Thursday, July 1, 2010

sanding, painting, etc.

We slept on the boat last night while on the hard. Not sure if they wanted us to, but they knew about it and seemed fine with it. I had strange dreams of the boat tipping over, people boarding the boat, etc. Sadly, I sleep better at anchor. It should be the other way around.

The marina power washed the hull this morning around 10:30 and I was surprised at how long it took - maybe 45 minutes or so.

As soon as they were done, I grabbed the dustless power sander and got to work while Justin ran to Constitution Marina to pick up our friend Mike, who is helping with everything.

It's now after 5pm and I'm about 1/2 way through with sanding, but am utterly exhausted. The guys had lots of projects to do too, and it looks like we'll be here for quite a few days because we discovered we have a few blisters in the hull that need attending to. I'll finish the sanding tomorrow. For the rest of the evening, I have some indexing to attend to.

ugh. Blisters.

Anyhow, a couple of pictures of our progress.


Justin and Mike

holding the entire boat up with my head.

4 comments:

  1. Hi Justin and Jenny,
    My name is Reid. I'm 31 and I am in my last year at Indiana Purdue of Fort Wayne. After I grad in May 2011, I am moving back to Florida and want to become a liveaboard on a sailboat.
    I came across your blog from a live aboard forum http://www.livingaboard.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=13;t=000192#000000
    I was looking at all the pics on the site and came across pics of your dog Willie. I also have a dog that I would love to have live with me. How is it living on a boat with a dog?
    I also noticed that you guys started out on a boat called "FITZCARRALDO" and now you are on "MADRIGAL." I have only read through your blogs of March 2007, so I am interested in reading why you switched boats. I also can't wait to read about your adventures. I'm not sure how you respond to blogs, since this is my first one, but i'm hoping we can communicate and I can learn about life living aboard. Happy 4th of July!

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  2. Reid,

    Thanks so much for the comment! We were indeed on the Fitz for about a year and switched to Madrigal. There were a lot of reasons - the main one being that the Fitz was as far from a sailing vessel as you could get...which (of course) we didn't realize was a huge deal to us when first purchasing the Fitz.

    We've had Willie since he was 3 months old, so boat life is all he knows. We know others who introduced their dogs at 9+ years old and they seem to adjust quite well. What kind of a dog do you have? The biggest annoyance we have with a dog aboard is the fur - we have to sweep every day...but it's well worth it!

    Do you spend a lot of time on the living aboard forums?

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  3. No I don't really spend a lot of time on the forums. I was just checking them out looking to research people's experiences such as yours who have things in common with me. I have a 3 year old schnoodle (schnauzer/poodle mix) that I adopted from my sister two years ago. She and her husband had a baby and decided to get a puppy at the same time. They soon found out that having a newborn wasn't easy to take care of, let alone a puppy. However, he is the coolest dog who loves people. He barks sometimes when I leave my apartment, probably because of separation anxiety, so I'm wondering how living on a boat for him will be. Hopefully he will adjust well. His name is Deisel and his breed is hypoallergenic and he doesn't shed so hooray for me. Do you have air conditioning/ heat on your boat? I'm thinking it might be a necessity down in Florida with a dog on a boat.
    I'm glad you guys went from a powerboat to a sailboat. I'm much more of the sailboat kind of guy and it seems they would be easier to live aboard rather than a power boat. Do you guys have jobs in which you need to drive to? Or do you use public transportation? I have a jeep wrangler, and I'm not wanting to depart from her. I have heard that marinas will charge you a monthly fee to park in the parking lot. Do you still work in the library and did Justin get his Masters?
    Well I'm sitting in Battle Creek, MI watching a hot air balloon and air show for the fourth of July. I'm typing this on my iPhone, so it's kinda hard to think of questions to ask but I'm sure that once I get back to civilization, I'll think of more things to ask. I was so excited to hear back from you guys, actual live aboards! I told everyone that I'm here with that I'm actually communicating with you. Can't wait to hear back.
    PS have you ever seen the website www.sleepingwithoars.com? I emailed him last week because it says on the site that he loves when people email him, but I haven't heard from him. It looks like maybe he hasn't updated the site since 2007, so that could be why.

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  4. We don't have AC but we do have heat for the winters. Things don't get too cold around here, but the dickinson heater that we have is a lot nicer than having to run electric space heaters all winter.

    It's been 90+ for quite a few days now around here so we've all been warm, but the dog does alright. We just try to keep as much sun out of the boat, two fans running, and lots of water for him.

    I don't have the job at the library anymore - I'm working from home full-time. I used to ride public transportation to work. Justin drives to work once a week and uses public transportation most of the time aside from that day. He's finished with classes but has a thesis to write now - such a big task!

    I've heard of the site you mentioned but haven't been on it much. We've got some links to other liveaboard websites that we follow under the "links" section.

    ReplyDelete