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Project 'Reupholster' Has Commenced!

After much searching, debating and discussing we've finally found fabric to use for our salon (interior) cushions and quarter berth.  We really liked the pattern that Hullabaloo came with but soon found that with having a dog on board, particularly one with dark hair, it didn't work so well with big white stripes.  Throw in a couple of food mishaps, including blueberry and syrup stains, and we knew we had to go with a different pattern.

The cushions on the boat appeared to be in great condition, until you flipped them over and saw mystery stains on the bottom, blown out seams and rusted zippers.

If you've ever been to our house or seen me in person you'd know that I.Like.Color.  Sometimes I'll catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror at home in random comfy clothes and think, "Dear God, I look like a bag of Skittles".  Ron often looks at me, says nothing and just shakes his head...that is, when he's not telling me I look like Rainbow Brite.  For the record, Rainbow Brite is pretty sweet.

We had to find a little balance between color and too much color for our small interior space and I think we found it in Solarium's Halliwell Caribbean indoor/outdoor fabric:

We decided doing all the cushions in this pattern might be a bit much, plus the colors are fairly light and wouldn't be the most dog-friendly, so we opted to do the backrests in the pattern and cover the seats and quarter berth in the darker, royal blue color.  We spent about 10 hours on Christmas Eve working on the bottom cushions and got all done except for the quarter berth (which Ron is suposed to be working on today).  I really hope we can keep on it and just get it done...especially while the master seamster Ron is home.

The project started off a little rough and got worse when we forgot to add some extra length to a couple cushions for the velcro back (no more rusted zippers).  But then we added a little extra fabric, found a groove and made some progress.  I even tried my hand at sewing some piping.  I'm not sure if it was just awkward because I'm left handed and felt like everything was backwards or I'm just really uncoordinated at sewing, but mine did NOT look that great.  So Ron took over sewing, I did a lot of pinning, cutting and marking and we both measured out the cushions before cutting to make sure we didn't mess up...again.

Here's what we've got so far: Now, on to the stripes - let's just hope we can keep 'em straight!
Posted by Skelton Crew at 2:53 PM 8 comments: Labels: Cushions, Interior, Prep, Projects, Reupholstering


Untie the Lines

I was checking out some of the cruising forums this morning, like I do most days, just to pass the time and maybe pick up a good tip or two, and came across a post that linked to videos on Youtube.  The video series, called Untie the Lines, started in August and details (in short 3-5minute weekly updates) the journey of a young German girl who bought a boat in Panama in hopes of sailing around the world.

She is learning as she goes and, despite facing some trials and tribulations along the way, maintains a "go with it attitude" and focuses on the task at hand.  I just really love how honest and open she is in the videos about the realities of refitting a pretty derelict boat, sometimes her emotions are almost palpable.

These videos are also a good reminder for me that you don't need an expensive boat with all the latest/greatest/best gear (despite what the forums say) to make the dream a reality.  It's so easy to get caught up in thinking that you need a top-of-the-line hypalon dinghy with a rigid bottom and a 15+ horsepower motor* or AIS AND an SSB radio AND radar AND a liferaft AND AND AND.  Honestly, it's exhausting.  When asked what they'd have done differently before leaving, cruisers don't typically say "I wish I'd upgraded my dinghy" or "I wish I would have gotten a bigger chart plotter".  Nope.  Instead, their sentiment is usually; "I wish I'd have left sooner!".

*I understand that having a functional dinghy is important...I'm not saying a half floating dinghy that leaks like a sieve is the best idea.  But should it stop you? I don't think so.  Sometimes it's the misadventures along the way that make the best memories.

And I love this girl's sense of independence, resolve and commitment to making her dream a reality.  Plus, it makes me realize how utterly mechanically useless I usually am onboard.  I think I need to step up my game.

Anywho, there are currently 17 short videos, with a new video being posted every Friday.  I know I'll be tuning in every week to follow along,  and you should check it out too!

Posted by Skelton Crew at 10:37 AM 2 comments: 

Very Random

I regularly look at my blog stats.  Mostly because I'm just curious about how people are finding the blog.  One of my favorite parts is checking out what search words or phrases people are using that lead them to the blog.  A few weeks ago I was doing my OCD normal stat check and found that "peeing off boat" and "winter peeing" were search phrases that directed people to the blog.  Say whaaaaaa? I have no doubt that it's becuase of this post, but I'm still baffled as to why someone would be searching these phrases.

