Well THAT turned out well.

Aww look! Its a new noxious chemical to play with.

I have to giggle ruefully when folks email us to tell us that what we should do is pay someone to work on the boat for us. I've gotten several emails from people who are of the opinion that we haven't cast off the dock lines yet because we are DIYing it when the obvious answer is to just throw money at someone to do it for us. Oh, oh how sweet and naive they are. As I read their emails, I imagine them with bright and shining faces full of trust and hope. I also imagine the only work they've had done thus far is to have their bottom painted by yard staff or to have a rigger out to rig their boats. Oh how adorable you are, you cute little salty sailor who thinks a refit means installing new electronics and slapping on bottom paint.

Bottom paint, rigging and electronics do not a refit make. Rebuilding the boat basically from the keel up does. Okay, so maybe I am indulging in a bit of hyperbole but we are in the process if redoing every single system on the boat so it feels at time as if we are completely rebuilding. We have put aesthetic projects at the bottom of the list as we work our way down our punch list- soft deck repaired, chainplates, chainplate bulkheads, all port lights and hatches and surrounding deck repaired, all wiring, plumbing, engine mounts, deck hardware, rigging- both standing and running,  refrigeration, air conditioning, water maker, navigation equipment, communication equipment and sailsyou can see why we moved the aesthetic items of a master cabin remodel, galley refit and head remodel at the bottom of the list. Now about that master cabin remodel...

I long thought our boat would function much better with the forward head ripped out. After a few nights on the hook, Mark agreed it would make life much better but since he already had an enormous work load on the boat (see above), we decided to put it off until further on down the road. When we had a friend recommend a boat wright who was available, supposedly had the necessary skill set and was keen to go to work we decided to bite the bullet and have the work on the forward cabin done thinking it would move things along for us. This turned out to be a very expensive mistake.

While the boat wright we hired is talented at some woodworking (he can make beautiful dinghies), cabinet making and time management are maybe not his strong suit. After observing the work of the boat wright for a bit, Mark realized he needed to be on hand to carefully supervise the boat wright to keep him on task, from embellishing on the design and moving forward. This means a lot less time to work on his own list. Mark had a couple of trips out of the country for work that slowed things down and when he got back, the boat wright had a slew of issues that popped up that prevented him from working on our boat.

After many months of fits and starts, the head had been removed, the teak paneling removed, the floor leveled and the frames for the cabinetry installed. This constitutes about 30% of the work required and yet due to a tendency to work at a glacial pace, our boat wright had burned through 75% of the budget. Just a wee bit shy of $8000. That is a LOT of cheese. Mark and I both had a sinking feeling in the pit of our stomachs. Then there were the little issues. It pained us that it did not seem to bother our help that his tendency to drop tools where ever was gouging our teak and holly sole. The teak paneling was subject to a bit of abuse as well. We understand that bumps and accidents happen and interiors get banged up, but it shouldn't happen when the boat is tied to the dock and is a result of carelessness. The breaking point for Mark was a missing drill and broken light that the boat wright never bothered to mention.  Every one has a breaking point and its usually a tiny thing that pushes someone over the edge and this was it. So, we fired him.

It was not an easy decision to make. Firstly, the boat wright is an intensely likable person. He's very affable and we wanted to give him the work as he intimated at the outset that he needed employment. Secondly, we never would have begun this project if we knew we would have to finish it ourselves. We have other more pressing things to deal with. Ugh. Just UGH! To say we are disappointed would be a huge understatement.

There is a bit of light through the clouds though. We hired another boat wright to build a teak and holly sole piece for the front cabin  and to make the teak paneling staves. It was not cheap, but it was done on time and with a very high level of craftsmanship. Beautifully made, geometerically spot on and color matching was done very well too. No complaints here. Nothing but praise (Larry from Superior Marine) so I am reassured that its not case of us never being happy. Just wish we had hired Larry from the get go. We are licking our wounds for a little bit, but we might hire out some more work to him. We just need a little bit of time to stop the dizzying, vomitous feeling of a project going crazy and waaay over budget before we decide.

