Ali and I realized recently that this month marks 15 years since we moved aboard Bumfuzzle and kicked off this life. Everything before nomadism now feels like a different life entirely. While we experienced life from the perspective of a steady day-to-day suburban childhood to a never-know-what’s-around-the-next-corner adulthood, our kids are experiencing life from the other direction. We don’t yet know what their adulthood will bring—we can only hope that it is as fulfilling and fun as ours has been.
I sometimes wonder what this logo might look like after another 15 years.
She could care less.
From Indiantown it’s a bit of a haul to get to the nearest beach, but after discovering Bathtub Reef Beach, we went pretty much every day anyway.
We’re converting the fridges to a 12-volt system this year, and the cold plates are being cleaned and setup for the switch to the new compressors. So that has meant no fridge for the last couple weeks. But after Ali and the kids got back it became apparent pretty quickly that the eighty bucks we could buy a dorm fridge for would be money well spent, even if it was for just two weeks of use. The styrofoam cooler just wasn’t going to cut it.
We really make an effort to find something interesting to do every day. On this particular afternoon we decided to go hike around a bit at Allapattah Flats. At two in the afternoon. In Florida. In September. We made it about 200 yards before we admitted defeat. Another 200 yards and we all surely would have died out there.
So then we sat in the rental car with the air cranking and flew the drone around a bit.
Once the sun starts to sink a bit, there is about an hour a day that it is actually bearable to be outdoors. We wandered out into the boatyard and shot the drone up again.
Renting a car by the week isn’t the most financially savvy way to get around, so when our friend Blizz offered up the Travelall—yes, the Travelall—we were more than happy to make the four hour drive to pick it up. Throw in a points-paid hotel in Clearwater for the night, and we had all the makings of a fun weekend.
When we got to the hotel they upgraded us to a suite—when I opened one of the doors to the room our kids’ squeals could be heard in the hotel lobby next door.
“There are two rooms! Oh my god, Lowe, look, there’s two bathrooms!”
Ali and I joked that of all the things we do with our kids, the memories that are really going to stick for them will be things like this—the hotel room with two bathrooms.
These two pictures were it for the weekend. Swimming pool, pool bar, dinner with friends, swimming pool, game room. That’s it. A nice little getaway.
Florida ruins everything. This guy probably parked this here last week.
It pays to have awesome friends.
This picture encapsulates everything about central Florida. A windshield with 50% visibility after an hours worth of bugs, and an afternoon thunderstorm.
Back to the boat, it was time to get things ready for the new fridge. I removed the old AC powered fridge compressor, which weighed the same as a small horse. And while I was down in the engine room anyway, I gave the bilges a good scrubbing. One thing that drives me nuts with this boat is that any water in our outside back locker is led inside the boat, and into the bilge, where the bilge pump is left to kick it overboard.
And while I was in the bilge anyway, I tried once more to repair the bilge pump, which for some reason won’t work properly in auto mode (it just keeps kicking on repeatedly). I finally gave up on that one—tucked it away as a spare since I can always wire an outside float switch to it—and hooked up the spare. With a working bilge pump, a clean bilge, and a giant compressor dragged out, I searched around for some more projects.
Last season we didn’t use the forward bathroom simply because I had commandeered the thru-hull for the watermaker. Without water hooked up to the toilet, we could no longer flush it, so we just didn’t use it. Now that I was getting rid of the water-cooled refrigerator I suddenly had an open thru-hull again. One trip to the hardware store later, we’ve got two working heads onboard. Man, is life on this boat improving by the day, or what?
Once that new fridge arrives, and I throw that dorm fridge on the dock, I may never leave the boat again.
22 Comments on “Fifteen Years On”
WOW 15 years, congratulations.
I can’t remember exactly when I started following along, but it was a few months before the Great Race that I found your blog.
Love your new logo, so I guess after this boat it will be 4 wheels before the next Keel, just to keep the pattern going.
David.
Edit previous comment.
I looked at the logo at little closer, it’s technically 1 Keel, 2 wheels, 1 keel, 2 wheels and then 1 Keel, so it’ll only need to be be 2 wheels and another keel and that should be good for 30 years
Love the new logo. I started following with Papa’s Blue Bus. Went back and read the blog from the very beginning. I enjoy following along. Your lifestyle is amazing. I love that you not only make it work; you thrive. I am looking forward to retirement in just a few years; and hope to be able to wander a little. I may have to reread your blog to make notes about some of the really neat places you’ve been. LIfe is what you make it; and you’ve definitely made it!!
Congrats to you guys, I have been following since day one! Lots of adventures, two happy, healthy kids, and lots of fun ahead.
Just wondering, could your bilge pump issue be related to the water in the hose, above the bilge pump draining back into the bilge and then triggering the pump again?
