The paperwork shuffle continues on the boat. Though I do believe we are getting very close now. The seller has got the bill of sale. Once he signs that and overnights it to the documenter we will go ahead and wire the money to his account. Once he confirms to the documenter that he has that she will send us the big pile of Coast Guard papers announcing that there is a new Bumfuzzle on the block.
01-July-2010 our life. daily.
We have got to stay out of that used baby store. Look what happens. Admittedly this thing is pretty awesome. Ouest is running circles like a horse tied to a post while at the same time playing a piano and spinning a dolphin. Just another contraption I wish I would have invented first.
02-July-2010 3:32 PM
We’re spending the weekend at the lake. A Minnesota Fourth of July weekend tradition, even if the lake is in Wisconsin.
02-July-2010 our life. daily.
We took little naked Ouest for a swim today. She is going to be an awesome water rat, I can just tell. She’s got her dog paddle going already, kicking and splashing. And a face full of water doesn’t bother her in the least. Now I just need to convince Ali to let me take her on a little underwater swim.
03-July-2010 our life. daily.
I made Ouest some building blocks today. Ouest seemed less than impressed but it was a fun fatherly project for me. Of course I enlisted my niece into some free child labor. When I thought I was done cutting the blocks I asked her if there was anything else I should make. She thought for a few seconds and then said, “You could use a cone. And a hexagon.” I looked down at my radial arm saw and two-by-four and I would have called her a smartass if she hadn’t been so sincere.
04-July-2010 9:25 AM
Ouest just had her second top front tooth break through the gums. This has meant a slew of restless nearly non-sleepless nights. But it should make for one seriously adorable smile very soon.
06-July-2010 7:38 PM
Ouest had her six-month check-up today. All is well. She is 96th percentile for height (28 inches) and 85th for weight (18.8 pounds). She’s about as big and strong as any six-month-old girl can be. Taking after her old man.
Recently Ouest has reached that stage where she doesn’t care much for strange faces. She knows Ali and I and that’s really about enough people for her. She had a full blown scream fest with the nurse today, which actually worked out quite well because she was so distracted that she didn’t even realize that a needle had been stuck in her leg. The moment I picked her up she was quiet and we drove home with her sleeping peacefully in the car seat.
06-July-2010 9:53 PM
Just got off the phone with the boat owner. He was on his way back from the boat when I called. He dropped off the dinghy davits and a couple boxes worth of other stuff he had at his house. And he said the Bill of Sale will be notarized and in the mail tomorrow. Seems to me this deal is as good as done. Should be official by the end of the week. Time to book our flights and go see just how much trouble we’ve gotten ourselves into this time.
06-July-2010 our life. daily.
07-July-2010 7:30 PM
We got the e-mail confirmation that all paperwork is notarized and in the mail. I can’t tell you how nice it has been dealing directly with the owner of this boat versus all the unanswered phone calls and e-mails to boat brokers. I wish more boat owners had the time and energy to do it on their own.
08-July-2010 9:00 PM
Ouest had a check-up today with her nose doctor. He told us that he doesn’t usually like to say things like this, but that he was 99% sure she wouldn’t need any surgery in the future. So that’s good to hear. Her nose really does look good. The hemangioma has really been kept in check by the laser treatments. We’ll continue them for now, probably through her first birthday, and will hopefully be able to sit back then and let the thing go away on its own.
The laser treatments do sort of dictate things for us at the moment. Right now there is a scheduling conflict with the doctor and we’re still waiting to hear when Ouest’s next treatment will be. Until we know that we can’t head out to the boat. And even after we do move aboard the boat we’ll be flying back here monthly. It’s a pain, but we’re pretty darn happy to have our baby girl’s nose looking so good.
08-July-2010 10:15 PM
So what else is there to say about the boat? We got a lot of questions today. The boat is not actually in the Bay Area, it’s up in the Sacramento Delta, I believe about fifty miles inland from the Bay. Our initial thought is that we’ll spend a little time up there just getting settled in and getting the boat cleaned up before moving into the San Francisco area. The passage south to Mexico along the Baja peninsula should be made sometime after November for the best weather so if we do decide to go south this year that’s when it will be. However we think there is a good chance that we’ll be living aboard in the Bay until the following year. With our need to fly to Minnesota regularly it just doesn’t look feasible to move on that soon. Then again there’s really no way to tell just how well Ouest’s nose will be doing and how itchy our feet will be. So thankfully no decision needs to be made any time soon.
We paid $48,000 for the boat. We think that makes it a bargain. Of course any number of things could turn a bargain into a bank buster, but we feel pretty good that this risk will pay off. Even if we were to dump another $30,000 into it the boat would still be below the selling prices of recent Spindrifts. But really we’re just happy to find something so affordable that we think should prove to be a comfortable family boat. Our friend that checked it out for us was walking through and exclaimed, “I can see why you guys like this layout, it’s like a freaking house.”
The background on this boat. Rumor has it that the first owners were drug runners. This rumor came about because the next owner bought the boat at some sort of DEA (or similar agency) auction in Florida when it was just a year old. They then owned it for many years, eventually sailing to the West Coast where the folks we bought it from purchased it. That was ten years ago.
