To Things That Go Right

The moving countdown has begun. As we are selling most of our possessions, life in our apartment has gotten a bit strange. We haven't had a dining table in weeks. I sold all of the storage and shelves last week and nearly everything out of the closets. Our life is in literal piles. Our sofa, chair and ottoman will all be departing this week, which will mean picnic dinners on the floor, instead of the sofa! YAY picnics! But all of this means that we are one step closer to making our move to Malabar.

Boat projects have been, tricky. Keegan has replaced the lifelines so it is no longer a danger to walk around the top sides of the boat and installed two awesome solar lanterns so that our cockpit has lighting after dark. I finished most of the new cushions and our new mattress, which has made things much more like home aboard Malabar. BUT (there is always a but) we discovered on Saturday morning that our batteries were not charging. AND, that the refrigeration was not working. *sigh*

I'll admit that this pushed me just a little bit over the edge. We've been working so hard with very little sleep the last two weeks and the thought of moving onto a boat without refrigeration, or lighting for that matter, was just enough to provoke my first boat breakdown! I'm pretty sure that was destined and after about twenty minutes of weeping in Keegan's arms, it was back to work to solve the problems!

BUT, (don't you just love buts?), this is a blog about the things that go right! Right? Keegan again comes to the rescue. After climbing into the lazarette (the seat that opens up in the cockpit) and disassembling the electrical panel my dear boy discovered that the battery charger wasn't broken as we suspected, but the wiring on the panel was just completely mislabeled. Hooray for Engine Instruments, which actually means battery charger. Better yet, with the batteries charging and AC/DC functions all in motion, the refrigerator works too. See, a good cry fixes just about anything.

New Cushions in V-berth

V-berth

Galley

Galley

Grand staircase

Starboard Settee

Port Settee

Cockpit cushion

New lanterns

Step 1: Poo Removal

When buying a used boat it is critical to realize that you are not just purchasing a hull and a mast and cockpit, but also the old, moldy bathroom of the previous owner. The bathroom on a boat is called the head. It is a self contained unit that can be flushed with a hand pump using either salt water or fresh water. When emptied, the contents of the toilet go into a holding tank and can then be sucked out by a giant poop vacuum at the pump out station, or sent thru the macerator ( I have a friend who calls it the turd blender) and discharged overboard. The latter of these options can only be done if you are at least three miles off-shore.

It is critical to keep the head and all of the sanitation hoses clean and up to date in order to keep the boat smelling fresh and clean. Unfortunately for us, the previous owner was not quite as worried about the overall upkeep as we are, which led us to our first project.

Keegan diligently measured all of the sanitation tube and then we traveled to four different West Marine stores over the course of four hours to purchase all of the necessary items, or so we thought! One thing I am quickly learning about boat ownership is that even if you think you've measured and are purchasing the right thing, you're not. Even if you think you're taking the most logical steps that will certainly work, it won't. There appears to be a bit of a learning curve to this whole boat ownership thing.

Hooray! My nice clean head!

Old Poo Pipes!

So, two move visits to West Marine, one Amazon.com order and one week later my awesome hubby has our head up and running! Proud to say I used it, cleaned it and checked it for leaks this past weekend. Happily, it passed with flying colors! Who new poo could be so complicated?

To Great Beginnings

As many of you already know, Keegan and I have set out on another adventure! Just a few short weeks ago we purchased a 1979 Islander 36 sailboat to call home! It is not lost on us that our boat is now the oldest member of our relationship or that moving onto a boat will require some lifestyle changes, but this is a dream we have had for many years and we are thrilled that the change is upon us!

For the sake of all you curious readers (mostly my mother) we will be posting to this blog about cleaning and moving and projects and parties and adventures. Come take a journey with us and together we can figure out where to store all of my shoes.

-Amanda