We finally had a full weekend aboard, so we spent some time making this space feel a little more like home and less like camping. Picture hard-core organization and ruthlessly getting rid of more stuff. The cockpit was, briefly, empty. Then Kyle got the inflatable SUP out and pulled one of the kayaks off the deck and we explored the marina from the water.

The kayaks came with the boat. They’re so big and bulky – they block the view and they add a lot of visual clutter. We’re leaning towards getting rid of them. I enjoy sit-on-top kayaks, but removing the kayak from the deck made the boat look so much better.

I asked Kyle to get me a glass of water and he filled it from the tap in the galley. Then later when I asked him if he wanted me to wash down the SUP with our deckwash – it all comes from the same water tank – he said not to because there’s still some chlorine in the tank, he didn’t want to risk damage to the plastic SUP. So you’re saying it’s good enough for me to drink but not good enough for the SUPs? What?!

(edit: Kyle’s response to this is that there’s a carbon filter plumbed in to the galley sink, that’s why it’s safe to drink from the kitchen tap but the other water sources may be too chlorinated.)

The reason there’s chlorine in the tanks is because Kyle “shocked” the system with bleach, and since then we’ve emptied and refilled the tanks a few times to purge the bleach from the system. Being able to trust our water systems on board was one of the biggest steps to making the boat feel livable.

This weekend he also figured out why the hot water wasn’t working – the boat was originally wired to 220V, a previous owner converted it to 120V but the water heater is still 220V. There’s a transformer to convert power for the water heater, that transformer was switched off so the water heater wasn’t getting power. Now: hot showers (theoretically) abound. I even washed some dishes.

In other boat project news, there was a fender hanging against the hull where we sleep, as Hobbes would push against the dock at night the fender would squeak SO loudly. Apparently this is the reason people cover their fenders in fabric. Temporary fix: soap up the fender. And move the fender so it’s not located right at the berth.

In some uncharacteristic reflection, I told Kyle how strange it was that we never stopped to consider the fact that we were moving aboard a boat, we just did it. It was almost purely mechanical, once the boat was in Charleston things moved at lightning speed and we didn’t have time to think, just do. Part of it is because we’ve been talking about this for so long, so it wasn’t a question of whether we should. But life aboard a boat is different from land life, and we didn’t have time to consider the changes that were happening. In some ways, you can’t picture what it’s like until you’re in it. How do you mentally prepare for huge life changes? I read a lot of stories from other boaters so I thought I knew what I was in for, but as things progressed there were times when I had to stop and ask “How do they do it? How do they make it look so casual?” There’s an element of balance in writing: no one wants to read an account from someone who’s constantly negative! On the other hand, we’re both working full time, so we have to sneak repairs in during our few free hours, whereas others are living the true boatlife and don’t have to steal a free moment to make a repair. We’re still new to this, so we’re still in the throes of adjustment. That relaxed attitude will come, probably simultaneous with quitting our jobs.

Our current Hobbes Boat List has 45 items on it. Here are the big ones:

• Fix wind gen mount – we noticed a stress failure in the stainless during our offshore trip
• Fix sliding door (currently requires Hulk-strength to slide)
• Port head: replace pump motor. Starboard head: replace joker valve.
• Register dinghy and then see how fast 15 horses can go
• Replace galley sinks with a usable sink They are currently too small to even wash dishes in.
• Replace boat name and hailing port, have renaming ceremony, with alcohol
• Install CO/smoke detectors (unless you’re from our insurance, in which case, the ones that we definitely do have on board are functioning perfectly)
• Sort through spares on board and create inventory list
• Fix leak at mast step, which is leaking into our house battery bank

If everything I know about boats is true, we will never finish our to-do boat list. In fact, there’s a good chance that a 45 item list is the shortest it will ever be!