They then spent the next five years getting her ready for their big adventure. The interior was spruced up, the engine was rebuilt, and a pile of parts were purchased. Unfortunately for them, like so many others, their grand plans to sail off into the sunset came to a screeching halt when a back injury laid the wife up. Not long after that the husband was in a car accident and hurt his back too. This is when the boat fell into neglect. It has spent the past five years at the dock in the Sacramento Delta collecting cobwebs and losing its exterior luster. Finally one day they decided enough was enough. They weren’t going to get back to that dream and it was time to sell. A posting went up on Craigslist, and serendipitously Ali popped on to Google. A phone call, a viewing later in the day by a friend, and that night we made the deal. So that’s the story behind why the boat looks gorgeous inside and beat-up on the outside.
08-July-2010 our life. daily.
The cat, Simone, took one for the team today.
09-July-2010 our life. daily.
A couple of weeks back Ouest started pulling herself around on the floor. Not really crawling, but sort of. Then suddenly in the last couple of days Ali and I realized, “Hey, she’s really crawling. Her stomach is off the floor. Oh crap. Watch out!” So we’ve got an early crawler. So much for getting aboard the boat while she is still immobile. Looks like one of the first boat chores will be getting some netting up on those lifelines.
10-July-2010 our life. daily.
11-July-2010 9:50 AM
Ouest has really discovered mirrors the past couple of days. She now crawls slowly up to them until her face is just an inch away and then leans in and gives herself a big wet kiss. Then pops her head back like, “What the…? Nice kiss.”
11-July-2010 11:08 AM
Ouest has been growing so quickly that just about everything she owns is too small. Her Bumbo chair was supposed to be a nice comfortable place for her to sit and eat. She couldn’t use it though until she could hold her head up on her own. Once she reached that stage it wasn’t long before she was big and strong enough to push her way right out of that chair. She’s also a six-month-old wearing twelve-month-old clothing. And outgrowing some of those. The walker toy we just bought her is on the highest setting and yet she is still too tall to really use it comfortably. I think we’re going to have a tough time keeping up with this girl.
11-July-2010 our life. daily
Yes, we spent all day in front of the mirror taking pictures. Eventually even Simone had to get in on the act. She seems to love Ouest for some reason. And Ouest is enamored of her. The second she sees her she lets out a loud grunt and makes straight for her. This time Simone snuck up on her.
12-July-2010 9:20 PM
We were sitting outside today playing with Ouest when the neighbor came over with her seventeen-month-old daughter. It’s only been a couple of days since Ouest became obsessed with the baby she sees in the mirror, but she was instantly smitten with this little girl. Ouest was in her play walker thing when they came up. The girl stood right next to her playing with the toys on it while Ouest just stared open mouthed at her and slowly inched closer and closer. When she got within range she put her hand gently on the girls shoulder and moved her face in for the kiss. The other girl wasn’t ready for their relationship to go quite that far and slid away while Ouest stayed in hot pursuit. It was pretty sweet.
Besides the gentle baby touching the other striking thing about their visit was just how big Ouest really is. This is the first baby she’s been around in a while and it was amazing to see her standing just a couple of inches under a baby ten months her senior.
We also found out today that Ouest’s next laser treatment for her nose is going to be on Friday. Which means we should be off to see the boat next week.
12-July-2010 our life. daily.
13-July-2010 ouest lill. seven months.
Ouesterly, my not so delicate flower,
All right, yes, your mama and I have taken to calling you Ouesterly as of late. Not all the time, just when we feel the need to sing your name. Most often when you are fussing for no apparent reason. We sing it in much the same tone that we sing Simone the cat’s name. You love it. Seee-mo-ooooown. Ouest-errrr-leeeeee!
You’ve recently begun to splash in the bath tub. And not the gentle splash that I tried to teach you. No, you go for the tidal splash. Which sort of fits in with your style. You aren’t, in general, a gentle baby. For instance, say we give you a wooden spoon to play with. You take that spoon and begin banging it hell bent on its destruction. So rough in fact that you close your eyes as if you know that things are about to turn dangerous. Like, “I’m gonna bust some crap, but I don’t want to poke my eye out in the process.”
This month, and especially the last week, you have really begun to change. Your mama and I marvel at you as you do something new seemingly every hour of the day. You crawl now. Full on crawling from one side of the room to the other. And you’re already getting very close to pulling yourself up to your feet. It’s frightening really. You can look at a pile of leaves, decide which one you want, and then reach down and pick it right up by its stem with your tiny fingers. It then quickly disappears into a stream of saliva running out of your mouth.
You drool constantly. With good reason as you’ve now got your two top front teeth. It’s been like three months since the bottoms came in and we’ve been waiting expectantly for more ever since. Mainly because the drool never stops. We feel bad making you wear those stupid bibs twenty-four-seven but until you learn to control your bodily fluids that’s just the way it’s going to be.
Did I mention we bought a boat? You’re gonna dig it I swear. Your room looks pretty awesome. Yes I said room. No more closets for you. You’re graduating. Also, your mama has announced that we’re going to get a goldfish. Don’t ask me. I don’t have any clue what makes her want a goldfish. I guess she thinks that’s what one does when they have children. They get pets. Yes, a goldfish is a pet. If it lives in your house and it has a name it’s a pet. No, you’re not a pet. It’s confusing.
So anyway, that’s your month in a nutshell. Hope you enjoyed it. We enjoyed you.