Funny enough, this picture comes up on a Google search for "winter peeing".  Along with a lot of other weird photos.  Oh, the magic of the internet.  Huh. Would someone explain to me what "winter peeing" is and how it's different than normal peeing??

And if any of you were the culprits...fess up and 'splain yourself! ;)
Posted by Skelton Crew at 10:07 AM 5 comments: 



If you've read 'The Crew'﻿ page of the blog you know that I'm not big into posting deep, meaningful, soul-touching quotes.  But there is one quote that sticks with me, it may or may not be deep, meaningful or soul-touching for you, but it is for me.  So get ready to clutch those pearls, I'm eating my own words...just this once.
My favorite quote just happens to be one of the most popular ones for cruisers (makes sense) and can usually be found somewhere in almost every cruising/sailing related blog.  And that's okay.  I think that speaks to the validity of the statement.  That Mark Twain was one smart cookie.

I've had this quote taped to my computer at work for the last 3 years and every time I read it I get chills.  It was the first quote I saw when I started researching cruising and it just sticks with me.  Every time I start to doubt what we're planning to do, every time my OCD starts getting the better of me, every time I start to wonder if we can do it this message brings me back to the reality of just how much is out there just waiting for us to Explore.Dream.Discover.  It reminds me that life is not lived in the 'why' but the 'why not' moments.  Every now and then that's exactly what I need.

Usually however, this is more my style.  It might not technically be an 'inspirational quote', but somebody said it.  Earl, whoever you are, you're a genius.  Plus it reminds me of Ron, who would eat his cereal with rum if he could, especially if it's Kraken. Tell me your favorite quote!

Posted by Skelton Crew at 5:00 AM 11 comments: 


Weathering the Weather

We finally got up to see the boat this weekend.  With the nasty storm we had a couple weeks ago with 60-70mph winds, I didn't have high hopes of the what we'd find.  So imagine my surprise when we pulled in and saw this:
At first I thought the tarp had ripped, at which point I though saving the tarp would be a real pain, but it turned out that some of our strategically placed duct tape gave out.  Not bad for getting flogged by tornadic winds!

Ron also decided that since we were there checking stuff out, it might be a good idea to take the tarp that was on the hull and roll it up.  We'd gotten some comments about how moisture trapped between the hull and the tarp could cause blisters to form.  Why risk it?  So we rolled up the tarp and, using very conspicuous red duct tape, secured the tarp at the toe rail (rolling it under the existing rope that was tied to the stanchions).  In case you were wondering if it now looks any less hillbilly, I can assure you, it doesn't.  But then again, any other way just wouldn't be our style. Ugh, now that the tarps are up you can really tell how much she needs a good waxin'! I just wish that was the most embarrassing part of this outfit - but I think the red duct tape has it beat.

Posted by Skelton Crew at 5:00 AM 4 comments: Labels: Storage, Winter

 ﻿ As we gear up for the crazy holiday season, in between food induced comas and Black Friday Door Buster maulings at 3am, I hope you find time to sit back and just be....Thankful.

And here's something for you brave souls venturing out for Black Friday...or Thursday...or whatever day they decide to make it: May the force be with you! Posted by Skelton Crew at 8:14 AM No comments: 


New dishes

Remember me talking about getting actual dishes for the boat?  Well I ordered them last Thursday.  I came home from work on Monday to both sets waiting on my doorstep.  Now that's some timely delivery Ebay! Before ordering actual dishes, we'd been using Pampered Chef picnic plates and silverware.  They worked great for the last two seasons on boats but I started to notice that the plates were starting to get scratched up.  I love the matching silverware set, the knife, fork and spoon all snap together so all I'd have to do when getting ready for dinner is reach in the drawer and grab a couple sets...no fuss, no muss.  Except after regular use the freakishly sharp plastic knives were leaving their marks on the plates and I thought now would be a good time to invest in some Corelle dishes.  We'll still keep these on the boat and most likely still use them for some lunches and snacks but it's nice to know we have actual dishes to use now too. Plus, you gotta love that the plates have a cup holder built right in.  Makes eating in the cockpit...with no cockpit table...a little easier.

Corelle dishes are suposed to be "break resistant".  It even says it on the bottom of the dishes so you know it's legit.  I've read different reviews on line about using them in boats and for the most part many people do say that they don't break easily, even after being dropped.  A perk on a boat since broken glass on a boat is  muy mal.  However, I also read that if they do break it's like atoms splitting and you'll have a bajillion miniscule shards to clean up.  I'd like to avoid that.

