Getting to know you.

Getting to know you

Getting to know all about you….  Thus begins month one of full-time living aboard.  We are still not completely out of our coach, which is now in nearby storage with For Sale signs on it and we still have a few things that we ‘just aren’t sure what to do with such as:

--An air compressor. Does anyone really need an air compressor aboard?

--My telescope. I definitely see that I would love to have it on a dark-skies beach somewhere, but it takes up quite a bit of space in its case.

--My home computer. I’m going to miss the Alienware Aurora with its high horsepower and 24” screen big time. But, it’s big, and heavy and I don’t have a clue how the salt-water environment can mess with the components.

Tent and lawn chairs and sleeping bags. Would be great for when we want to go camping off the boat on some deserted tropical island, but that logistic and the space requirement may not be realistic.

There are a few more items of ‘interest’ that we’re just no sure about, and it seems as though we have already moved into most of the available space aboard. So, in order to accommodate more ‘stuff’ we are probably going to have go end to end and re-sort, re-stack, re-store and re-think what we have already loaded aboard.  Everything I have read on other cruisers’ blogs have indicating that storing stuff is ultimately a waste of money. When you go cruising, it changes you fundamentally about possessions and when you return after one or two or nine years, the ‘stuff’ you had stored does not have its same meaning or attachment. To that end we’d like to be as completely free as possible before setting off for any distant place.

Technically, today (June 30th, 2014) marks the one-month point since we unplugged the coach and moved onto the boat ‘for reals’. We hitched up the coach and pulled it into storage nearby to the docks and loaded out the last few things (for now).  I put on a small solar trickle-charger to keep the batteries topped and we turned our focus fully on settling in to the new digs. We are learning a lot…

The boat has lots of storage, there are nooks and crannies and lifting floorboards, and cabinets and lockers and cubbies and shelves and drawers to be filled. And guess what? … we’ve filled them. Figuring out where to put stuff, based on priority of access, has been quite a challenge.  I stored ‘geek’ stuff under a floorboard (for a while) but later moved it to a more accessible drawer. It’s a different train of thought to say “well, I need to print this out so I have to dig out and set up the printer” each time. Same with the scanner, which gets used frequently as we digitize most incoming documents (paper doesn’t hold up too well in the long run with high humidity).

The pantries are well stocked, but to access some things you have to remove two layers above it. His causes you to think about what gets used most often and what’ll get layered down.  Bulky things, like comforters and pillows, have to be squished tightly to fit into their spots.  You get the drift. It is a new way of thinking about your available space.  Nothing can be left out, basically. Everything has to be put securely away in order to handle potentially rough water and prevent breakage. Of course, If we’re going to be spending some time at a dock, we can break out the ‘fragile stuff’ and hang up the pictures J

On the mechanical end, this boat is a collection of systems waiting to be explored (and eventually repaired, I’m sure).  Adagio has a 78hp Volvo turbocharged diesel as her main propulsion with a three-bladed folding prop mounted to a reverse-drive transmission.  Oil, filters, grease, seals, impellers, belts, engine mounts and … well, you can see where this is going. A new regimen of maintenance days is in our future. No Jiffy Lubes around out in the ocean.

The boat has an auxiliary generator (6.5kW), a water maker (desalinator), pressure water pump system, 12v, 24v, 110v and 220v electrical busses radios, RADAR, air conditioning and even a washing machine (as small as it is, and it only washes, not dries). There’s a propane system with manual and electrical shutoffs for the stove, a water heater run by either engine heat or 220v electrical and a small TV. 

Lots of creature comforts (we do not intend to make living aboard akin to camping aboard) but also lots of systems to keep up with and learn about. Oh… and it’s a sailboat … 11 winches (3 are electrically driven) 5 sails, 1200 feet of line in various diameters, strengths and conditions. Pulleys, turnbuckles, chain plates, anchors, and much, much more.   It’s going to be a while figuring out all the systems and mechanics but it needs to be done.  We, as owners and sailors, have to be pretty fluent in everything about the boat.  It’s not quite like ‘knowing’ about the house or car, because everything has the potential to break at an inopportune time when it can become somewhere between inconveniencing and life-threatening. 

I’m happy to have a mechanical and electrical background where a lot of the mysteries can be revealed through experience in other things. Having owned the sailboat “Robin” for more than 5 years we’ve learned a lot about how things work on a smaller, less complex scale and so this isn’t quite as intimidating as it could be. But it is still a bit daunting to say the least.

So, in the month of June we learned … a lot … and there is still a lot to go. We know how to start the engine, maneuver and sail the boat. We know how to get electrical systems and lighting up and running (even converted a lot of the lights over to L.E.D.s J) We know how to fill fuel and water and empty out other tanks (a day long story unto itself with that one..). I know how to rebuild winches. We can run (most of) the radios and navigation equipment and can even make the microwave work.  We’ve found storage for most of our stuff, organized it in some logical places (safety gear takes up a whole closet …  who knew?!?).

There are still things we look at and wonder what they are for, and I’m sure we will puzzle out things like the awnings and all the spare lines and Ham Radio and how to get printed out weather faxes but we have a few months yet.

This is just our first J