13-July-2010 3:22 PM
Well the new Bumfuzzle has gotten a resounding thumbs up from the internet crowd. Seems we might actually have ourselves a proper seaworthy boat this time. Not that we necessarily think a boat needs to be bulletproof in order to sail blue waters, but it’s still nice to hear. Fact is, our Wildcat catamaran was built like a child’s toy, with flimsy hulls and wimpy rigging. But all that proved to me was that if you plan properly, and don’t put yourself in extended nasty weather, you can sail the world in pretty much anything.
We’re really excited to get out to the boat now. Looking forward to setting up our new house and beginning a new chapter in our lives. We’re also really happy the boat was in California already as that was the number one place we wanted to find a boat, though we would have taken the right boat anywhere. The odds were that we’d find something in Florida, but I don’t think either of us was too excited about the prospect of sailing the Caribbean again just yet. It really wasn’t our cup of tea the first time through and I don’t think enough time has passed yet to give it another fair shot. Instead from here we’ll eventually get to make the run to Mexico, our home away from home. I’m really not too sure what the cruising is like down there, but at least when we get off the boat there will be tacos and cheap beer awaiting us. Can’t say that about the Caribbean.
13-July-2010 4:56 PM
We get a lot of e-mail, and a surprising amount of it is from people with small kids looking to go cruising. Thing is, they almost unanimously say, “We’re waiting until Teddy is old enough. We want him to be able to remember it.” I see what they’re saying but don’t really buy into that line of reasoning. Our feeling is that spending this sort of quality time with them while they are young is every bit as important as it is when they are, say, six.
Besides, how many of us really have a terrific recall of what we were doing when we were six or seven years old? I think the majority of my memories from that age come from looking at pictures or being told a story over and over again until I think I remember it clearly. Anyway, we’re excited to take Ouest traveling young, even if she won’t remember it. She’ll still have the pictures and the stories that we tell her. Plus, during this time that every day presents something new to her we’ll both be there to share it with her. We’re fortunate to have the opportunity to do so and are going to make sure we take advantage of it.
13-July-2010 our life. daily.
15-July-2010 1:14 PM
Ali is starting to stress a bit. The dozen or so yellow post-its on the kitchen table tell the story. All of the sudden it seems that there are a million things to get done before we leave. Even if we are only leaving for a month or so.
One thing that’s been on my mind is trying to figure out an automobile situation. Renting a car for a month while we are out there is astronomically expensive. Which has sort of left me leaning more towards buying a cheap car to use while we are in California. Even if we lose a thousand bucks on it we’ll be way ahead of the game.
15-July-2010 1:51 PM
We went down to great grandma’s house today to show off her cutest great granddaughter. While we were there she dug around in a chest and brought out this tiny hat. Bonnet? It’s angora and her mother knit it for her when she was just a little girl. A ninety-year-old angora bonnet. I think Ouest looks just like George Washington in it.
15-July-2010 our life. daily.
More mirror fascination. She’s a total narcissist.
16-July-2010 3:31 PM
Ouest had another laser treatment today. This was her sixth treatment and was the hardest one since the very first. On me, not her. Ouest is just so much more aware of everything around her now that I knew she was going to have a tough time. When the nurse wheeled her off I started crying like a baby. The look of abandonment on her face broke me up.
But fifteen minutes later she was back in our arms, snuffling a little bit, but none the worse for wear. The nurses all love her and take good care of her. So much so that we have to wrench Ouest out of their arms when it is over.
Ouest looks good. The treatments really have done wonders on her hemangioma. For a few days afterwards there it’s red and swollen, but after that most people would never even notice that there is anything there.
17-July-2010 9:51 AM
Each night it is harder to sleep. A million thoughts about what needs to be done on the boat. Ali and I keep reassuring each other that the only thing that we need to do is get Ouest comfortable and settled. Meaning a trip to Once Upon a Child for baby toys, a trip to Home Depot for a cheap window air conditioner, and figuring out how to get the refrigeration working.
The air con because it is one hundred and four degrees there today, and the refrigeration because we are going to need cold beer to keep us hydrated.
We’re also trying to figure out the car situation. Rentals in CA are ridiculously expensive. We’d blow a thousand bucks on a car for a month. So now we’re thinking we’ll have to buy something, use it for the time we’re there and then sell it. Probably won’t lose much more than a thousand that way and we’ll have it for as long as we need.
Ideally we would have driven the Porsche out there, but Ouest is at a tough age for road tripping in that little car. She hates her car seat, and she just needs to be more mobile. Two thousand miles would probably take us two weeks at this point. Plus, Ali has developed a phobia about driving the highways in the Porsche. With every other car on the road roughly one hundred times larger than us and traveling at speeds about double the limit, she just doesn’t like it any more. So it looks like a California clunker for us.
18-July-2010 9:37 AM
I’m not even sure how it happened, but a few weeks back we got in the terrible habit of using the pacifier to get Ouest to sleep. Oh my god was that a mistake. Every nap and all night long she would wake up screaming at random times because the binky had fallen out of her mouth.
So a few days ago, after her second top tooth had finished coming through, we made the binky disappear. We were ready for a couple of days worth of constant screaming and crying from a baby who wouldn’t go to sleep without it. Instead the crying lasted about ten minutes. And since then she’s been binky free. Naps go on and on without waking. Nights go hours and hours and hours with nothing but blissfully quiet sleep. And yes, I love my baby girl again. Just kidding Ouest. I still loved you. I just love you more now.
18-July-2010 our life. daily.
Ouest lives her life with a bib around her neck. She started teething three months ago and since then the line of drool only stops for sleep.