No, I wish it were that simple. Those stupid pumps are ridiculously expensive. Water does come back in, but nowhere near enough to trip it again. And I’ve tried holding it out of the water completely as well.
Which model of pump is it? There may not actually be anything wrong. The Rule “automatics” kick on every couple of minutes to sense for water load, then stay on if there is water present to remove it.
https://www.westmarine.com/buy/rule-industries–1100-gph-automatic-bilge-pump–17967506?recordNum=3
Personally I am not a fan of them as they obviously use more power and wear out faster. I prefer the “Rule-Mate”, which has the magic water sensor built in and does not cycle on/off. (or another brand such as Johnson, which in my experience are more reliable).
Enjoying seeing you guys back on the boat!
Dig your new logo
Be sure to take the kids to Florida Oceanographic in Stuart — great place to pet stingrays and feed the fish. I know your kids have seen more fish in he wild than they’ll see in the Institute, but it may be fun for them. The turtle repair place in Jupiter is also fun, and I believe there is an animal sanctuary in Jupiter (the Busch Sanctuary?) that might be worth a visit. It might be fun to rent a small sailboat like a Hobie Cat from the US Sailing Center in Jensen Beach if you get a breezy day.
Bathtub Beach is great, but it keeps getting eroded away. I hate to think how much money has been spent to rebuild the beach over and over and over.
A book about 1800’s Florida settlement called A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith is a great story about life on those prairies including the good, bad and ugly.
Big time congrats on the amazing 15 years!!
Is that — gulp! — a cell phone in Lowe’s hand?? 🙂
I had to go look to see what Lowe was holding?! Spy walkie-talkies, Ouest’s purchase in Portland which she now wishes she hadn’t. Lowe is okay with them. 🙂
Congratulations! Love reading all your stories! Thanks for sharing your life with us:)
Thanks for the drone shots, that is going to be very cool when you get back out in the boat. I started following when you moved from the bus to the mono hull, it’s been a joy, I’m so happy when I get your e-mail of a new post.
Keep up the great work,
Randy Martin
What? Ouest wishes she didn’t buy spy walkie talkies? If she had lived in the “Man from Uncle” period, she would still love those things! We never had them back then, so we just pretended. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to have actual walkie talkies when I was a kid, but it did make us use our imagination. Great shows, Mission Impossible, the Saint, James Bond etc etc. Ok, I’m getting boring. Glad Lowe is getting use out of them.
Since you brought the anniversary topic up… Pat – I know you were trading prior to your change in life style but I can’t remember if Ali was employed outside the home. Is there any job that either of you would have had that would have kept you there instead of the current lifestyle you have chosen? What was it specifically, if anything, that made you say, “there’s got to be another way”, i.e. the job(s) itself, commute, 9-5 grind, the Groundhog day scenario (same thing day after day), – all of the above? Trading on the floor, seems to be a pretty exciting way to make a living – a lot of adrenaline, etc.
Hey Bum’s, 15 years and I’ll bet it’s still hard to believe how fast it’s gone by even with all the salt & tar that’s passed beneath those keels & wheels. I’ve been following since 2005 and I can’t believe it’s 13 years later. By the way, my eye tells me that if your new logo was a sticker, it would appear on a good number of vessels or vehicles. Just saying, who couldn’t use a little more beer money!!….. Cheers Mates
Wow. I remember first finding your blog when I was rebuilding my ’71 VW bus. It was 2009. Time seems to accelerate. Congrats.
I get a good laugh at your comments regarding Florida. I can so relate! This Cali girl had to spend 8 years there due to work. Absolute. Torture.
I started following you two (yes, you were only two then!) when you were sailing on the cat and people on the cruising forums were constantly talking about how crazy you were and almost willing you to fail. Guess you showed them! I have been following ever since and have found your travels inspirational and fun. Have also enjoyed watching the kids from day 1 — love the photographs of their precious selves. My husband and I used to own a monohull (but never lived aboard), now an RV (full-timing for over 2.5 years) and have lived in both Belize and Mexico, plus traveled most of the US, since I’ve been reading your blog. Lots of memories all around. Let’s all make many more!
Congrats Bums, 15 years, no small feat. Those pictures, so sharp, clear, and capture the moment. Happy trails, and looking forward to the next chapter.
You guys are awesome. Congrats on the 15 year mark. My husband and I have been following you since the days of the circumnavigation, and we are mid-circumnavigation of our own. We are in Malaysia and we were just talking about you yesterday, wondering: whatever happened to the Balinese rocking horse? Did Lowe and West ever make use? Thanks as always for leading the way. Still looking forward to the time where we run into each other and share a few stories over Tacos and beer.