My mom had Corelle dishes when we were little and even between 3 constantly fighting siblings I don't remember any of them breaking. I chose the Stroke-of-color dishes.  I love the Caribbean feal of the teal set.  I also decided to be cheap practical and got a set of white ones for backup when we have visitors aboard.  The white set was $25 cheaper than the color sets!  Dumb.  I have a little color, I'm good with it.

I also loved this set because 1.) it didn't include coffee mugs and 2.) just look at those bowls!  We almost strictly use Tervis Tumblers for hot and cold drinks and don't need any combersome coffee mugs to find space for.  Besides, we already have Tervis coffee mugs anyway.  And look at those bowls, I love them!  The big, wide-rimmed one is huge, the mid-sized one is really deep (perfect for a boat) and the little one...well...just look at how adorable it is.  Perfect for dips or optional meal additions like cheese, onions...whatever!
﻿The camera flash makes them look like the online pictures, but in real life they're actually a darker teal than I expected.  Which is fine.  I still love them.  I'm just glad I didn't go with the royal blue color I'd also been eyeing (which were also cheaper!).  Those babies probably look close to black. ﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Thanks Mom for the early birthday presents!  Now, I'm going to have to get serious in devising a plan to store these things safely.  I've gotten some good suggestions so far that should make things easier, but first I just have to pick a spot to put them!

Posted by Skelton Crew at 1:13 PM 6 comments: Labels: Dishes, Galley, Tervis Tumblers


Sail storage

When we took the sails off the boat for the winter, Ron had the idea that we need to remove them from the bags they've undoubtedly been sitting in for years, except of course for the main and genoa sail we used this past season.  In addition to those we also have an asymmetrical spinnaker, a symmetrical spinnaker, a second main sail, another genoa and a storm sail - all of which are of the 1980s era, with some being in better shape than the others.  Our backup main is pretty much a disaster and the second genoa is mylar with some mold.  But the spinnakers and storm sails on the other hand are just about brand new and look great...we think anyway.  So we took a couple of hours to get the sails unrumpled and 'rolled'.  Except that the stupid things are so big my rolling technique started looking like folding per the roll-master Ron.  By the time we were done I was sweating and somewhat out of breath, trying to maneuver those suckers in between pool tables, chairs and whatever other junk we have in the basement was hard work!

﻿﻿ ﻿﻿  The genoa that we use has a couple areas on the sunbrella strip that need to be sewn so we figured we'd just take all the sails into a sail loft in Muskegon to get some feedback from a professional.  The sails are dirty and could use a good cleaning anyway and we'd really like to see what they think of the condition of all the sails.  For the age of the sails, the main and genoa we used, I think, are in pretty decent and seviceable shape.  Maybe a restitching here or there and a good scrubbing.  Although I'm a bit worried they're going to say both mains and both genoas are garbage...I think I'd cry.
﻿﻿﻿ ﻿﻿﻿Then of course, there's always the ongoing battle with the dog who wants to be in your face while trying to roll up big, heavy sails.  Technically, we didn't roll the spinnies, we just layed them on top of the others to air out.  Now when we do take the sails in, we'll have to UNroll them all and get them back into the bags we just freed them from.  Not looking forward to that.  Please pray for our souls sails...

Posted by Skelton Crew at 10:44 AM 2 comments: Labels: Maintenance, Sails, Storage


Refinishing the Companionway Stairs These should hold up for a while.  I hope.