19-July-2010 our life. daily.
Packing up for the trip out west tomorrow morning. Fortunately Southwest lets us have two bags each for free. Four bags should pretty much cover everything we own, including baby toys, books, all of our clothes, all the tools I have left, and a hundred or so other odds and ends. It seems like a lot of crap to us, but I suppose when you think about it there probably aren’t many families who could move cross-country by plane, so maybe we’re not doing so bad after all.
20-July-2010 7:52 PM
Long stressful day today. We were up and on the road before five o’clock this morning which threw Ouest off right from the get go. She traveled awesome though. No crying on the plane, which included two legs and over five hours. Not bad at all.
We got into Sacramento, gathered up our luggage, and loaded up a Toyota for the trip south. We promptly got lost. So we pulled into a Macca’s to regroup. Back on the road we whizzed through what I guess was downtown Sacramento, though for the capital of California it sure didn’t appear to be much. Hard to believe they’ve actually got a professional basketball team there. Anyway, two minutes out of the city we were deep in farm country. Green fields and ripe orchards lined the road which ran mostly on levies alongside what I guess is called the Delta.
The Delta felt completely out of place. A wide body of relatively deep water just didn’t seem to belong in the midst of all the corn and apples. And as we drove along it was hard to believe that we were driving to a marina where we would find our new sailboat complete with an over six foot draft. It was about as hard to believe as it would have been if we were five minutes outside of Lincoln, Nebraska.
But then we came around the corner and spotted the sign. Hidden Harbor Marina, Sailboats Only. We parked the car, snuck around the gate, and wandered in. The owners live on the premises but nobody seemed to be about so we just carried on right down to the dock. And there, right at the very end, sat Bumfuzzle. Or at least what will soon be christened Bumfuzzle.
The biggest boat in the marina sat tied up serenely at the end of a dock containing what appeared to us to be nothing but a long line of forgotten sailboats. There is one surefire way to tell if a boat has been sitting for a long time. The shore power cord. These leave West Marine a shiny yellow color. The ones at the dock are brown and cracked. But if you roll them over just a little bit you’ll still see shiny yellow underneath.
Our power cord was brown and cracked.
First impression? Wow, this looks like a lot of work. But it looks exactly like we expected, so no surprise there. We cracked the unlocked door to the inside. The stairs were steeper than we thought they’d be. That was the first thought that ran through our heads. The second was, again, wow, this looks like a lot of work.
The living room was what we expected. The size and condition was pretty well right on. There were a couple small areas of water damage that we hadn’t known about, but overall it looked pretty good. Next was Ouest’s room at the back. We really liked this room, and Ouest loved it. We plopped her on the bed and she went nuts crawling around with a big grin on her face the whole time. Again, a couple of wood issues to deal with, but overall a very nice room.
From there we moved forward, back through the living room, and into the kitchen with the nav station right across from it. Storage. And lots of it. That was the first thing that we noticed. It’s a big space with plenty of room for all the duties that go along with a kitchen. Not much else to say. At the nav station I started flipping breakers trying to see if I could get things working. I managed to get lights on all over the boat, but just a trickle of water out of the sink. Chart plotter worked. That was all for that quick little reconnaissance.
Next we moved forward towards the second bathroom, shower, and what will be our bedroom. The hallway was deceptively smaller than the pictures had suggested. And as far as master suites go, it is tiny. But Ali and I have been sleeping together in what amounts to a twin bed for the majority of the past seven years, so we don’t really think too much about the tight quarters. We have an indoor full size shower, which is something we haven’t had for most of those seven years, and that will be very welcome.
All in all I have to admit, it was a bit overwhelming. The big question is would we have bought it if we had seen it beforehand. And for me the answer is still yes. For the price we paid I still think it’s a lot of boat. And I think after we’ve given it our standard toothbrush and Lysol cleaning it’s going to feel completely different to us. Ali I think would have taken a bit more convincing. It’s a huge change from what we’re used to and that’s a little unnerving. It’s also older and needs quite a bit of work to get it looking good. She is feeling overwhelmed at the moment. And quite understandably.
We had actually planned on spending the night on the boat. We didn’t see any reason we wouldn’t be able to. But that’s only because we’re still getting used to traveling with a baby. We still don’t budget in as much time as things now seem to take. Not to mention all the naps and feedings Ouest needs. It’s hard to fathom just how we’re going to squeeze it all in. In the end we drove to Target, spent three hundred bucks on baby stuff and cleaning supplies, and then drove to the Ramada Inn. By the time we fed Ouest and gave her a bath it was already an hour past her bedtime. We’ll get to work tomorrow.
The first thing we need to work out is Ouest’s bed. We need to figure out how to turn a normal bed into a baby bed. Until we do that there won’t be anybody sleeping on the boat. Second thing is to do a serious cleaning. After those two things are done there is a list of a couple hundred other things to do. But one and two are the most important things needed to get us on the boat.
20-July-2010 our life. daily.
Not only did Ouest step aboard her new home today, but she also accomplished some other firsts. At Macca’s today she sat in the high chair for the first time where she ate her little Gerber snack foods off of the super clean, I’m sure, table. Then at Target we slid her into the seat on the cart for the first time. She was the cutest thing ever. She grabbed onto the sides with both hands, white knuckles and all. The novelty of it kept her entertained nearly the entire visit.