So if you feel inclined to email me and tell me how all my problems would be solved if only I would hire someone unless it is carries a big fat money transfer to my bank I will redirect you to this post.

Battling fumes for me, my hero wears a respirator. <3

Now let's be positive for a moment, shall we? The interior bulkhead between the master cabin and the salon was cracked and had a 1/4 inch gap. Mark was convinced that this would be a huge issue and the repair would not be perfect. He was also flummoxed by the way in which this defect throw off the geometry and prevent him from installing the teak paneling. I knew it would be okay. Captain Perfecto has MAD skills. Yes, it took a bit of extra effort, a new jig, a lot of fiberglass repair and a whole bunch of routering but it is looking really, really good. If only I could clone him...

If It Was Easy Everyone Would Do It.

The exclaim I hear most often from people when I tell them what we are doing is "What about storms?". The second most common comment is "What about pirates?". The truthful answer to the first is that modern weather tracking and careful itinerary planning means we are likely to be able to miss anything really hairy and if we do roll bad odds and get terrible weather, we have a stout little boat and we are putting together a contingency plan to make sailing in weather as safe as possible. As to *pirates, well we aren't planning a coastal cruise of Somalia or Malaysia  so the odds are far greater that we would get carjacked in our hometown than run afoul of pirates. My flippant answer is if we can survive the refit and getting ready to leave everything else will be easy.

Getting a boat ready is a tough gig.Seriously. If you have buckets of money, you can throw it at tradesmen and have it done for you but then you run the very real risk of not having the work done well despite the extraordinary expense. This is largely why Mark has been doing the work himself. While it slows down the departure date, we can rest easy knowing the work is done to perfection. Its not really a money saving scheme because when Mark is working on the boat, he isn't working for the nice people who give him a paycheck. Pick your poison I suppose.

Then there is the emotional cost. With such a ridiculous schedule (non-stop work/boat work for 3 years. 3. Years.) and with all of us feeling so transient- not really putting down roots, not really traveling, in this bizarre state of refit induced suspended animation- tempers can get short. It happens to each and everyone of us but thankfully, for the most part it seems we don't hit the lows at the same time. It has happened a couple of instances that both Mark and I have hit a low spot at the same time and it was NOT pretty. Fortunately, we tend to bounce back fairly quickly and come back to being best friends again. Even more fortunately for Mark I am a very forgiving person and can forgive him for the fact that all of his tools are stupid tools and his projects are stupid projects and I really don't like boats anymore because they are stupid too.

And then there is the budget. We are not fabulously wealthy trust fund kids. We are able to do this adventure by carefully watching the pennies. Mark can tell you where he has spent every single penny since he was 10 years old. (naturally) I on the other hand, am not the most organized and numerically savvy of people so you can imagine the difficulty that can pop up between Mark and I on this. Numbers are not my thing and I struggle to keep track of everything while running a house with kids in the suburbs. The good news is that I am a fairly frugal person anyway. The bad news is that getting the budget ready requires more than just being frugal, it means knowing where Every.Single. Penny. is going. A mistake in budget projections can have me feeling certain that we will run out of money somewhere between here and Kuala Lumpur, we will be forced to eat the salon cushions to stave off starvation and we will be forced to sell one of the kids for diesel and beans. We are really under the gun budget wise because Mark is planning on leaving work at the end of this year to work full time on the boat. So dinners out (which were already pretty darned rare) are off the list and while we know we desperately need a vacation, it pains us and worries us to spend the money on fun when what we really need is a completed front cabin, plumbing, rigging, sails and brand new deck hardware.

Its hard on the kids as well. Kitty is young enough to just go along with everything but Maura is having a rough time. She wants to make plans for the near future, but the fact that we are leaving hangs over her head. If you ever had to move when you were a teenager, you will understand. Now add in the fact that she has no idea what environment she will be living in and you can see why she might be a bit more than nervous. You remember being 13 don't you? I know that the rewards will far out weigh the sacrifices and I keep coming back to how HAPPY she is when sailing but sometimes, it can be hard for her to keep it all in perspective when all she sees right now are the things she has to give up.

