Guest Head Project

To say we needed a new look in our heads was the understatement of the year!! With one wall painted  faded robin's egg blue and the other two walls bright white, blue, marbled Formica counter top, fluorescent lighting and gold towel racks it felt like an out-dated hospital room. Visiting first thing in the morning and last thing before bed this look was really on my last nerve! Our little girl loves to gather paint swatches from Home Depot so when I told her I was going to gather some myself she was thrilled to have a "partner in crime!" My idea was obviously to warm up the room with some earth tones but I also wanted to find a "brown" that could give the illusion of wood. As much as I'd love to tear the room apart, we do live here and we are just trying to make do with what we have NOT re-invent the entire space! So... after weeks of looking at the swatches on the wall and embracing our vision we decided to take the plunge and commit already!!

I wanted to try out the colors in the guest head first, that way if we needed to make some alterations we could learn now and then our heads would benefit. Typically, I am the one that does anything aboard that requires a brush. Brushing our hair, scrubbing our shower, floors, decks etc and painting or epoxying are all my favorite!! Seriously! After all the materials were purchased and set up in the head I was pleasantly surprised to come home and see my  handy (& sexy) man was already getting his hands dirty! First, we had to remove the terribly tacky gold-plated, brass towel bars. We filled any holes, sanded the walls and then prepped by wiping down with alcohol. The rest is history because we used up a whole date night to finish it up. Yeah, we were THAT excited!

I'm really pleased with the colors and can't wait to see how it will come together once we change out the counter top with colors that will match and modernize hardware. So, now that the guest head is painted and the Captain's away, I get to dig in myself and take care of our head!! On that note, I'm off to get that DONE!!

"Locked Out of Heaven" - Bruno Mars

New Favorite Song Here!

Lately we've been doing a whole lot of working, the kind we get "paid" for AND we are in a holding pattern. We each have our little routines; little one goes to school everyday, I go to yoga and work and Cap'n is scarcely seen as his yacht is on two trips within the next two months. That being said work aboard Felicity is at a stand still. On my "off" days I'll be prepping and painting the engine rooms or prepping and painting our heads. Two major projects that will *hopefully* be finished sometime in February are the completion of our fuel system (more on that in another post) and the addition of a shiny, new head (that's marine speak for toilet). That is about as far ahead as I can forecast our lives. In the meantime, to make up for our lack of interesting posts here is one of my *newest* favorite songs to listen to as I tinker aboard! Bruno Mars is really showing us his influences in this track with flavors reminiscent of The Police and even a lil' Bob Marley! Check it out, hope it makes you wiggle a little!! ;)

Workbench & Drawer Complete!

Here is the "final" photo of our latest project. We began this awesome improvement about a month ago when we replaced our water heater and found we could really use the space above to create a workbench and drawer. The drawer's only hardware is the handle as it slides on it's on "hull" if you will between two grooves that act as a track. Along with this project came the task of painting the engine room and I worked on that the other day. We are using Rustoleum's oil based white paint  ($15 per Q) that acts as a much more economical version of Awlgrip ($95 + per Q) without the hassle of mixing two parts. Considering that we are painting TWO engine rooms from top to bottom we prefer to "watch our pennies so our dollars can take care of themselves!!" Thanks Ben! ;)

"Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves."
Benjamin Franklin

Update: Workbench Project

After an awesome night of tricking & treating, I'm catching up on some house, er...boat-keeping. So, here is a little collage of the work we've been doing in the engine room above the water heater we installed a couple weeks ago. This is one project that seems to have come together rather quickly! Turning misused space into a great use of space complete with a drawer for organization and a workbench that can help us finish more projects! Every time, I turn around another piece is coming together, maybe it's because we've been lucky to have the use of our neighbor's table saw this week and making cuts has been a whole lot easier! Check out the design of the drawer, there is NO HARDWARE!! Nothing to rust or corrode or break! *BONUS* Of course, an engineer would think of that, right!?

Just because...