21-July-2010 4:42 AM
Ouest was up at four a.m. Pacific time. I can see this adjustment is going to take a little while. In the meantime we’re unsure of just what the heck we are supposed to be doing. It’s a little hard to jump up and get started when not even the local Denny’s has opened for business. We’ve got to get moved onto the boat.
21-July-2010 6:41 AM
Yeah, that’s right, it’s not even seven in the morning and Ouest is napping. Time to get some random thoughts down.
So yesterday on the boat we were standing in the cockpit looking out over the great expanse of boat in front of us and wondered aloud, “How in the hell do you dock this thing?” It’s funny, our catamaran was only eight feet shorter, but was nine feet wider, and yet somehow this feels like twice the boat. The short answer to the question was simple, “We don’t. We need to stay away from marinas.”
It really amazes me the condition of boats sitting in marinas. Ali and I are one hundred percent on the same page as far as our feelings towards keeping things you aren’t using. You sell them. You admit to yourself you aren’t going to use it any more, and you sell it. We don’t get the whole emotional attachment thing. Especially to a boat. Especially to the types of boats sitting in this marina. The idea of paying a couple hundred dollars a month to store something that is deteriorating by the day is ludicrous to us. No matter how much money you have.Our boat is a casualty of this. I’m sure five years ago, when it was last used it was looking pretty good and was probably worth many more thousands of dollars than it is at this moment. It’s just too bad, that’s all.
I thought we’d need an air conditioner, but after getting on the boat during the heat of the day it seems as if it isn’t nearly as hot as we thought it would be. In fact for a boat that had been locked up for so long it actually felt pretty good in there once a couple hatches were swung open.
VISA’s fraud department shut down our credit card yesterday. Something fishy was going on. Apparently no charges were going on in Minnesota, but out here in California someone paid for a rental car and then a hotel room. Hmmmm. I wonder what that could mean. Honestly, wouldn’t most people make the assumption that we are on some sort of vacation. And if not, couldn’t they make the system say something other than DENIED! when we are in line at Target? Do they need to make us look like we’re some bums that don’t pay their bills?
21-July-2010 8:48 PM
So once Ouest finally rolled out of bed this morning we hit the road and headed for a Once Upon a Child to pick her up one of those exersaucer-things she’s so fond of. We were also on the prowl for a bed that might fit in her room temporarily. The bed was a bust so our two hour adventure only yielded us about a thirty dollar discount on a used toy.
But oh the importance of that toy. Ouest loves these things, and we love having a safe place to just set her down every now and then. And ten minutes after getting on the boat it proved its worth. I was at the top of the stairs looking down at Ouest in the living room squealing with delight while spinning around and around when Ali walked into the room with a wet sponge in her hand and said, “I like this a lot better today.”
Meaning that she was happy to be back in her element, cleaning, disinfecting, and making this boat into our home while Ouest sat in the middle of it all delighted as can be.
It was a fun day. We dug around the boat a bit more and were even more amazed by the gobs of storage space. They really didn’t let any space go to waste on this boat. I discovered that the electric windlass motor, as well as the wiring, appear to be brand spanking new. Which is nice. We took turns watching Ouest while we each worked on little boat cleaning projects. Ali’s projects consisted mainly of sponges and buckets of water while mine were more of the load up the mule and send him to the dumpster variety. Ouest and I did take down the brass seagulls together though.
Ouest and I took a stroll around the marina today and talked with one of the owners. Super nice guy. He confirmed a bunch of stuff we’d already been told about the boat’s past few years, but then also told us that until just over a year ago the boat’s wood had been gorgeous. The previous owner had apparently kept it covered up most of the time when he wasn’t using it, but this past year or so it had been left to the elements and the elements had beaten the crap out of it. He said, “You got a good price on this boat.” Time will tell.
Ouest spent a lot of time crawling around in her bedroom as well. She absolutely loves it in there. She smiles and laughs the whole time. Tomorrow we’ve got a fabric guy coming out to the boat who will hopefully be able to help us design some sort of cloth barrier that we can put up to seal up the bed’s fourth side allowing Ouest to not only be able to sleep safely, but play without us laying on the edge of the bed with her.
Anyway, it was a good day today and we’re both feeling much better and less overwhelmed about being boat owners again. Boat owners with a little baby girl that is.
21-July-2010 our life. daily.
You can’t be a California girl without In-N-Out.
22-July-2010 8:29 AM
A few more pictures of the exterior of the boat. Still covered in cobwebs, dirt, and tree branches. Obviously the brightwork is in terrible shape. We still think it’s going to clean up pretty good though.
22-July-2010 8:47 PM
We’re officially living on a boat again. It took two nights in the hotel for us to get things in order, but today we made the move. We got Ouest a crib that fit snugly on the floor in her room as a temporary measure, Ali spent a good portion of the day cleaning our bedroom, and I just kept my daughter entertained while she did so.
Really we’re just working on cleaning and getting our stuff put away. The boat’s engine and other systems are on the back burner until we’re living comfortably.
I removed the captains chair today which opened up a ton more floor space in the living room for Ouest to enjoy. We found that the boat shower’s plumbing isn’t hooked up. Which led to us giving Ouest a hose shower on the dock. The water got a little cold though and we felt terrible. She took it like a champ though, stiff as a board, but not complaining about it one bit.
The boat has a bunch of Pioneer speakers scattered all around it, but neither of us has found a stereo yet. Weird.