And then there is trying to get a house ready to go on the market, and deciding do we home school this last year or let the kids have as much time in a typical school situation as they can, and we really need to get a handle on budget and oh did I mention the glacially slow pace of the refit and....and... and...

So why am I writing about all of this? I am writing this because this is reality. Getting a boat ready, getting your finances ready, preparing a house to be sold, working as much as you can before you pack it all in for a few years and working on boat projects every single day while trying to keep up with a job is definitely stressful stuff. It is not easy and when the reward for all of the sacrifices everyone has made seems so far away (and has slipped FARTHER away) it can feel down right craptacular.

I am comforted by the fact that every single one of my cruising friends who have had to spend a few years getting ready will tell you that getting ready to leave SUCKS. No two ways about it. The thing that keeps me going is their assurances that they did manage to get through it all without divorce attorneys, the kids refusing to speak to them ever again and without going completely insane. They also, without exception assure me that every bit of stress and upheaval has been worth it 10 times over.

I keep reminding myself, this too shall pass. While things are definitely difficult right now, we are so, so fortunate. Fortunate to have each other and to be able to plan a dream together. Lucky to be able to cobble together a little team that will get to discover the world together. Like the titles says, if it were easy everyone would do it. Its not easy, but I have absolute, unshakable faith that it will all be worth it in the end. Mark has never, ever in his life not done what he said he was going to do. I have always been one to do completely audacious things and for them to all come out in the end. We will get there but to say its an easy trip would be an absolute falsehood.

Pirates and storms? Not what frightens me. What frightens me is the strain all of this puts on our relationships but we have looked that fear in the eye and we are still here, still friends, still moving forward, still dreaming and still on the same team.. Now bring me that horizon...

And hurry please.

Wash Down Pump Installed -Verdict In

If we have learned anything in our 3 years of refitting (who's counting, right?!?!?) its that many times things that sound like a great idea can disappoint you in oh, so so many ways. Let's face it, there is a ton of stuff-gadgets and geegaws a plenty-out on the market to festoon your boat with. Lot's of stuff that while they say it will make life easier, your boat sail faster and make you more attractive and more fun at parties, often just leaves you with a lighter wallet, missing a weeks time and something else that will inevitably need repair. This is not the case with our new wash down pump. This thing is awesome!

Mark got the pump and the necessary plumbing installed. The hose which was supplied by the manufacturer was well, how do I put it nicely? Crap. It was crap. We bought a heavy duty hose, removed the brass fittings, installed heavy duty plastic ones and added a pressure spray nozzle for it. Oh, and you might think taking apart a hose is no big deal until you realize that Mark let me do it, which means he let me use his heat gun, hose cutters and screwdriver. Yes, he let me touch his tools. It's a red letter day around Ceol Mor.

After emptying the anchor locker of the chain rode and dropping the anchor so we could get access to install everything, we had enough disgusting slime, ick and sticky black mud to see how the pump would handle it. It handles it fantastically! We had a moment of doubt when we first turned on the pump without the pressure fitting and saw what appeared to be a tiny little trickle of water. Not to fear, once the pressure attachment was fitted and the sprayer was engaged it had plenty of pressure to knock the mud off. Kitty had too much fun spraying the chain...and the deck...and me. Mark made her day by allowing her to work her way up from Baby Bilge Rat to full fledged Deck Monkey. With some assistance, she was able to work the windlass in a stop and go manner while Mark washed down the chain. She eventually got enough skill to work the windlass on command by herself, although she wasn't maybe spot on when Mark would tell her to stop. Oh well, That's what reverse is for.

For the time being (unless we add a new ac unit and watermaker under the v berth) the plumbing and wiring is done in the front cabin. This means the construction on the cabinetry in the front cabin can begin again in earnest- if only we had a boat wright. *sigh* Let's just say the Universe giveth and the Universe taketh away and try to keep a stiff upper lip and get on with it.

OOOHHH Plumbing AND Electrical runs....

Plumbing...just to document how lovely Mark's installs are. No one cares but boat dorks. I am a boat dork too. Its ok....

Soon....very soon!

And Now We Are 3....

