Leaving Work

I have been earning a paycheck since I was about 14 and Brett has been working even longer than that.  While we all joke about “working for the man”, there is a lot of self-satisfaction and pride that comes from a job well done, along with the added bonus of the many friends we makes along the way.  Jobs define a lot of who we are to our friends, family and to ourselves, so making the decision to leave our jobs and take this trip was not something we took lightly.  

Brett with our new mascot - Wilson -
signed from all of his co-workers.

After so many years of working (and a lifetime of conditioning that work is just what you are supposed to do!) it’s pretty tough to give up that steady paycheck and the careers we have worked hard to establish over the years (not to mention losing our healthcare).  There is no guarantee for either of us that we’ll be able to come back in 5-7 years and pick up where we left off – and that can be a tough concept for two highly motivated and responsible people to accept.  For Brett, it meant walking away from a career while in the peak of his money making potential – hard indeed.

But there comes a time when you just have to look to the future and acknowledge what you really want in life – and for us it was to go cruising and travel extensively.  And a big part of that reality is taking this leap of faith that we’ll have enough money in the bank, that it’s okay to leave.  That there will be a job (even if it’s not the same sort of job) when we get back.  That it’s okay to leave good jobs to realize our dream. 

And so, we took that final step on August 17^th.  There were lunches, parties, beers and wine and lots of cake!  There were more kind words from our coworkers than we ever could have imagined.  The amount of compliments and unexpected thank you’s was overwhelming and wonderfully gratifying.  It’s a pretty amazing thing to know so many people care and appreciate the work we did while we were at our respective jobs.  I know we both highly value the friends we’ve made along the way and greatly appreciate working with so many amazing people over the years.

Last day beers with some great people!

So now, we continue to move forward towards our goal of departing right after Labor Day.  No more paychecks – just the two of us, our savings, and our passion for travel and each other.  While I am completely intimidated and scared, I am also enthralled with this new door opening in front of us.  

Time to step through.

Laundry....Leads to Popcorn?

Ahhhhhhh laundry – it’s one of the most asked questions we get from our friends and family, “How will you clean your clothes?”  Excellent question – and I have no idea!  From what I hear it mostly involves a 5 gallon bucket with a lid and a plunger.  Let your imagination fill in the rest!  Laundry and what clothing to take cruising is this month’s Raft Up topic, so that’s what this post is about.  And since we haven’t left yet, I am definitely looking forward to reading all the other posts as I have a LOT to learn!

Since I know virtually nothing on the laundry part, I will focus on the clothing piece – how we’ve managed work and home life wardrobes in a small space over the last three years of living aboard, and what we will likely take with us….

First off let me say that I’ve always loved my shoes.  When Brett and I first met, he used to think I was crazy when we traveled and I wanted to pack 8 pairs of shoes for a one week trip (how many women are nodding their heads and thinking – that seems reasonable!).   At home I probably had at least 30 pairs of shoes to choose from.  When we moved onto the boat, I quickly realized I was going to have to GREATLY pare down my selection.  So sad!  But you quickly figure out which ones matter when you trip over them constantly.  Amazing how quickly they become less important!  I think at this point I have about 8 pairs on the boat (still way too many according to Brett!).  I know that will need to come down further yet.  It will be tough, but from what I understand, I won’t even need shoes for a good portion of the next few years.  One person I talked to said they didn’t wear socks for almost 2 years.  What a concept!

While we’ve been on board we’ve been lucky enough to have a small storage until located nearby.  Within the unit we have rigged up a couple of long metal pipes to hang up the majority of our clothes.  Plus we have a variety of storage totes to hold the items that don’t hang.  Over the past 3 years, as the seasons change, we swap clothing from the boat to the storage unit – depending on the nature of the weather.  This system has worked very well as you don’t need to have everything on board year round taking up valuable space.  I rotate my shoes this way too!

Now that we are less than a month from our departure date, it’s time to make the big decisions about what stays and what goes!  Just how many pairs of shorts, shoes, shirts and suits are appropriate?  While it’s true that the majority of our time will be in warm and sunny weather, there will still be cooler passages and have I mentioned how much I DESPISE being cold?  But do I really want to bring winter clothing when I might only need it a couple of times in 5 years?