No other new discoveries that I can think of at the moment. I’m going to bed. In my new boat. Before nine o’clock. That’s boat life.
23-July-2010 9:21 AM
Gave the outside of the boat a quick rinse this morning and the leaks didn’t take long to make themselves obvious. One thing we got really tired of on the catamaran was all the leaks and we promised ourselves that we would make this boat dry. I can see we’re going to have our work cut out for us on that front.
On a more positive note Ouest is sleeping wonderfully in her new room. The first night was a success. Ali and I managed a pretty good night too in our tiny new bed. I’d say we’re feeling pretty good about the way things are going at the moment.
23-July-2010 8:49 PM
With a 27-year-old boat I suppose there are bound to be all sorts of weird things going on. There is stuff that is just plain old, stuff that has been cobbled together, and stuff that just doesn’t make sense. Figuring it all out is the challenge.
There are four small “skylights” around the front deck. All but one leaks. They appear to be some sort of homemade job. And not a very successful one. Ali wants them gone, but I’m not really sure how to go about doing that. There would be a lot of work involved that I’m in no way qualified to do. I am however qualified to use a caulk gun and gobs of 5200.
Here is the nav station. There are electronic devices here that I have no idea the purpose of. Starting on the right there are two boxes that appear to be some sort of radio, but nothing written on them sounds the least bit familiar to me. The third thing is a VHF from the 80s. It makes noise even when it isn’t turned on. Then there is the Garmin 220 from 1996. It won’t locate any satellites, and it doesn’t appear to have any charts loaded onto it. Next up is the Raytheon radar. It works. I turned it on and it identified a land mass directly in front of us. The problem with it is that the screen looks just like the first computer screen I ever laid eyes on back in the second grade. Black background with big square green pixels. It appears that this whole nav station could, and probably will be scrapped.
The kitchen sink only produces a trickle of water. The bathroom directly across the hall from it produces a torrent. The faucet in the kitchen looks like a ten dollar Ace Hardware special, so I’m hopeful that replacing that with a proper one will do the trick. From what I could determine following the hoses there didn’t appear to be any other obvious problem.
One of the neat things about a boat this old is the hardware. The windows and portholes are solid bronze and weigh a ton. They just make me feel all “yachtie.” Unfortunately, a couple of those are leaking to, and the prospect of removing and rebedding these monsters doesn’t sound nearly as easy as a cheapo new age vinyl porthole.
23-July-2010 9:08 PM
One of the disadvantages to living way out here in the delta is that we need to take a ferry anywhere we want to go other than directly north. Rio Vista is just three miles away, but for the past two days we haven’t been able to get there. The ferry is on the fritz. To go around to another ferry means an over one hour round trip for a ride that is just six miles as the crow flies.
23-July-2010 our life. daily.
Ouest’s blue eyes perfectly match Ali’s jeans, the couch, and my eyes. Ali took one look at this picture and said, “God she can look like a boy sometimes.” Mean Mama.
24-July-2010 9:47 AM
Last night we got one of those nice middle of the night wake-up calls that you only get on a boat. I put up this big sunshade yesterday, complete with four folding rods run through it to keep it bowed in a nice big canopy shape. That was all fine and good while the sun was beating down and the air was still. So of course it couldn’t stay that way overnight. The wind came roaring in well after dark and suddenly we had what was essentially a large billowing sail tied off to the top of the boat threatening to come ripping off in a riot of noise.
So out on deck in my underwear I went. The canopy making all sorts of noise while I stumbled around trying to be extra quiet as I repeatedly stepped across Ouest’s bedroom ceiling. It took a good ten minutes in that wind, but with Ali’s help we eventually got it stowed and quiet. We crawled back into bed amazed that Ouest hadn’t stirred during the whole event.
24-July-2010 10:26 AM
The marina manager just came by to let us know that the well pump broke. Meaning no water in the whole marina for at least the next two days. Probably three or four. That does not bode well for the three of us living aboard our half functioning boat.
Onboard right now we’ve got one functioning sink, two small fans, and a microwave. That’s what works. On the other hand we’ve got no shower, no hot water, no refrigeration, and no stove.
We’ve also got a rental car due back in just a couple of days and a ferry that only runs on rare occasions. Temps are in the nineties during the day as well.
Trying to live aboard this boat at the moment is proving much more difficult than expected.
I need to mention though just how nice the owner of this place is. When he came over to tell us there was no water he also brought along a big cooler full of ice and bottles of water. And, as strange as this might sound, he said he could bring us over a port-a-potty too. He really was worried about us.
24-July-2010 1:47 PM
Joy of joys, the well pump is running again. Showers for everyone tonight!
24-July-2010 8:54 PM
Here is a picture of one section of Ouest’s bedroom door. This sort of thing really is one of the advantages to an old boat.
And this is Ouest’s bedroom at the moment. Her crib fits on the floor with one inch to spare on the side and six inches between the end and the door. And it’s all propped up on pillows and blankets because on one side the floor is slanted for the shape of the hull. This is working for us, but just barely.
Today a fabric guy came out to the boat and we explained what we wanted made. Basically it will be a mesh enclosure for the real bed in her room, allowing us to lose the Pack ‘n Play crib and opening up a whole lot of valuable space. Can’t wait for that to be finished.
I’ll explain the layout of her room real quickly. On the left of the picture is a pretty good sized bed, about the size of a full. Immediately to the right inside of the door is a small bathroom with toilet and sink. That will be used as locked storage. Past that on the right is a big built in dresser. The top of which folds up into a big vanity. Behind the crib is another small dresser. As far as boat bedrooms go this one is pretty great.