In the midst of all the plumbing and painting, our wee girl turned 3. What she wanted more than anything this year was a birthday party. I suppose my career as an event planner/manager is the reason I felt a flush of panic. Visions of bouncy castles, lavishly decorated tents, a huge guest list, caterers, pony rides, magicians and photographers bounced around in my head as I nervously queried what her expectations of a party were. Kitty had my back. What she wanted was a cake, balloons and party hats. Her requested guest list was Mommy, Daddy and Maura. Okay, this I could handle.

 For a while, Kitty was into Spider Man. It didn't take long for her to figure out  that Spider Man is a boy and she is a girl and she wants to be a Super Hero too. So Spider Man was quickly replaced by a love of the Power Puff Girls who are sugar and spice and everything nice with a healthy dose of Chemical X which enables them to fight crime and save the world. The great thing about this is how cute Kitty is 'flying' around with  her cape streaming behind her saving us and her stuffed animals from evil doers. The bad thing, she really wanted a Power Puff Girls party and the Puff Girls are now considered "classic". Ouch. This means there is nothing available on the well supplied kiddie-licensed-character market adorned with Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup.

I took Kitty with me to every single darned party and toy store looking for anything with her beloved Power Puff Girls. Zero luck. I gave Kitty the opportunity to choose anything else she wanted- Thomas the Tank? Nope. Spider Man? Nope. She saw the pink pirate hats and eye patches and that was it. Okay, its your party and you can "argh" if you want to.

Remembering the Great Poop Cake Incident of last year, I played it safe and just bought some cupcakes from the bakery. Kitty was every bit as happy as if I had gotten her an elaborate cake because she got to blow out candles and make a wish. That's what she wanted- party hat, candles and a wish. How could I say no?

Every time Kitty sees this photo she says " Look! Its a wish!"

We all wore pirate hats. Kitty blew out her candles. We had non-poopy cupcakes and Kitty opened her gifts of Play Dough, Crayons, High Ho Cherry O and the thing she loves most- a robotic rabbit. (she really wants a rabbit but we've got no room on the boat). Simple. I do not think she would have been any happier with an elaborate, huge shin dig. 3 year olds get it. Joy and happiness is everywhere and its usually in the simple things.

Oh. Would you believe in the very back of the balloon stand at the grocery store Kitty spotted a Power Puff Girls Balloon? See? Miracles do happen.
Happy Birthday Kitty.

Opportunities Abound!!

Rebuilding, I mean refitting an older boat offers so many opportunities to not just learn new skill, but to perfect them. That is a positive way of saying that it gets really frustrating to work your butt off to repair something correctly and then have the final stages go wrong. Calling it really frustrating is being polite. I believe the tack Mark takes is to begin weaving an elaborate tapestry of obscenities where in he curses the project, the products used in the project, the people who designed the products and then he saves the really strong derision for himself.

After carefully removing the rot from around the port light and carefully rebuilding, fairing and epoxying it (which took days and days) he was ready to paint it all to match. It looked perfect. He prepared everything and did a few practice runs with the spray gun and was pretty chuffed that he found an exact color match with the Awl Craft. If you have been reading this blog for any length of time you know that all of this is foreshadowing for what was to come.

After carefully, painstakingly and meticulously painting the port light it looked like this-

Pretty good, right? From a distance, with your eyes squinted it looks good. Without the benefit of Hyperopia the flaws become very, very apparent.



Despite carefully researching and practicing with the paint gun, the paint spattered and speckled its way to a lovely textured finish reminiscent of that ever so popular in the 80's ceiling treatment called a popcorn finish. Fabulous. Note to self- higher pressure is a good thing.

I asked Mark if it was something he could live with and he replied that it would catch every speck of dirt in a 5 mile radius and would slowly, but surely drive him insane. So he now has the opportunity to perfect his sanding and fairing skills- again- before tackling the painting again.

Me? I'd give it one more go after fairing it if it falls short of perfection just live with it until the time comes to have the boat repainted. But its not me and its not my project so I will just get Captain Perfecto to laugh about it in much the same way as you would laugh at Lucy and Ethel on the chocolate factory line and get on with it.

On Shut Off Valves, Wash Down Pumps and Artists.