What I think we’ll do is focus on lots of shirts, shorts, bathing suits (which I hear you go through like crazy) and pareus/sarongs (for me).  We’ve just bought an awesome new set of high quality foul weather gear from Gill which should protect us very well on cooler passages.  With some careful layering of lightweight wicking long underwear and a layer of fleece, I’m hoping we’ll be set for those cooler passages.  Add a couple pair of jeans, a turtleneck and some long sleeved shirts and I think we should be covered.  And if that’s not the right selection – there IS other places to buy clothing outside of the United States!

There was one more thing we were supposed to talk about, “what impractical item(s) are you planning to bring that you just couldn’t leave behind?”   Now I know this was supposed to be about clothing, but I have to take this opportunity to bring up the WAR OF THE POPCORN POPPER!!!

All of my life, I have been raised on popcorn.  Popcorn at the drive-in movie with Dad, popcorn while reading a book with Mom, popcorn on a weeknight instead of dinner – a HUGE bowl of it!  Popcorn has been a major food group in my life for as long as I can remember!  Knowing my love of the stuff, my BFF Susan long ago bought me an old fashioned popcorn popper with a hand crank.  This thing makes the best popcorn an aficionado could ever hope for.  It is now perfectly “seasoned” and gets used fairly often – but it takes up a large amount of precious space.  You see where I’m going with this, right???  My husband is actually waging a campaign AGAINST THE POPPER!  <gasp!>  Does he not understand that popcorn helps keep his wife sane?  Okay – maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but still!  Stay tuned to see who wins this battle before our departure….

I’m sure I will.  ;)

Sailor or Traveler?

So I’ve joined a group of bloggers called the “Raft-Up”.  It was the brain child of Dana (svnorthfork.blogspot.com) and it’s kind of a chance to sit back and think about a (pre-selected) topic, do a little soul searching, and share it via our blogs.  There are 11 of us posting right now and it’s completely open.  I feel like it’s almost like a long distance book club of sorts – a fun way to get a bunch of different perspectives.   At the end of this post you’ll find the rest of the writers and some other great blogs to follow if you are interested….

Since Brett and I haven’t actually left yet, I am the newbie writing from the “getting ready to go” perspective and this month’s topic – Are you a Sailor or a Traveler? – had me doing some serious thinking.

When Brett and I first started dating, I had done enough traveling to know I wanted more – a LOT MORE. So when he expressed his dream to go cruising on a sailboat, I found myself thinking – people actually do that?  Are you kidding?  Where do I sign up??? 

The bottom line is that I love to travel, but I can’t stand living out of a suitcase and having to pack up and move to a new spot every couple of days.  While it’s wonderful to see all the sights and visit the locations that everyone says you should see, I have always wished I could stay in places for longer periods of time.  I find the idea of making friends with people in a location, meeting their kids, learning about their life and getting to know the land really appealing.  What is their life really like? 

Add the ability to do it from the comfort of my own home, without the constant packing and unpacking or airplanes and it sounds like a dream come true.  Don’t get me wrong, I understand that it’s really all about boat repair in exotic places – but I’m pretty sure I’ll get to do some looking around between repairs.

So yes – initially it was about the travel.  But after almost 10 years of preparation, I have definitely discovered a love for being on the water.  And while boating with your parents as a kid is great, boating with the man you love as an adult is WAY better!  Once you get past the (ahem) “communication issues” that all couples have when they first start boating together (another blog topic???), I can safely say that many of my favorite moments with Brett have happened while we were out on our boat together.

Leaving one’s comfort zone is definitely tough and somewhat overwhelming – that’s why it’s called the comfort zone!  Leaving all our family and friends will be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.  But the travel, the sailing, meeting new people and experiencing things I could never even imagine – I can’t help but feel it will be worth every moment of the fear and uncertainty I will face.  I want MORE.  I want to feel the peace I felt on my one and only “real” passage from New Zealand to Tonga.  That feeling I had while just sitting on the deck, no land in sight, listening to the rhythmic sound of the water against the hull and watching a stray bird perfectly skimming the waves.  I’ve never felt so completely alone, but totally at peace in a moment of time.  I can’t wait to experience it again. 

