Home is Where Your Boat is...

So, I eluded to something on my Facebook page over Labor Day weekend about finding a new place.

About a week earlier, I opened up a fortune cookie that read...

The irony of receiving this "fortune" was it was absolutely not telling me something  I didn't already know. Unbeknownst to anyone else, GR and I were toying with the idea of renting a house with a dock. See, you wouldn't think in "the Venice of Florida" it would be very difficult to find a slip however, I beg to differ. We've used a variety of ways to search for dockage including but not limited to:

• Craigslist.com
• Docksearch.com
• ActiveCaptain.com

These resources are ones that I rattle off almost daily to those seeking aquatic accommodations. To be more specific check out "bridge height clearance" and use the term "live aboard" in your search to weed out the gorgeous yet, unattainable.

In order to understand our decision a little better there are a few things you should know. If you have been following along please forgive the recap. We have lived in Fort Lauderdale for about a year and a half; in that time we have "parked" in three vastly different settings.

• "The House of the Sun"* - This was a small two story, short term rental building that mainly catered to vacationers. Located literally a stone's throw from the ICW just North of the Sunrise bridge it had space for 5 boats. Live aboard was okay and they provided a laundry room, a shore side restroom with shower, a pool and BBQ area as well as a parking space. This place was super convenient and was essentially empty most of the time.

• "The Pier"* - Staying at the  "The Pier" made life at the dock seem like a vacation with ample parking and ALL the amenities one could ask for including, Pool, Spa, Hot Tub, Laundry Facility, Taxi Stand, Gym, and three Restaurants.

• "The Dirty South"* - The yard, located just off the infamous State Road 84, offered us a safe haven during hurricane season to complete the work we were knee deep into on Felicity. Although, we lived aboard at the yard, we actually only lived aboard while she was floating, once we hauled out we escaped to a nearby hotel. The yard was a Do-It-Yourself, services were reasonably priced and several craftsmen conveniently offered services on-site. As much as we grimaced as we trudged through barnacles bits to reach our floating oasis, the people there made our stay that much more enjoyable.

We live on a boat. Isn't that proof enough that we LOVE change?  After our "release" into the "wild" we decided to seek out something unlike our past situations. Each one of our previous docks had wonderful and less than attractive qualities that we wanted to both emulate and eliminate. Now we were armed the perfect list in which to find our new "home".

• A dedicated parking space
• A side tie
• A wide berth (we are 15' 6")
• A space for storage.
• Room for the cats to roam
• Privacy 
• A common area, to host guests

Why wouldn't we have the best of both worlds? I mean it's not easy living on a boat. I mean the day to day living, the get up and go to work daily grind. Isn't the only reason people put up with life on a boat is that someday they plan on really living? Throwing off the proverbial chains that tie and sailing off into the sunset? Our lives aboard are misunderstood and oftentimes scrutinized. Trying to find the "perfect" dock was proving difficult. This is how our search  for a "House for Rent with a Dock" began. We've pretty much covered every square inch of this town in search of new restaurants, hardware stores, specialty shops, kid play dates and random bike rides. We'd meander through neighborhoods and dream of the homes, scoffing at the ones that didn't have didn't have dockage. "It'd be perfect if..."

We looked at several places before deciding on the one. We have several things planned for the next several months and we will be sharing, of course! For now, we have officially moved out of Felicity and although, it feels quite strange (yes, I was land sick for a few hours) Felicity is still our main goal and focus.

BUT, no matter where we are, home truly is wherever our boat is.

* - The REAL names of these places have been changed.

Deck Work: Re-Coring

Here is a glimpse of what our entire deck looked like piece by piece over the course of 10 weeks.

Microscopic flakes of opalescent dust dance threw the air to the unpleasant screech and squeal of a grinder. Magical and toxic; exhilarating and exhausting. Quite easily the most difficult process of Felicity's facelift. Encompassing just over 10 weeks we were riddled with itchiness, played musical rooms, we struggled to create space for an amazing amount of supplies and we mentally limped along hoping to see an end in sight.  Financially, this project commanded our attention and we had no choice but to suffer boredom as we couldn't afford to do much else.

In reality, we did manage to get a few things done but none of that came to mind until just this moment, as I am now able to stand up from the rubble and smile at our accomplishments. If you are into numbers, I'll follow up with a post of just how much product we consumed. If you are into wallowing in sorrow, you won't find that here 'cause at the moment, I'm freaking ecstatic!

As I've had time to think about why this project seemed so difficult for us there is only one answer I can come up with.

We had to pay for someone else to do the job.