Oh you KNOW there are schematics for this. I'll post them soon.
As much as I tease him, he does manage to solve a lot of problems
using that Perfecto noodle of his.
 

Mark was pretty darned stoked about the valve on our water tank. He excitedly told me how he had spent days designing and manufacturing a custom valve that would allow us to isolate the secondary water tank without ripping the settee which houses the tank apart. He started talking about the lack of commercially available valves that would be accessible and functional while installed in a boat setting and then he started telling me about psi and flow rates or something along those lines. I can't tell you precisely because it was at this time that my eyes glazed over and I started noticing that his hair was kinda crazy and made him look a bit like a mad professor... then I started thinking about mad professors movies...then I started thinking about the movie Real Genius and how much I would like to be eating popcorn. I snapped back to attention when he said "it will allow us to isolate the water tank so when we run the water maker we can test the water before mixing it in with the main tank". This means he has agreed to put in a water maker! WHOOP! Since a water maker is at the top of my wish list, only just below an in boom furler I was pretty ecstatic myself. Now if I can just get him to see the beauty of the engineering of the Leisure Furl...and sell a kidney to fund it will be better than Christmas around here.

Every day our UPS man rings our doorbell and drops off various small brown boxes. Kitty is well trained. She pipes up "A present for Daddy!" and runs off to open the door and collect the days parcels. In her world Santa Claus wears a brown UPS uniform. She waits eagerly for Mark to come home so they can open them together. Usually, they are filled with odd bits of plumbing supplies but every once in a while, we get something exciting- like a wash down pump. Kitty thinks it is great to pretend to spray her dad. I think its great that I never again have to remove the thick black mud that loves to stick to our anchor by hand. Ok, so I will still have to remove the muck by hand but now at least I have a shot at not being completely filthy by the end of the job.

One of the cool things about having an almost 3 year old is to see the leaps in development they make. Up until now, Kitty has been happily scribbling with crayons and mixing paint colors in abstract designs with an occasional circle drawn just to show she can. Today, she started drawing objects intentionally. It was such fun to see the pride she had in her work and for me to be able to recognize the objects she was drawing. She will happily spend hours drawing if you will only draw with her. She carefully doles out the paper and assigns the crayons you will get to use. we might want to start helping her learn to not micro manage other peoples projects. (wonder where she gets THAT?!?!) She is also developing a bit of kindness in that she never points out that I can not actually draw. "Good job Mama!" she says, no matter how wonky the rendering. Yeah, having an almost 3 year old is pretty awesome.

Suns

Why its a boat of course.

An owl, with "softly feathers"

Happy Easter

Hunting for eggs in the back garden. Kitty was super excited that the "Easter Elephant" brought her eggs. I have no idea where she got the idea of the Easter Elephant but if a bunny can bring treats, why not an elephant?

We live in Texas where holiday celebrations are definitely influenced by the fact that we used to be part of Mexico. Instead of dyeing eggs or filling plastic eggs with sugary treats bound to wind the Wee One up tighter than a clock I purchased Cascarones- hollowed out, dyed eggs filled with confetti. It is considered good luck to have one broken over your head. Maura was a good big sister and gently sprinkled the confetti over Kitty's head.

Kitty was not so gentle. Maura took over a dozen hits to the head and maintained her good humor. Best big sister ever.

Since in my last post I spent a ginormous amount of cash (even if only in my imagination) I thought it fair to document precisely what I spent on our grand Easter celebration. I decided we needed to celebrate Easter mostly so I could grab photos of the kids so when they are older and say "Hey, we never celebrated XYZ!" I can point to the photos and say yes we did. Ok so I mostly wanted  photos of the little one in a proper dress  for her Granny but its as good a reason as any.

Cascarones- $ 3.70
Easter Bucket- $2.50 (Kitty seriously LOVES buckets. Seriously)
Family Dinner at home- $42.00 (got splurgy and bought a roast to make and a bottle of wine)
Total- $48.20*

And thus endeth our simple, if a little bit violent Easter celebration. Happy Easter everyone.

*budget posted mostly to lower Mark's blood pressure. Watching the pennies Mark,watching the pennies. ;)