extra pieces of latex foam, neatly stuffed down into large plastic bags. I was going to toss them, but being the cheap and easy boat trick queen, I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I don’t like to throw away perfectly good materials that I might put to use. So I kept them and waited for an idea to pop into my head. And it did.

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Let’s build some rectangles!

Galapagos has a great cockpit. We love it. But one of the things that I’ve wanted to improve is the napability of the two longest sides. They are long enough to lie down on (one of the absolute requirements for us in a boat, being the famous sleepers that we are), but the hard Bottomsider-style cushions that came with the boat are dead uncomfortable. I decided to see if I had enough latex foam to make cushion toppers for them.

After measuring the sides, I lay the foam pieces out on some plastic up in our workshop/storage space at the marina. Supplied with Elmer’s spray glue and a healthy love of puzzles, I began piecing the foam together to make the long, thin rectangles required. I glued the seams as firmly as possible and then let them sit for a day to cure. Although I had the garage door open for all the gluing, I cannot swear that I didn’t lose a few brain cells to that spray. Do make sure you have good ventilation with that stuff. I trimmed the uneven ends with large scissors, making several cuts from the top down. Sure, I have an electric knife, the tool of choice for this job. It’s at  home. Not at the marina. Scissors worked just fine. We’re not building the Parthenon here. p1100501

As I did with the new cushions in the v-berth and aft cabin, I decided I wanted to protect these with that PUL fabric I used to keep water from soaking into the foam. This also makes coverings easy to take off and put back on.  Once again, I used the handy 40% off coupon Hobby Lobby has each week.

My only concern here is that there really are a lot of glued seams on these. It is possible that the glue will not hold up in the heat of Mexico and beyond. If that happens, though, I will still have all the other materials all set up to pop the latex out and replace it with foam all in one piece. The PUL fabric has a lot of stretch to it so it can be pulled tightly around the latex. It supports the seams in the foam as well as making the whole thing waterproof. The extra support makes it less likely that we’ll experience a total fail just from moving the cushions around.

Neatly covered in waterproof fabric.

Neatly covered in waterproof fabric, ready for canvas.

To ‘upholster’ these, I wanted outdoor canvas that was water and UV resistant. Since it’s fall, this is a good time to look for summer fabric in the clearance section of Joanne Fabrics. I made a beeline for the clearance bin and found some perfect yellow canvas for $3.50/yard. Done! I actually bought extra of this because I liked it and it was such an excellent price. Retail on this canvas is $29.99/yard. As if I would ever pay that much.

The sewing was straight forward; not exactly my favorite kind of sewing but at least with this project my machine doesn’t protest. I cut two rectangles, some sides, then sewed them together.

Cheerful and comfortable!

Cheerful and comfortable!

These are just the ticket in the cockpit for sitting or laying around at anchor. While underway they can be stored along the sides in the v-berth, or even in the aft cabin, just tucked under the shelf, which will hold them in place. They are a cheap and cheerful addition to the comforts of home on board Galapagos.

Cost Breakdown:

Latex foam – 0 because it was leftover from another project, destined to be thrown out

PUL fabric – 4 yards, 40% off – $31.20

Yellow Canvas – 4 yards at $3.50/yd – $14.00

Yellow thread – $3.00

Total cost: $48.20 plus tax. Win!

Stored in the v berth with Patrick.

Stored in the v berth with Patrick.

 

Shit’s About to Get Real

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Remember that time when I said that I never wanted to live aboard a sailboat during a Pacific Northwest winter? You know, that time I said that people would have to be a certain kind of crazy to live on a boat during the winter; especially an uninsulated sailboat in the Pacific Northwest during what is our rainy season? Yeah, all the minor gods and goddesses remember that too. And they’ve decided to thwart me good. Be careful what you say out loud. That’s right. We’re getting ready to move aboard. And it might be 90F now, but the rain is just around the corner.

Soon, this will be ‘home’.

This weekend marks the beginning of the final transition from full time land house dwellers to full time liveaboards. Do you notice how we rarely do anything really fast? There is none of this ‘today I live here tomorrow I live there’ nonsense. Instead we have multiple divisions of time that describe the excruciatingly slow process that is unfolding. First there is the transition into the liminal space, then there is the liminal space itself; a time of pupating, almost gestating as it were. Then there is the beginning of the end of the liminal space and now it’s the beginning of the transition into the ending. We are literally beginning to end our land life. It’s bloody exhausting even to write about it, much less to live it. It makes me think that people who just throw everything away, buy a boat down someplace warm without even seeing it, and then go to that place and never look back know something we don’t know.

Regardless of tortuous divisions of time today is the day our son, Andrew and Jill are coming to live in the family home. They will get jobs and start their post-graduation life here in Tacoma. (Blatant advertising for Andrew, who finished up his GIS certification this summer and is looking for a job, hopefully in Tacoma or Olympia. Know anyone who knows anyone? He’s smart, plays well with others, and eager to get started in the world.)

This will free us up to spend most of our time aboard Galapagos while still having access to the house and the dog and other important things like the washer and dryer and the occasional land sleepover. If this works out for everyone it will allow our Skippy dog to live his life in his yard with his family, and will allow us to keep the house until we are sure we want to sell it. We are seriously crossing our fingers.

We won’t be full time liveaboards right away. There is another young couple moving in with Andrew and Jill in November. That’s what makes this place affordable for people just starting out. Until then we’ll be going back and forth from the house to the boat, but spending most of the weekends at the marina. So yeah, we will be moving aboard right as winter is upon us. We must be out of our minds.

I’m not going to lie; it’s a wierd and unsettling time. It’s hard to be excited and sad at the same time. One minute I’m looking forward to the adventure, the next minute I’m wanting the familiar comfort of our home of 16 years. Even though I’m long past wanting to work in that yard, some days I just go a bit numb so I don’t have to feel anything much at all. What a strange and wild time this is.

But onward! This last year of our plan is flying by. We have a very long list of things to accomplish between now and next spring. But this time next year we should be on our way to Mexico!