But for now, prior to our departure, I just want to see, feel and experience everything I can while we are still here in Seattle.  To spend time with the people we care about, to experience all of the things I love here, to sit in our cockpit and watch a King Fisher catch his dinner, to be at anchor with good friends, to live in this moment, while still thinking about the adventures waiting just over the horizon.  And while I originally thought it was more about the travel than sailing, I’m beginning to see it’s really about both.  

Dana  svnorthfork.blogspot.com

Jane  morejoyeverywhere.blogspot.com

Steph  sailblogs.com/member/nornabiron

Behan  ">sv-totem.blogspot.com/

Jessica  mvfelicity.blogspot.com

Tammy  ploddinginparadise.blogspot.com

Jaye  http://lifeafloatarchives.blogspot.com/

Diane  http://maiaaboard.blogspot.com.au/

Lynn  www.sailcelebration.blogspot.com

Dana  svnorthfork.blogspot.com

Time is Ticking Away...

Now that we’ve owned our boat for quite a while and have been preparing for our trip for what seems like forever, many folks wonder what we still have left to do.  When asked about weekend plans I almost always reply with “working on the boat” – because that’s what we do.  This usually brings a slightly exasperated look and tone while the person asking then says something like “what could you possibly have left to do on that boat???  Isn’t everything perfect by now?”

Being that Brett and I are both “A” types that like things “just so”, there is an endless supply of things to work on.  As any boat owner (or for that manner any home owner) knows, there is always something that can be improved upon!  So I thought it might be interesting to list a couple of the not-so-super-important things we’ve worked on the past couple of weeks to show folks what we’ve been up to….. 

• Installed 2nd solar panel
• Swapped out the fittings that were wrong between our tank and our BBQ
• Installed a new self-tailing winch on the mast (old one wasn’t self-tailing)
• Installed a new router that will allow our Ray Marine chart plotters to synch with our iPad and computer
• Fixed connection to the original Wi-Fi that was screwed up when I set up the previous item (thanks for the help Greg!!!!) 
• Installed some new magnetic door stops for our doors (so they don’t make annoying sounds at sea)
• Figured out how we’ll mount our anchor(s) in the anchor locker when at sea (but haven’t actually mounted them yet)
• Added a garden hose outlet on our fresh water connection at the back of the boat. This will allow us to connect a hose so we can wash with fresh water (when we have extra) but was also meant to make sure we can periodically flush our outboard with fresh water – an important maintenance item.
• Finished varnishing the new battery box our good friend designed for us (up to 9 coats now!) in our aft head. Thanks for the beautiful work you did Craig!
• Installed a paper towel holder in the galley (really got tired of moving them every time I need to do dishes).
• Installed some toilet paper holders (weird that they didn’t come with the boat, eh?)
• Purchased the courtesy flags we’ll need for Mexico and the South Pacific (but we still need to label them so we know which is which!)
• Bought our quarantine flag (normally raised until you officially check in)
• Changed the way our swivel connects to the anchor – adding 4 links of chain between them is supposed to be stronger and safer
• Finished cleaning up the wiring behind our radios (been meaning to do that one for a while!)
• Installed a new 12V fan in the galley – which I’m pretty sure will be my FAVORITE fan
• Added an engine shaft ground
• Installed new motor mounts on the engine (old ones were original and pretty worn out).
• Converted our aft tank from water to diesel.
• Added a transfer pump to enable fuel to be pumped between the 3 diesel tanks AND through the fuel filters if there is an issue with dirty fuel – nice!
• Added a fuel gauge for the aft tank
• Swapped fittings on the hot water tank to fix a leak
• Re-sealed the insulation in the engine room where we’d done some previous work
• Fixed the broken tachometer for the engine that stopped working last month
• Pulled off the main sail to get it ready for a third reef and running a new track up the main
• Replaced a broken rope clutch for the main halyard and decided to add two more for the extra halyards 
• Created and wrote all these blog posts
• Searched for all our 401K information so we can transfer all 4 of them prior to our departure (found the stuff, but still need to do the paperwork…)
• And did about 6 hours of research on the medical insurance that we need to acquire prior to departure

Phew!  Guess there’s a reason we feel so busy all the time! Especially since it’s not just doing the projects – it’s the planning and the searching for the right parts.  Then starting the project and realizing you STILL don’t have the right parts and have to go back to the store AGAIN! 