Fabric man is also making a bimini top for the cockpit. The tubing was already in place, we just needed the fabric made. That should help keep Ouest’s room cooler as well since it is right above her.
While we were looking through the Sunbrella catalog picking out a color for the bimini we took the opportunity to finally ask a professional just why in the hell every boat in the marina has to have Pacific Blue Sunbrella fabric. He just laughed at first, unsure I think whether we liked the color or not. When we assured him that we thought it was a ridiculous color, if only because every boat has it, he explained to us that he really had no idea why it was so popular. He said it was no less expensive than the other hundred colors we were looking at in his book. I don’t know. Herd mentality I suppose. Somebody really should do a study on that and report back to me.
24-July-2010 9:32 PM
I just realized this marina is in Walnut Grove. That is so fitting. Ali is a big Little House on the Prairie fan and her mom and I were just joking the other day about it and calling her “Half-Pint.” Plus, at the moment at least, I don’t think the Ingles’ were roughing it much more than we are. Ali is practically a pioneer. I’ll be sure and explain that to her in the morning.
24-July-2010 our life. daily.
Another way to tell how our life has changed in the past few months is by a list of our favorite authors. At the top of that list now is Sandra Boynton. Ali grabbed her bedtime book the other day without even flipping through it. That night on the boat this was the last page we read.
25-July-2010 8:44 AM
We discovered a brand new 4′ x 6′ roll of carpeting today which was quite welcome as the blanket we’d been rolling around on the past few days was feeling a little nasty. Funny thing about these wood floors is that, for the moment at least, Ouest doesn’t particularly like crawling on them. I think it must hurt her knees a little bit because when she gets onto it she tries to crawl on her hands and feet in a desperate attempt to keep her knees off the wood. I suspect her aversion to hard floors won’t last long though.
25-July-2010 7:03 PM
We haven’t seen a cloud since we arrived in California. I swear it’s always beautiful out here. How sad that fate landed us in the Midwest for the majority of our lives. We could have been sun bleached movie stars if we’d just been born over here on the left coast.
25-July-2010 7:45 PM
Getting boat stuff done with a baby to look after is not an easy, or quick, process. Between feedings and naps there isn’t a whole lot of time to make the drive out to the hardware store, chandlery, Target, and the like. Especially since they are all forty minutes away, depending on the ferry. Today we managed a quick run into Target, a stop off at In-n-Out for our lunch and to give Ouest hers as well, and then a speedy dash inside Home Depot before returning to the boat. That took just over three hours.
I thought after my Home Depot run I’d be able to get the toilet working. Of course when I finally pounded the seacock loose the ancient hoses attached to it all started to leak. I quickly tapped the handle shut again and added hose to the shopping list. A toilet of our own will just have to wait another day.
25-July-2010 our life. daily.
In an effort to head off criticism from the armchair sailing community we got Ouest started on her bowline knot lessons. She preferred eating the rope, but we just kept yelling at her, “YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO DO THIS WITH ONE HAND TIED BEHIND YOUR BACK!” Look at that smirk on her face. I don’t think she is taking this seriously at all.
26-July-2010 7:07 PM
Our Bum friends really are the best. The other day we got an e-mail from Roland, a guy we’d never heard from before. He lives in San Jose about two hours from us and said he had a car that we were welcome to use as long as we’d like. I believe his exact words were, “I’ve been reading you guys for a while and I think I can trust you.” When we said we’d love to take him up on his offer he replied by changing the brake pads, detailing the interior, changing the oil, and filling the gas tank.
Then today he drove all the way up here to pick me up so I could drive him back to his house without Ouest having to make the four hour round trip. Awesome.
After dropping him off at his house I was on the highway again before I realized that in all that time we were driving we never once discussed how or when we would return the car. There is just a rough understanding that we will need it through at least October. And that’s it.
He told us that our website has brought him a lot of enjoyment over the past couple of years, and that’s great, but I hardly think that this is a fair trade. Sometimes people just really amaze us with their generosity.
26-July-2010 our life. daily.
27-July-2010 9:44 PM
Living on a yacht really is every bit as glamorous as it sounds. Today, because there is really no chance that we will have working refrigeration within, say, the next month, we went out and spent fifty bucks on a dorm fridge. We then brought that home and promptly set it up on top of the toilet because, well, that’s not working either. Though I do suspect I could get that going within a day if it were really necessary. Which it isn’t because there are toilet facilities here at the marina. Nice ones that flush with just the push of a button. All fancy like.
When it came time to give Ouest her bath the three of us walked down to the facilities. Ali opened the women’s and then waved Ouest and I in. I quickly ducked into the shower stall, took a sixty-second shower and then was handed a naked baby with the strict instructions, “Do not drop her.” Ali lathered Ouest up while I repeated my instructions over and over in my head. After nearly a week of this we’ve got it down to an art and no babies were dropped and no old ladies were shocked.
Anyway, tomorrow the number one job on my list to get this house presentable is to somehow make the kitchen sink work. Don’t ask me why, but this job is numero uno on Ali’s list. She doesn’t care about toilets, but dammit she wants her kitchen sink.
27-July-2010 our life. daily.
We all know it’s true. There is nothing more fun than a cardboard box. Doesn’t matter if you’re seven months old or seven years.