Just because we are "resting", as in not traveling,  doesn't mean we are done with cruising. Since we have purchased Felicity we have been working our butts off to get her ready to cruise along with saving money for our kitty. We've come to find no shortage of jobs and we feel like we have got to *strike* while the iron is hot! So we whistle while we work and come home to a pretty cool boat!

Seriously, it feels good to be hanging out, putting down some roots, not in a constant state of motion. We have been "cruising" for the past 7 years and cruising oftentimes means, sitting, working, sailing, traveling, learning, repairing and even sometimes "resting".  So albiet that we aren't exactly going somewhere; we are getting "there". Ya dig?

Just like our readers who are dreaming and planning their escapes from the norm we are all in a constant state of attaining our goals. Each and every person out there has goals that are special in their own right. As long as we have our own affairs in order we should be encouraging one another to be happy whatever that may be. Take it easier on yourselves as well. Generally speaking we are our own worst enemies. We can engage in negative self talk and doubts about our strengths and that just ends up defeating us instead of lifting us up. Every step is part of your journey.

Our reasons for getting a bigger boat work for us and we try to remember that in the end we are the ones that will be living "this dream". So we are going for what makes us happy, what works for you? Some people ask, "How do you know what works for you?" My answer is experience. Just do as much research as you can and then get out there and DO SOMETHING! Whatever it is, it's a step in the right direction. The more you go, the more you will learn what works for you. That's what has worked for us.

Currently, we are under construction in more ways than one. Where will the future lead, we don't know but we are happy with where we are right now! ;) We'd like to thank our faithful readers for hanging around and welcome the new ones. We look forward to sharing more of our progress with Project Motor Boat in good time!

Tips for Selling Your Boat Yourself!

Pictured here are Tom & Gordon. Tom is the new owner of SV San San.

 If you are a reader of Latitude's & Attitudes Magazine then check out pages 64 & 65!! There you will see this article, published Woohoo in the June 2012 issue! The feeling I get from being published never gets old!

Listen I am no salesman, no yacht broker and I’m definitely no expert but several readers have emailed with questions on how we sold our boat so fast. She sold in 3 months. This is not the first time we sold a boat “By Owner”. Our last boat, a 424 Pearson, was sold using our same method.  It sold really fast, we were still sailing her home from Bahamas while the buyer was emailing us his flight reservations before we hit the dock in Miami. What is the method you ask? Well, get out your pens and pencils boys and girls, here are 5 tips for selling your boat yourself.

Creating Your Own Boat For Sale Ad

• First, gather up all your materials. This means get the specs, write up a blurb about the boat and take photos. You may even be able to locate a line drawing on-line which makes for a better ad. The more information the better, this will weed out any unnecessary emails with questions like, “What’s her draft, Captain?” If the draft and other specs are clearly shown you can essentially sell the boat in a one time visit to your ad. Give contact information and list the price.

• Taking photos. Take your time with photos. Set a whole day aside just to take pictures. Remove everything from the area to be photographed. Make your boat as clean as possible. For instance, if you are taking a photo of the salon clear the area of books, clothes and any other items that hinder the view of the boat itself. I cannot stress the importance of this step enough. There is nothing worse than shopping for a boat and trying to decipher what you are looking at. “Is that the galley, or a workshop?” Show some photos of the boat under sail. Give the impression that the boat is not just one that sits at the dock. Really show them what she can do! Taking quality photos is like allowing potential buyers a visit to your boat without the hassle travel expenses on either party.

• Create an online presence. If you haven’t noticed by now the way to reach people is on the World Wide Web. With all the free blog hosting sites you can take your pick and create a smashing presentation using the latest technology. You no longer have to be a computer whizz to do this stuff, it’s basically Cut & Paste with a little bit of know-how. The main thing you want is to be able to track your stats. Get a stat counter or a blog that has stats built in. This will help you figure out where your audience is coming from. Once you have picked out a host (site) began uploading your photos and creating a bit of verbiage (some words to describe) to the reader/potential buyer what in fact they are seeing, what’s it like upon entering the companionway, etc.

