Afternoon Ramblings: On Storage and Space

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Lots of my random thoughts lately have been about storage space and tidiness. When you’re on the move on a sailboat, things get put away regularly because otherwise they’ll fall on the floor and break. Also, when we were living at the dock, I saw clients regularly, so the boat had to be fairly tidy below. All of that has changed. And now, things are starting to bug me.

I’m having trouble keeping the boat tidy enough to suit us. Well, to suit me, actually. This is partly due to the number of projects going on all at once. So I think to myself, ‘well, this is short-lived’. But is it? Is it really? I don’t actually think so. We live with projects. Always have, always will. Life is meaningless to us without our projects; at least the evidence supports that statement. So why can’t I figure out how to do these projects and keep things down to a mild roar in the tidiness department concurrently? There is a solution. I just know it.

The meaning of this will become clear.

Today we sealed that forward hatch. I hope we got it right this time. I have two more to go so why put the cleaner and supplies away? I’d just have to get them out again. So they sit out on the counter in the shop area, along with thousands of other small things. It breaks my brain to think on keeping the shop neat. But thank goodness for that shop area! Without it this boat would be a mess all the time.

The bulkhead in the aft cabin is repaired and Mike has the fiberglass supplies out to do the new fiberglass tabbing at the top. I bought paint supplies for this project and those have no place to ‘live’ until I use them on the bulkhead. There’s a quart of paint and another one of primer, along with some rollers and tape just sitting in the cockpit. They look at me expectantly as I scoot by, but I just ignore them. It’s not their time yet.

All flat surfaces in the boat attract ‘stuff’. This is no different than in a house, but somehow it’s more irritating. I took 30 minutes yesterday clearing the navigation desk off. It looked great. Now it’s already collecting stuff again. I. Will. Win. This one.

I”m just going to take care of this now before it takes on a life of its own.

Mike took the microwave off the top of the cabinet where it has lived since 1992, the vintage posted on the sticker inside the door. It’s a Kenmore. Those used to be built to last and this microwave still works. Now what do we do with it? It’s on the floor until we figure it out. I am using it as a step stool to get onto the v-berth. I bet the 2017 microwaves would crumple if used as such. I feel a bit sorry for this vintage machine, demoted without ceremony from a place of glory in the galley to the floor of what is, in fact, the rumpus room. What a blow. I should put it with the electric tea kettle we can’t use anymore now that we live at anchor. It’s a bit forlorn. They would be companions in their misery. If we were in the marina, we’d put these things on the free pile and they’d be adopted into new forever homes in 20 minutes. In Gig Harbor? Not so much.

We also have a large plastic spool left from the Samson rigging line Mike ordered. It’s a cool spool. I’m sure it’s dead useful for something but we have no place to store it. It would be a dandy aft anchor rode storage thingy. We could store 600 feet of anchor rode on that thing and then set it up to reel the line right out. But the gosh darn storage issue! So what do we do with it? Right now it’s on the aft deck taking up space and bothering me with its presence. I hear it sighing loudly back there, unhappy that it’s not being used for something. This is a spool with high self worth. It knows its own usefulness and resents being made to wait for something worthy to do. I cannot bring myself to throw it in the trash. It feels wrong.

This would be a useful item if only I could find a place for it.

Mike is not satisfied with the many kinds of electronics charging goo gahs that create visual clutter at the navigation area. He wants to take over the spice rack that lives by the companionway and turn that into a charging station. I’m ok with that. He can have it. My spices could never fit in that space anyway and I forget it’s even there.

I had a great storage solution for my sandals. Note that past tense verb: had. I used the spaces created by this ladder that hung on the wall in the aft cabin. This made a great place to store all my sandals. (I am not getting rid of any of them, in case you’re wondering. That’s a firm ‘no’.) Now that we’ve repaired the bulkhead and adjacent wall in that cabin, Mike doesn’t want to hang the ladder back up. He wants to get rid of it. I agree the ladder is completely useless except for the storage potential it offers. Trying to use this to get out of that hatch is an exersize in comedy, if not error. Ask me how I know. If we don’t put this so-called ‘ladder’ back, however, then where will I put my sandals? Come to that, how will we get rid of the ladder?