28-July-2010 9:04 AM
I just gave the cockpit area of the boat its first quick rinse. It took ten minutes for it to drain. It’s obviously plugged up full of leaves and whatnot, but it got me to thinking about the whole drainage system. The cockpit has four drain holes, but they all seem to drain out of one thru-hull on the starboard side. Seems like a pretty ridiculous system to me. Though I guess this cockpit is much smaller than our cat so maybe it isn’t all that important, but man we would have been screwed a couple of times if our cat cockpit didn’t drain well. Anyway, something else for me to mull over.
28-July-2010 10:22 AM
Ali’s parents are going on a bit of an RV adventure later this summer and her mom just asked us how we knew where campgrounds were when we were driving around in our VW. Ali read that e-mail to me and then we both kind of sat there with thought bubbles over our heads and couldn’t for the life of us remember how we found campgrounds. We thought that was kind of funny. I guess, as with most things, we just winged it. Which is fine in a VW bus I suppose. Not so much in a Class A with three yapping dogs.
28-July-2010 bumfuzzle.
We’re slowly getting cleaned up a little bit. The cockpit has finally been washed down, cushions have been put out, and bimini is on the way. There’s nothing left to be done now but to sit out there, drink a beer, and contemplate all the hours we’ll need to spend on that brightwork.
28-July-2010 3:55 PM
Ali and I have been having some parenting disagreements lately. Mostly because whenever I am watching Ouest she ends up banging her head or face against something and crying. Ali argues, “She’s seven months old, she’s going to get hurt.” And I argue, “She’s seven months old, she’s going to get hurt.” Exact same sentence, two totally different meanings.
I suppose I should see it from her point of view a little more as my way doesn’t seem to be working all that great. Usually when I see Ouest doing something that has a 50/50 chance of ending in a bump and a cry I let it go. Though it seems my 50/50 is more like 75/25 with the rate she’s been banging off of things lately. Anyway, it’s clear that she’s going to get some bumps and bruises living on the boat. Hell, Ali’s legs already look like her husband is an abusive midget with a baseball bat.
28-July-2010 4:04 PM
Ouest naps a lot. Which is great I guess, but has been making the possibility of accomplishing much of anything nearly impossible. She doesn’t wake with normal walking, talking, and boat creaking, but will with the use of power tools and the removal of entire floorboards. This is going to take some time.
We’ve been trying to remember in between projects to take a little time out, to take a walk, look at the boats, and play in the grass. Although break time in the grass is anything but a break. Ouest can not help but put every single thing that comes into contact with her hand into her mouth. Dandelion? Delicious. Leaves with fluffy white bug larvae? Pretty tasty too.
28-July-2010 our life. daily.
Every boat job requires a contortionist. This one was better than others though. And fortunately for me it worked. Ali now has that functioning kitchen sink she has been desiring all week. And the new one isn’t brass either.
29-July-2010 bumfuzzle.
Cleaning out the cockpit lockers I found dozens of empty cans. The problem is that they weren’t empty when they were stored. They rusted and leaked out. A bunch of epoxy resin, fiberglass resin, stain, acetone, paint solvents, you name it, it was in there, and is now a gooey black mess in the bottom of each locker.
29-July-2010 8:21 PM
The water pump is out at the marina again. No showers…for a few days. Ali is just slightly less than amused. Much as I was less than amused earlier in the day when we drove out of the marina only to find the ferry broken down for the fourth time in the week we’ve been here. There are a few challenges to deal with out here in the country.
29-July-2010 our life. daily.
30-July-2010 8:15 PM
We’ve gotten a few comments from the guys around the docks that have all been along the lines of, “She’s a good boat. Nice and stable with that full keel. But slooooooow.”
These guys don’t know much about us. Like the fact that we sailed around the world on a “fast” catamaran at an average speed of well south of four knots. Sloooooooow. Heck, just the fact that this boat should motor in the 6+ knot range makes it a virtual Ferrari in our book.
30-July-2010 our life. daily.
31-July-2010 bumfuzzle.
I spent a bit of time today washing just this section of the boat down. For the life of me I can’t think of what the nautical term for this is at the moment. Anyway, hundreds of rather large spiders lost their homes today. I can see how this will be a very cool perch to stand out on while under sail. I can already picture the dolphins in our bow wake again. (All right, in the middle of the night it came to me, it’s a bowsprit. Thank you very much.)
31-July-2010 7:44 PM
Ouest woke up crying during a nap today. I waited a minute to see if she’d quit and go back to sleep, but eventually caved and opened the door. There in front of me was my baby girl standing straight up in her crib, holding on to the railing, and staring up at me with a giant grin on her face. In that grin I also read her mind which said, “Thank god you showed up, I don’t know how the hell to get down.”
She’s actually been pulling herself up to her feet for a couple of weeks. Just never in bed. It’s a bit of an issue on the boat because her favorite spot to pull herself up is on the couch, which of course on the boat has a big table secured in the middle of it. There is no point on the couch that she can stand without hitting her head. It is also the most difficult area for Ali and I to come to her rescue. All of which I suppose is the reason she heads straight for that area over and over again.
31-July-2010 our life. daily.
A big reason we haven’t even attempted to start the engine yet is because it lies underneath this floor. The floor that we spend all our time on. The floor that the rest of the house gets stacked onto while whatever else is being done is done. The floor that is sure to give me nightmares for years to come.
