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Hi there. How’s it going? It’s been a while since I’ve posted and many of you are looking for an update on our little world. We’re flattered! We’ve been super busy, per usual, however this time, travel for both of us, was to blame for the delay. While it’s usually me who is doing most of the travel for work, Matt had a little adventure of his own this past week when his boss asked him to help crew a boat up from Miami. It was a great opportunity for him to get some open ocean sailing experience – which included several overnight sails – under the coaching of two very skilled sailors. It was an incredible experience, which definitely deserves it’s own post.
Because we both were traveling for work last week – Matt sailing up from Miami and me flying out to Denver – the weekend was a bit chaotic trying to get both ourselves and the boat ready. We spent Saturday cleaning and securing the boat incase we had any crazy weather while we were gone and drove up to my parents house to drop the girls off at doggie daycare. We figured it would be good for them to get back on solid ground again and run around for a few days. They seem to be adjusting to boat life quite well, but every now and then, we all need to stretch our legs a bit 😉
That night, exhausted, we retired early to watch a movie in bed. Around 12:30 I went into the bathroom and noticed that the toilet paper under the sink was wet. What the heck?? It took a second for my foggy brain to process what was going on… I peeked under the sink and sure enough, we had sprung a leak!
“Matt! We’re leaking! There’s water everywhere!” (ok, maybe I embellished just a bit).
“What??!!”. Nothing like referencing a leak on a boat to get your sleeping husband to spring out of bed and into action.
After a few tense minutes, we were able to shut of the water and diagnose the problem. A clamp that held the freshwater hose to the sink had corroded and broke, leaving the water to pump out/spray uncontrollably into the area under the sink and down into the bilge. By the time we noticed it, the bilge was about 8″ full of freshwater. Not a huge deal, and it could have been worse – our bilge holds a lot more water than what was in there, and we could easily replenish our freshwater supply since we’re hooked up at the dock. However, if I didn’t open up that bathroom cabinet and notice the wet TP, it would have gone undetected and we would have had a much bigger problem to deal with. All of this about 10 hours before we left the boat for several days. It left us with a sinking feeling inside, no pun intended….
So, queue up our next big boat project – installing automatic bilge pumps on both bilges. When water raises to a certain level, they’ll kick on and begin to pump out while a remote alarm sounds indicating to us that there’s a problem. These babies can pump something like 3,700 gallons per hour, basically allowing us to stay afloat even with a small hole in our boat. Overkill? Hardly.
I’m happy and very relieved to report that there were no additional problems that arose while we were away. I turned the water off before we left just incase there were any other corroded clamps just waiting to bust a move. However, the biggest problem I had to deal with when I got back home was that I was flying solo…. Matt wasn’t getting home for another few days. Normally, I’d be OK with this, but this past incident made me feel totally helpless and I was on edge until he came home. Nothing like an impromptu leak – ie: something that could potentially sink your house – to make you question what the hell you’re doing living on a damn boat anyway. But, we’ve accepted the fact that while we’ve been fortunate enough to able to experience this whole new way of life, we’re dealing with a whole new set of challenges that come along with it as well.
So how did I pass the time until Matt got home? By nesting of course! I finally changed out our curtains to something that matched our cushions. While the teal cushions are definitely walking on death row, I figured a pair of $40 curtains would be money well spent to pull the room together and make it feel even more like us.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
I’m really loving the ikat. It gives it the laid back Bohemian feel that we’re relating to a lot more lately. Eventually we’d like to replace the teal suede cushions in the saloon – tres chic, we know. I’m thinking that I’ll even borrow my mom’s sewing machine and attempt to do it myself since Matt says I need to learn a trade. Just call me Marine Martha.
Until then….
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