I have mixed feelings about getting rid of this ladder.

We own a lot of hats. I get tired of a) looking for the right one and b) seeing them laying around everywhere like children suffering from failure to launch. I’ve collected them all and put them in one of those nice plastic beach carriers I got at Shin Shin. I should have bought twice as many of those. Very useful items. All hats now live in the Shin Shin green plastic beach carry-all. Come to think of it, if I did have a few more of these nifty carriers, I’d be able to use one or two to organize the supplies from all the projects while we are in-progress with those. Bingo! A solution! Maybe a trip to Shin Shin will happen. I sure miss my car sometimes.

I wonder what space I would be willing to give up for an on-board washer/dryer? I think about this alot.

These heavy PVC totes are really great. I want to get more of these.

We have too many books and notebooks aboard the boat. We both have Kindles with hundreds of books on them, but still I cannot bring myself to give away more physical books. Also I like the way they look. Having a bookshelf makes the boat feel like a home. A couple of Kindles just doesn’t cut that mustard. I think these books are going to stay, but perhaps I can let go of some of the notebooks. Most of them are blank, in case I get a wild urge to write by hand. I actually do that, so, yeah, I probably will keep them all.

Your thoughts on these storage issues are, as usual, welcome. Also let us know if you need a vintage 1992 microwave. Works great.

 

Next, Leave Puget Sound

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To put our cunning cruising plan into action, first, we had to leave the dock. Check that off the list.  We left the dock and our heavy marina fees far behind three weeks ago. Other cruisers told us that leaving the dock was the hardest part of cruising. Once you had dropped the docklines, you were supposed to be golden. You had done it! You were now cruising! Are we cruisers yet?

A day in Tacoma to see some tall ships. We’re not all work around here!

In our case leaving the marina was the easy part. Turns out the hard part is going to be leaving this geographic area. We have to actually find a convenient time to travel north, pass Seattle to starboard, and continue on to cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca and right up into Canada, as was our plan. So far, we are still here.

We are currently comfortably anchored in Gig Harbor working on the fix to our aft cabin. Let me share with you how this repair is going. Our approach is one of sloth.

World’s largest rubber duck photo bombing the Foss Waterway.

When we were working fools all boat work projects had to be squeezed into weekends and evenings, so basically we made hay while the sun shone and hoped we could get a bunch done all at once. Suddenly, with the quitting of our day jobs, now all we have is time. With our new schedule, we’ve decided that accomplishing one small thing per day is fine. This new approach comes smack up against our well-ingrained work ethic. It’s like we’ve very suddenly forgotten that we are hard workers. And yet…well, here’s how our progress has looked:

Monday: Made cardboard pattern for replacing part of bulkhead. Called it a day. Went for walk in Gig Harbor. Ate food. Regretted it.

Tuesday: Napped and read books. Piddled around in the harbor doing nothing in particular. Went on walk. Spyed on neighboring boats with small binoculars. Serious cockpit lounging.

Wednesday: A banner day! My sister picked us up and took us to Mitchell’s Lumber in Belfair. Bought marine plywood for repair. Brought wood back to her place and used brother-in-law Darin’s tools to cut wood to fit space. Exhausted from this effort, called it a day. Hung around with her family. Played badminton; badly.

Thursday: Mixed thickened epoxy and used a large syringe to fill gap between bulkhead and coach roof. Made it smooth. Called it a day. Ordered replacement winch parts and a few other things on Amazon. Went kayaking.

Friday: Mixed more epoxy and filled gaps. Coated replacement piece of plywood with epoxy. Made thicker epoxy with adhesive filler and set that piece in place. Braced it with boat hooks which, wedged between bulkhead and cabinet, provided just the right amount of pressure. Swooning from effort, wiped our brows, called it a day. Went to have dinner with our kids. Mike’s birthday. Celebrated with cake.