Typically, we do ALL our own work. (I use the term "we" lightly, mostly GR does the hard stuff.) I mean on previous boats, we painted our bottom, painted our decks and installed our on engine even, BUT this time around we had to (4 letter word) work. (Ahhhhh) The work we get paid to do, so we could afford all the products and the dockage and well the list goes on. With our last boats we were able to stop working, focus solely on our boat and seemed a whole lot happier to go to sleep with bits of wood and paint in our hair. This time, we were just going to work all day and spending our nights buying supplies. "What's he doing drinking the lacquer thinner?" I asked G one day after a particularly crappy day of driving South Florida's deadliest stretch of I-95. I mean we were buying 5 Gallon containers of it?! While I am sooo thankful that we didn't actually have to crawl around on our hands and knees in paper suits grinding fiberglass and pouring epoxy in between spells of torrential downpours and 92 degree scorchers there is a large portion of me that thinks we were cranky that we weren't working on our boat.

Satisfaction comes rolling in when you are able to touch and feel the progress being made on your floating home. That's what we'd been missing.


I'm happy to report the "worst" of it is over. We can now resume painting which is nothing compared to  fiberglass work.

Forward and Reverse

So I know I've been blabbing about how awesome it is that we don't have a car and haven't for three years (2009). How we love the exercise and how we never live too far from anything...well, that has all ended. In Miami public transportation was a breeze but in Fort Lauderdale things aren't so easy.

On one hand, I really wanted a car, like in the way a little girl really wants anything! I wanted it because I felt I was "too old" to be riding my bike 20 miles a day and arriving any/everywhere looking like a sweaty, disheveled mess. I wanted to be able to bring our daughter to play dates and help out the other Moms who so graciously traveled both ways in order to make up for our lack of transportation. I wanted to be able to sneak down to Miami and visit GR when his boat moved from one marina to another to await the arrival of owners. I wanted to be able to drive up to Daytona Beach for the holidays and see my Grama and other friends we miss so much! I wanted to hop in the car and drive to work when it was raining and/or cold, not bundle up into a bunch of layers and then shove all the extra clothes in my backpack because by afternoon it's back up to 80 degrees here!

On the other hand, I hated the idea of spending money on said car, a very temporary item, at least for us. In our bigger view of our future we do not have a need for a car. We will have the scooter, 3 bicycles and our dinghy (soon to come) but definitely -  NO CAR! I hated the fact that most of the reasons for getting the car were "wants" not "needs". Mostly, I hated that I was putting money towards something that wasn't going to accelerate our cruising "shove off" date. Yet, I made the decision anyway.

Here she is ... I'm calling her *Mellow* mostly because she looks like a marshmallow and slightly because I need to be reminded to just - be - mellow. I know this decision will turn out to be beneficial (Christmas tree hauling by bicycle would look quite funny) and there's always the fact that we will sell her before we do take off, because we will. Eventually.

In the meantime, I'm enjoying expressing gratitude for the ability to work hard and get the things we want and experience the freedom of a longer range of motion that "Mellow" provides in forward and in reverse!! ;)

Recycled Blog Posts! For the girls...

So I got to thinking (trouble, right?!) with this whole "Green" revolution going on that maybe I should "do my  part!" Only instead of recycling plastics, I'm recycling blog posts. Since this is a "new" blog,  many of our readers haven't read some of our stories from S/V San San, our last boat. AND since I'm short on time this saves me, yet keeps you all entertained!;) BONUS!

The cool thing is that even though this post originated from our sailboat days, it still applies to any boat/home and has even been enhanced a bit...

Thanks to Pinterest, I have been able to categorize all my favorite ideas in one place, like a virtual cork board! Therefore, whenever I want to show my handyman an idea I have for storage or in the galley, I just log on a VOILA! Check out my profile and see if there's anything you like, and if you would like to have a Pinterest account of your own, email me and I'll send you an invite. Oh yea, it's like that!;)

My girl friend came to visit and was totally impressed with this idea. It’s a great space saver! I bought this canvas shoe rack from Bed, Bath & Beyond, way back when. I wish I could claim this idea as my own but I gathered it from The Best Tips From Women Aboard. The book is packed with tons of helpful ideas for living aboard and I refer to it often!

Inside the canvas pockets I keep all kinds of girlie goodies, like lotions and creams. There are pumice stones, hair oils, patchouli, lavender, and almond oils, a sleep mask, ear plugs, tweezers, toe nail clippers, combs, hair clips and bands, aloe, nail polish, cotton balls and q-tips. Just because we come out here and live in swamp country or sandy land, does NOT mean we have to give up the once and a good while treats like a facial, polish, scrub or rub down.

There is plenty of time to apply and remove polish, plenty of time to pluck those stray hairs and plenty of time to twist your hair into a braid. One of the things I express to my friends that are new to cruising is the ability to still let yourself feel feminine. This is a tough environment, you will be sun burned, scratched, bitten and contorted in all kinds of ways while working and living on your boat.  So take time to make yourself feel pretty once in a while. And if your like me with a daughter, this makes for good Mommy/Daughter bonding time.