• Give contact information. Give an email address or a phone number or both.  Answer your leads quickly and thoroughly answering all their questions. I really have to say this too, be polite. I can’t tell you how many times we have emailed about a boat and gotten short one or two word responses. All I have to say about that is, “You catch more flies with honey.” Allow your reader to see the boat in action, if you have a current blog give the web address. This shows the potential buyer that the boat is being used. It’s not just sitting, being neglected; it’s being run and maintained.

• Once you have an ad you can be proud of bring it to the people! There are so many free outlets to show off your ad it’s laughable. Go to any forum and there is a Free Classified Ad section. Give a little bit of information, just a taste and then direct them to your site by putting your link in it. A lot of people don’t want to Cut & Paste, the want to just click on a link.Craigslist.com, Searfaring.com, & CruisersForum.com are just some of the sites that worked for us.

Selling your boat can be one of the biggest pains of boat ownership; which is why some people like the professional service a yacht broker can provide.  Using these tips, check out the listings of the yacht broker you might select and see if all your questions are answered. How do the pictures look? What is the first impression you get? Is it one you would want people to get when they look at your boat? Be careful and be wise. Hopefully, these tips will help you in your search for a new boat, and in the sale of your old boat.

The Right Tools

Oil change equipment! 

Having the right tools can make all the difference.

Here is West Marine's 6.9quart capacity Oil Extractor

This weekend GR did the oil change while I took notes. Next time, I want to do it. The set up we have made the whole process less messy and simple. West Marine's oil extractor is great! Using a powerful manual pump it creates a vacuum that pulls out the old oil from the engine. It's not necessary to keep pumping, the vacuum does all the hard work! One hose end goes into the engine's dipstick tube, the other tube hooks up to the unit. Give it about 15 pumps and just watch the cylinder fill up! We then dumped the cylinder into the oil 5 gallon bucket we had from the last oil change.

Ordering online is such an awesome way to get the tools we need, considering we work without a vehicle. GR found Northen Tools online and ordered this ZEE LINE hand pump for the fresh oil we'd be depositing back into Felicity's engines! It is designed to fit right over our 5 gallon oil barrels and it sucks the fresh fuel out and deposits it into the engine using the same method as the removal pump.

I was simply amazed at the simplified way we were able to stand up in the engine room and removal oil from inside the boat, taking it to the oil depo station here in the Dinner Key Marina, clean marina facility. Now we are prepping to top off the fuel tanks which we hope to do Saturday.

In Action

Banner Day!

Got the new fiberglass propane tanks from Backcountry.com filled today! $16 bucks per 20lb tank from Home Gas at 27th & 10th St, Miami. It's sooo cool to be able see the liquid propane in the tank. I was wondering why the tank only showed 3/4 full but GR says it's because there needs to be room for expansion. Smart;)

The weather was incredible today. I spent most of the day indoors working at The Bookstore in The Grove but I was till able to catch some rays and smile all day!

How was your day?? Are you happy it's Friday? We are...

Escaping to Jamaica

Yea, last Monday was pretty tough for me. I'm not totally sure why it bothered me so much to have to be at work. I think it might have had something to do with the fact that it was absolutely gorgeous outside topping out at a smooth 80 degrees with a breeze rustling through the palm trees of Coconut Grove. All I could do from walking out that door and spending the rest of the day ashing the boat in my bikini was throw on a little Bob Marley!

When Gia got to The Bookstore after school I could see she too was feeling the "Monday Blues" she said, "Mommy, we should do something crazy! We should go get ice cream right now!" I didn't need too much cajoling so we skipped on over to the Ice Cream Shop. After being soothed by Bob all day I was willing to top of my Jamaican dream with "I-Scream!" In Jamaica they say "I" in front of a lot of words. We reminisced about patties and yoga on the beach, about swimming in the blue lagoon and the crazy delicious jerk chicken!

Everyone needs a little encouragement along the way. Everyone needs a little escape. Staying focused for us means not spending money on things we don't absolutely need. Going to work everyday, even when we don't feel like it. The biggest motivation of all is that someday, someday soon, we WILL be cruising again. Then we will be living the life we were meant to live at that moment. For now, we are learning and growing and dreaming while Bob plays in the background!