Yes, it’s in Gig Harbor. Why bother going all the way to Italy.?

Today we might have the wherewithall to replace the piece of plywood we removed from the adjacent wall. We’ll mix more epoxy to coat the edges. The day after that we might be able to do the final piece which will finish the structural repair inside, except for the finish work such as trim and paint.

I’m pretty certain that at this breakneck pace we’ll have this repair completed by our July 10 date with Mr. Fiberglass Guy down in Olympia. We figured we would be able to cut loose from south Puget Sound right after the fiberglass repair was done and the mizzen mast replaced.

But, alas, we may not reach escape velocity even then. There is a garden party at our house for all the people who couldn’t go to Scotland for Claire and Dan’s wedding. It’s scheduled for July 22 and I don’t really want to miss it. Since we’ll likely be in Olympia through July 15 or so, it’s not asking too much to stay a little longer for the party.  After that, we should be good. Maybe that will be our fond farewell to friends and family?  No plans are ever firm anymore.

Sailboats race around the anchorage on Thursday nights.

Meanwhile, we live in Gig Harbor for awhile, seeing this town in a whole new way.  In terms of anchorages, it’s really great. The dinghy dock is safe, there is a regular Trolley that goes to the shopping district, and the harbor is filled with all varieties of interesting boats from big powerboats to lovely sailboats, even a real gondola from Italy. There are good restaurants and coffee shops nearby and lots of streets to explore to get our walks in. We’ve discovered a few small things that need fixing, now that we are using all the boat systems away from the dock,  and it’s a convenient place from which to order parts while we can still have them delivered to us at the house. In all, we can stay here happily for awhile.

Eventually we will make our way north with the continued plan to head south about the time the Coho ho ho goes south, which is the end of August-early September.  We won’t be joining the Ho Ho, but we will leave around the same time, depending on weather, of course.

Exotic Locations

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The cruising life is fully upon us as we begin doing boat repairs in exotic locations such as Olympia and Jarrell Cove on Harstine Island here in the south Puget Sound area. When we last left you, we were taking a break from the boat yard, then heading to Jarrell Cove to rest and recuperate while we assessed the water damage to the bulkhead.

Taking a walk on Harstine Island

It’s really different dealing with this type of boat repair now that we are cruising full time. Gone are the days where we had two days a week for Mike to give his attention to the boat. In those days we packed as much action as possible into a day and then fell into exhausted, ibuprofen-laden sleep. We are learning a new rhythm now; a kinder and gentler rhythm on the whole. Instead of two days back to back of nonstop work, we only do one at a time. Then we complain about it. But seriously, yeah. There’s a lot less frantic activity so far.

After enjoying an extra day on the dock with our friends Stephanie and David Gardiner aboard S.V. Cambria, we finally took our leave and made way to Jarrell Cove, home of friends Rose and Gary Benz. Jarrell Cove is quiet and completely protected from most weather. Aside from friends, it also offers a state park with brand new docks that have electricity. We needed electricity for the next phase of project ‘Mizzen Mast Leak’.

Galapagos at the state park dock.

During a terrific visit with Rose and Gary, during which Rose served us her famous hamburgers with all the fixings (Thanks, Rose!! Yum!) our discussion turned to the aft cabin. Gary is a master wood worker and they also have a friend, Larry, who has many years of experience repairing and building boats. We made an appointment for Gary and Larry to come down and view the damage the following morning. Sometimes it’s nice to have extra pairs of eyes on a project before you start, just to make sure everyone agrees on the important things.

The next morning saw much interesting and informative discussion around the wood damage. There was head shaking, frowning, sighing, and many an expression of commiseration. But no matter how much we discussed the problem, no decisions could be made about how to do the repair until we actually got out the tools and removed the rotted wood. I was anxious to start cutting because I was worried about my beautiful painted fiberglass wall in the aft head. It backs onto that dratted bulkhead and I was worried it would have to be destroyed.