 You have worked hard to get to this dream of cruising and although the nuts and bolts are important, keep some things for yourself. Enjoy it because after all, Girls Rule and Boys WILL Drool! What things to you have on board to pamper yourself with?

Check out these other cool ways to store stuff onboard.

This would work well on a wall in the head.

Got a hanging locker? Maximize space like this!

Last one, I promise...

Reuse those egg cartons for delicate items like Holiday ornaments! GREEN!!!

Wishing you your own felicity.

Original Ad for 50 Hatteras

As we were enjoying a lazy day yesterday we stumbled upon this ad through Sams Marine, sponsor for the Hatteras Owner's Forum. This is original footage of the first fiberglass motor yacht. You'll notice the original 50' Hatteras didn't include a flybridge. Felicity is a 1968 model, the last year they manufactured. Just looking at the way they are playing around in the water makes us want to get up and go! Check it out!

Hatteras 50 Motor Yacht & 28 Convertible by samsmarine

Really, Refrigerator?

After living for the past 3 years without refrigeration we have slipped into the world of comfort pretty easily. Currently we have a household fridge on board. It came with the boat, it's old but it worked fine. But, suddenly the fridge lost her cool. Just to give you all a quick update we kicked off Project Galley a few weeks ago by ordering a new 20" range. Isn't it just fitting that the fridge would go on us? This is how one chore turns into a bunch of little ones.

It's almost as if she knew we were getting new appliances and wanted a replacement herself! My first clue  came on Monday morning, (of course not on the weekend) when I noticed the milk wasn't very cold. I mentioned something to G and he said to call the repair man (since he was at work). Here is where is gets interesting. Repair man arrives, he takes one look at the fridge and says, " You need a new one." Really? "That will be $20," and with that he is gone.

Now I have the magnitude of finding a fridge bearing down on me. Have you ever had to replace a broken refrigerator or other major appliance? It's not a quick and easy job. Typically, you would drive around to various appliance stores in search of the right fit, design and price. For us, we don't drive so getting to a couple of places in one night between 5pm and closing was just not going to happen. We set out to our local Home Depot and were told they had no stock, anything we wanted would be a special order. Booo! We stopped to grab a bite to eat and while we sat, we thought... if we are going to have to order something we might as well get something perfect. The Home Depot salesman was searching through inventory on the Home Depot website, I mean, we could do that! So back home we went, sort of befuddled.

Meanwhile, the freezer is still going strong and now has all of the perishables like milk and yogurt inside. GR gets to thinking, if the freezer is still working something must be able to be repaired to cool the refrigerator part. So we sleep on it, work all day and voila! When GR finally gets home from an extra long day at work at 9:30pm he tears into the fridge! I pulled up a parts breakdown of the current GE model we have and GR took a quick peak into where certain items were before he started dis-assembly. After removing the housing and fan we came up with the lazy culprit causing all the fuss! The motor that runs the fan was not running.

Seventy five dollars later we have the part on order and expect it Friday! 'Til then we keep our fingers crossed. I'm so happy we were not forced into buying another household fridge as the goal here to be more self reliant. A 12 volt system would be better in that way, but we sure would lose a lot of space, so we are torn. One thing is for sure, we will not take our luxury for granted! We should have a running fridge and a brand new range this weekend! Woo hoo! Hurray for handymen!

Felicity's Five Favorite Items to Drool Over

"Good plans shape good decisions. That's why good planning helps to make elusive dreams come true." - Lester Robert Bittel

To say that we look at West Marine or Lewis Marine catalogs very often would be an understatement. I venture to say we are not the only ones though. I mean who doesn't love scanning through the pages of all that fancy gear and dreaming of having it on their own boat? Why not dream big, right?

Since it's Miami Boat Show weekend, I see it only fitting to mention our five favorite items to drool over:


12' Livingston Dinghy w/ a 30 hp Yamaha - Yes, we will absolutely get another Livingston dinghy! We had so much fun with our last one we can't think of a reason not to! We are excited to go a size up because the 10' was great for the three of us or even another full size human, but if we had two extra adults along for a ride we weren't able to plane. Since we plan to have more guests along in our now bigger boat we plan to be able to get up on a plane and hit the beach in style!


Tecma Silence Plus Heads - Sure two heads are better than one, but we've got three and only one is operable. GR was exposed to these bad boys through the current yacht he works on and he is sold! The design is easy on the eyes with clean lines, keeping all the hose under wraps. They are affordably priced at under $1,000 and operate electronically so none of that hand operated pump action. Guests will feel right at home when they just push a button to quickly and silently flush. The system has programmable flush cycles that even prevent flushing when the tank is full.