The bonus is that I work for a marine parts distributor – so we get a great deal on all those parts!  Plus I have a husband that is amazingly skilled at doing all this boat work.  We’ve both learned a ton from all these jobs that we’ve completed – big AND small.  But most important of all – we’ve both learned that we are COMPLETELY CAPABLE of figuring things out when needed.  So we both can rest assured that if an emergency comes up far from home – we’ll likely know how to handle it. 

That’s a pretty great feeling.

A Complete Navigation Overhaul

Wiring the nav area

While we did several projects during 2011, the biggest undertaking by far was our complete navigation and steering overhaul.  After doing a LOT of research over the winter, we decided to go with Ray Marine as it seemed to do a lot of what we were after and the install looked pretty straightforward.  If I only had a dollar for every time I heard the words “Plug and Play” come out of the mouth of the Ray Marine rep!  While it’s a great system – I definitely don’t agree with the plug and play bit at all! 

To say this was a huge project would be an understatement.  Here’s what we installed:

• Hydraulic Autohelm
• 2 E-series Chartplotters (one at helm and one at the nav station)
• Radar
• Fish Finder
• AIS
• Lifetag (an overboard alert system I wanted for peace of mind during passages)
• Wind/Depth/Speed Indicators
• New Pedestal (to hold the chartplotter)
• Solar Panels
• Wind Generator
• Antennas (VHF, AM/FM, GPS x 3 and Wifi)

Hydraulics - huge learning curve!

Every inch covered with something

Passing wires through cupboards

More boat yoga for Brett

Where do we sit for lunch?

Not doing much cooking!

All of these items talk to each other over 3 different types of networks (Seatalk, Seatalk NG and Nema).  Just figuring out how to run the cables and what runs on which network was a huge challenge.  Plug and play, huh?  Running the cables to every part of the boat, wiring for power, and figuring out the perfect angle for the hydraulic ram on the auto helm were all a lot more work than anticipated.  I must have spent 20 hours reading manuals and then reading them again to make sure we got it right.  Brett also got to practice a lot more boat yoga! 

Autohelm and the brains

The chaos that reigned during this install was almost more than I could stand.  I’ve included some photos just to show how crazy it was.  But while it was a lot more work (and way more stressful) than we anticipated, at the end of the day I am so glad that we did it ourselves.  At some point something will definitely stop working, but since we both know how it all goes together it will be much easier to diagnose the problem and figure out how to fix it.  Or at least that’s what I’m hoping.

The Big Additions of 2010

  

It seems to fit right in!

Getting back to that list of items we wanted to complete, adding an arch the back of the boat was one of the big ones.  Brett had done a LOT of research on what we wanted and now we just needed to find someone that could build it for a price we could actually afford.  I am delighted to say we found the perfect combination in the company Railmakers Northwest, located in Everett, Washington.  Our contact there, Mark Reeves, was not only easy to work with – but a master designer.  He took our ideas and the pictures of what we wanted and came up with a beautiful stainless arch that is perfectly suited to our boat and our many needs (antennas, solar panels, wind generator, GPS, engine and dinghy davits, etc., etc.).  

The dinghy davits
pre-solar install

The arch was designed to fit on all of the old stern rail pads, so when the day of the install arrived, we thought no way could Mark and his team have gotten this right on the first try.  There must be a 1000 different angles that had to be perfect over the 6 pads (with 4 bolt holes each!).  Much to our delight, not only did it fit perfectly on the first try, we were able to install it ourselves (always trying to save money!) with the help of our two friends Teresa and Steve.  Nice work Railmakers!

The box follows the lines of the boat

Another big item we decided to add was a new fiberglass storage locker at the stern of the boat. 

Lots of extra storage!