By closing the doors on either side of the cabin, we were able to isolate the work area.

Rose had found some heavy plastic for us (Again, our thanks.) and I hung a dust curtain in the aft cabin to protect our bedding. We rigged the shop vac up on deck so the exhaust was outside the boat and donned our masks. It was time to commence to cutting!

Mike and I take a ‘surgical’ approach to work that involves cutting nasty things like rotted wood and fiberglass. One of us works as the surgeon, wielding the cutting tool. The other works as the assistant holding the vacuum nozzle close to the action. We might be forgiven for being a little anal about keeping the floor swept of debris and vacuuming the area several times an hour. It makes clean up easier, and our beds stayed clean.

We got very lucky in many ways both during this phase and in terms of what we found. We had expert advice, we had electricity for the shop vac, there was only one other boat on the dock, and the noise from our shop vac did not disturb him. (Thank you so much fellow sailor!) We never want to be ‘those’ people who make all kinds of noise in a quiet place. So we really are grateful to the other sailor who didn’t even bat an eye at our shop vac and only expressed his hope we could get all the rot removed.

We found this tube in the cockpit lazarette. Is this a joke? We laughed and laughed.

With all the compromised wood cut away, we discovered another lucky thing: the 1 1/2” thick bulkhead was actually two 3/4” sheets of marine plywood glued to one another. The word ‘glued’ as it’s used here means that glue was applied to one of the pieces of wood. It has nothing to do with how much contact was made between said pieces. Therefore, by applying constant pressure with prybars of various sizes, were able to remove the outer sheet without damaging the inner sheet, then cut away the rot up in the corner and along the side of the inner sheet of wood. This is good news because now we will scarf in new pieces of marine ply, sealed with epoxy, to the inner piece of wood.

We’ll be able to cut the new piece to fill the gap left by the builders between the top of the wood and the cabin top of the boat, making that fit snug and tight. Then we will replace the entire outer sheet and epoxy/fiberglass it to the first, making a strong bond. Replacing this entire sheet means the new bulkhead will be a smooth surface with no obvious signs of repair. The new bulkhead will be much stronger than the old one. And it’s going to look good, too!

In the photo below, the top half of the wood that backs onto the engine room has been removed. This section, which is not structural, had more rot than the bulkhead. We got lucky, once more, in that the piece of marine plywood we removed from the bulkhead is big enough to cut a new piece for this opening. That saves a bunch of money.

Area with rot cut away. Notice gap at the top.

You can also see the gap between the top of the bulkhead and the cabin top. Guess the builder decided this was ok. It’s not. See those scratches on the wood? That was supposed to help the glued panels stick together. See how clean the wood is? That’s because those scratches didn’t do a blessed thing. There was basically a void in the middle between the two pieces of plywood.

Does this look like a man who knows how to use a circular saw?

All edges on the new wood and old will be sealed with penetrating epoxy. I have already applied penetrating epoxy to some areas that showed water staining but no rot.

At the end of the day, we feel lucky that the final bulkhead will be the same depth as the original, which means we won’t have to do extra finish work on the sole of the cabin and on the massive corner piece of teak that would otherwise have to be trimmed. In a nutshell, it makes the repair that much simpler. In addition, it means that my lovely fiberglass wall in the aft head can be left alone!

Lovely Jarrell Cove on a still evening. Before the rains came again.

We have until July 10 to finish this repair and so far we are very pleased with our progress. We are also pleased to be able to address each task of the project without feeling rushed and pressured, and still be able to enjoy being on the boat in exotic locals. This weekend is the Festival of Sail in Tacoma and we want some time out among the REALLY big boats. We’ll go anchor in Gig Harbor for a bit to address the next phase of this repair.

(P.S. – I’m experimenting with software that allows me to write blog posts while offline, then publish them when I get a connection. Some things, like the photos, are a work in progress.)