Northern Lights 10KW Generator - The difference in the technology of models built in the 1960's and today is enough to want to replace the generator not to mention the difficulty in getting parts that dated. The Northern Lights 10KW weighs less than half of what our current generator does and would offer double the fuel efficiency. The goal of Project Motor Boat is to create a live aboard motor yacht that can be as efficient as a live aboard sailboat. We don't plan on staying at the dock forever and the sooner we get to self sufficiency the sooner we can get cruising!


Magnum MS4024 Inverter Charger - Basically we will need this unit to operate the reefer; something we have grown to depend on! Although, we currently have a household refrigerator I would love to eventually have an RV style counter depth unit that would be more efficient. Our boat is currently on a 32 volt operating system which makes this unit perfect for us to slowly make the switch to a 24 volt system.


Ocean LED Underwater Lighting - You've seen them, those boats that light up the night making their own personal anchorage aquarium show! WE WANT TO BE THAT GUY! I can't tell you how long we have pined over hauling out and installing these incredibly efficient LED lighting systems. To be precise
we need to 2010 HD flush mount model. These models are easily accessible from inside the hull for maintenance and even offer color changing abilities depending on the type of water you are in! It's so cool!

So, tomorrow I will finally get the chance to make my rounds at the 2012 Miami International Boat Show and hope to make stops at these booths for more information and more drooling! See you there!

Boat Show Gear!

The 2012 Progressive Insurance® Miami International Boat Show and Strictly Sail is happening! This week begins the move-in of thousands of boats to the Miami Beach Convention Center and Sea Isle Marina & Yachting Center. Some boats are still shrink wrapped and are brought in by crane, while still others like the one GR is on will be driven in and parked into tight spaces where they will show off their goods for the next week to dreamers and buyers from around the world!

GR brought home our first bit of boat show gear last night!

I'm so stoked to rock this hat! IAG Yachts are the manufacturer of the current yacht GR is working with. EARLY this morning, I drove G up to  Ft. Lauderdale so he could get on the brand new 127' model and bring it down to South Beach to get prepared for the show. If you get a chance to check out the Mega-Yachts at Sea Isle and look for him! Tell him you heard about it on Project Motor Boat!

The Daily Blend

For those of you who read our Friday post about GR's Five Favorite Products listen up! We didn't do any boat projects this weekend! Oops. Sometimes life gets in the way.

We started off the weekend with blueberry pancakes (mmm), then I was off to work while GR hit up the grocery store. That afternoon we were whisked off to go sailing. (Sooo Nice!) After an incredible couple of hours on the water all I wanted to do was have a margarita. Once all the ingredients were set out, I noticed the blender was not sealing properly. Boooo! I tested the pitcher by filling it with water first, (wouldn't want to waste any of that precious tequila) to my disappointment the pitcher leaked like a sieve. Needless to say our first order of business on Sunday was to get a new blender!

Seeing as how we don't have a vehicle and we we use Miami's incredibly easy public transportation we planned our timing just right to be ready and waiting at Bed, Bath & Beyond as the doors opened.We price shopped a few other stores before deciding on the perfect blender under $30. (Ahh, the wonders of electricity never cease to amaze me!)

Making the most of our time and money we took the opportunity to browse several of the stores and picked up some Valentine's crafts for Gia. Once we got home I was not in the mood for margaritas but smoothies sounded so much better! So the first drink we made in our new blender was a healthy virgin! Everyone had a smoothie and got right into craft mode!

Hopefully, this weekend after some careful planning we will get a boat project done AND have margaritas!

Little Things

A bit of rain? NO worries!

We were recently invited over to a boat for an after dinner drink. Our hostess exclaimed, "Oh, how nice! You have real wine glasses." I gushed, “Isn’t that cool, they were on the boat!" Minutes later she pulled out a piece of paper with a staple in it and I said, “Oh! You have a stapler!” We laughed at how no matter the vessel we all have unique ideas of comfort.

Having just purchased the boat there were a few little things on board that were small luxuries (to us) that often get over looked. Real plates for one, we'd been using plastic plates for so long it was a real treat! Real glasses, there just something about the feel of a glass in your hand that makes you feel fancy!

One big change we have with Felicity is the spacious indoor steering station or wheelhouse. In there it’s warm and getting going at 6:45 this morning isn’t so bad after we stow the dock lines and hurry back inside. Once the rain set in GR and I both looked at each other as if to say, “Thank goodness!” We are thrilled with the ability to stay inside when the weather gets rough.

The best thing has been cruising. It’s been so long since we’ve joined fellow boaters commuting along the waterways and the camaraderie is the same as it ever was. We’ve enjoyed seeing all the different vessels passing by on their way to their own version of paradise.