 We asked for a quote from our friend Paul Ziggler at Northwest Fiberglass and he was kind enough to give us a very competitive (did you say “family deal” Paul?) bid on the box.  While we were desperate for additional storage I felt a lot of trepidation about how a huge fiberglass box would affect the lines and look of our boat – but I also knew we needed more space.  Thankfully, Paul is a true craftsman.  The finished box follows the lines of the boat and looks like it was almost original to the design.  And the best part is that if we decide to sell Bella Vita one day and the new owner doesn’t like or want the box, it is easily removed.  I would highly recommend Paul to anyone in the area that needs fiberglass work done – he does fantastic work (and I’m not just saying that because he gave us the family deal!).  

Moving on Board a Sailboat

Sunset off our stern

When I say that I live on a boat, the most common refrain is “How do you live in such a small space?” and I like to say, “with pleasure!” 

I’ll admit that at first I was a little worried how the transition would go – especially after I figured out that our actual living space equates to just 245 square feet!  WHY did I figure that out again?????  Did I really need to know that number?  No I did NOT!!!  

When we first moved on board, which was in August of 2009, there was definitely a lot to learn.  The first couple of weeks Brett and I started to refer to it as “learning the dance”.  Invariably, you always want to be exactly on the other side of where your partner is standing.  Because our boat is fairly narrow, we are left with two choices – either squeeze by (in a HIGHLY familiar manner) or to simply wait for your spouse to move out of the way.  We soon learned that having a sort of unspoken schedule of events in the morning helped move things along.  Brett showers a little earlier so that he’s out of the head when I need access.  He makes his lunch while I get ready for work in the aft cabin.  I make my lunch while he has his coffee and watches the morning news.  You get the idea.  By making sure we don’t need to be in the same area at the same time, we avoid those little frustrations that might build into something bigger.

Another big adjustment was the moisture issue.  You can’t meet another live-aboard in the northwest without eventually landing on the topic of how they keep their boat dry.  Two people living in a small space produce a LOT of moisture – we are composed of almost 60% water after all! We quickly learned that if we didn’t want it to rain inside, we were going to have to make a few changes.  In the dead of winter it was highly important to not cook anything that created a lot of steam unless we could open the hatch. Showering onboard also increases the moisture level, so we choose to use the marina showers instead.  But what made the biggest difference of all?  Buying a big dehumidifier from Home Depot.  That dehumidifier is the best purchase we ever made (hands down!) while still living dockside.  We run it every day while we are at work and always pull at least a ½ gallon of water out of the air – EVERY DAY!  After our first winter we spent the next summer completely insulating the hull above water line (taking every cabinet apart to get behind it!).  We also installed fans behind the walls to help move air around when humidity is especially high.  Making all of these changes made a HUGE difference and our boat is dry and extremely comfortable now. 

Another big deal is that you can’t just go buy stuff anytime you feel like it – because now you have to think about where you will put it.  With a limited amount of space, every item has its place – so if you bring something new on board you likely are also taking something off.  That gives you a different perspective when you are walking around Fred Meyer, looking at the gazillion different items they offer and you feel like doing a little “shopping-therapy.  So now I think about how every dollar I don’t spend on useless junk is going into the kitty towards our new cruising life – definitely an excellent motivator!  But on those days where I just need to buy…..something…..I usually settle for a nice little treat for us – like some shortbread cookies and good quality chocolate.  We will always have room for chocolate! 

Bella Vita always has plenty of cheese and wine on board!

So what are my favorite and least favorite things about living on a boat?  Nature and NATURE!  During the dead of winter when it’s blowing 25 knots in the marina, raining sideways and I have to walk the ¼ mile roundtrip to the shower – I sorely detest nature!  It is really miserable on those days and I find myself envying friends and family that take the short steps from bedroom to shower completely for granted.  But on the good days……oh the good days!  In early spring when the first bird of the season starts singing, when you can literally watch the buds growing on the trees and then springing open, when the whole world around you is literally coming to life – it’s suddenly 100% worthwhile.  I LOVE how much closer I feel to nature and my surroundings since I’ve been living on a boat – and I wouldn’t change this experience for anything.