One winter project done, a lot to go. ﻿﻿ I spent this last weekend in Venice, FL.  Mike and Linda, two of my favorite people on the planet, and my second parents,  have a condo on the beach and bought me a ticket for my birthday to come and see them to get a little break from the cold, gloomy Michigan weather.  As it worked out, my mom was able to come too!  With a direct flight from Grand Rapids to St. Pete in only a couple hours, a long weekend makes for a nice, albeit short, chance to get some much needed vitamin D while spending time with the most generous, kind and caring people I've ever met.
Whenever I go and see Mike and Linda I get spoiled...really really really badly.  From refusing to let us pay for just about anything to taking us on boat rides on the Intercoastal, these people know how to be hosts.  This year we happened to be down during stone crab season, which also just so happens to be my favorite type of crab.  I was introduced to them a few years ago while visiting and this time the timing happened to be right again.  Instead of going to a restaurant to buy my own meal of stone crab, they bought six pounds of it to enjoy at the condo.  I now have a t-shirt that will always smell like crab - no matter how many times I wash it, I'll always remember the day I almost killed my mom with a large chunk of crab shell to the carotid and I'm certain that Mike and Linda will be finding remainders of that meal on their floor, in their carpet and on their walls for a long time.  I won't ever forget that meal; it was entertaining, rediculously messy, sometimes downright dangerous and most of all delicious!
﻿ Although Friday and Saturday were a bit cloudy, it was still warm and we could still enjoy the beach, we also had to worry about sunburning a little less.  We lounged on the beach, read, napped and hunted for shark teeth.  Venice Beach is the shark tooth capital of the world, you know.
A couple months ago my friend Jay got a job transfer from Michigan to the Tampa area.  And it worked out perfectly for him to come down and spend part of the weekend with us.  His wife and kids are still back in Michigan and are in the midst of completeing the sale of their home before they can move and since he doesn't know a whole lot of people in the area yet, and I haven't seen him in a couple months, now was a great time for a little reunion.  What fun we had!
﻿ ﻿﻿ ﻿﻿﻿ I'm not sure what the reason was but the guys were catching fish almost as fast as they could get the shrimp bait in the water.  Flounder, lady fish and even a skate were just a few of the many catches.  We were even privied to a group of six or seven dolphins feeding right out in front of us, including two babies - my favorite.
On our last day the sun came out (of course) so we decided to take a boat ride down the intercoastal to Manasota Beach and see some new sights.
﻿﻿  ﻿﻿
﻿﻿﻿ I didn't get too many pictures this weekend, I take that as a sign that I was having too much fun!

We came back to Michigan over a massive storm system, but with our smooth flight, we didn't actually know just how crazy the wind and weather was that we'd flown through until we were on our way home.  Wind, debris, tornado warnings and watches.  Oh, and no power at home.  Sweet.  To top it all off, the area where the boat is at had winds upwards of 70 and 80 mph with a tornado somewhere in the local vacinity.   I delegated the task of calling the marina to inquire about any boat damage to Ron.  Still waiting to hear back on that.  Either way, I'll have to go check on it this weekend just to make sure everything is okay.  I fear for our tarps.

A HUGE, WHOPPING, REDONKULOUS thank you to Mike and Linda for your generosity and love!!! Thank you for all you've done and continue to do for me!  Not sure how I got so lucky, but I sure did!
Posted by Skelton Crew at 10:10 AM No comments: 


Safer on the Boat?

﻿ ﻿ We live in the country...I LOVE living in the country.  Plenty of space, almost no houses in direct sight, peaceful.  Until yesterday that is when I came home to this:

I came home to this sight.  When I first saw it I was baffled...what in the world happened in here?!? But I had to pee.  While sitting on the toilet, which faces this particular wall, trying to figure out what was going on I looked at my feet and saw a small object.  I picked it up and I'll be damned if it wasn't a bullet!!  What the hell!?!?  I run outside to look around and find not one but TWO bullet holes in the back of my house.  Now I'm pissed, what kind of drugged up, inbred idiot is shooting at my house??
The police are called, a very nice State Trooper comes over to check it out, take some pictures and make a report.  Our options of possible responsible parties is pretty limited, there's only a couple homes behind our house and we regularly hear shooting from one of them.  (In fact we've caught this particular group poaching a pheasant before)  We know they hunt, we know they have guns.  No biggie, shooting guns is allowed out here, we even do it from time to time.  However, a couple weeks ago I hear more shooting than normal.  Not hunting related target practice but fast, repetitive shots going on.  A bit annoying but it didn't last that long, didn't think anything else about it...until now.
The Trooper goes over to the suspected house to investigate and comes back to tell me that it was some "young kids" (I'm guessing around 18 since that's the legal age to buy a gun) who had a new 9mm who were shooting at a flimsy target POINTED AT OUR HOUSE.  I.was.furious.  You see that field beyond our yard?  Theres another field further to the left, directly behind the neighbors house, so instead of shooting into fields where there is not another home in sight, they decide to purposely put a target up facing our house.  Morons.  We've decided not to press charges and they have agreed to pay for repairs.

I'm not against guns.  I grew up around plenty of them, both my family and Ron's family are hunters and I think they have their place but when stupidity takes over and my home and my dog...mostly the dog, are put in danger it's a whole other ballgame.  Believe me, should another 'incident' occur, we won't be so nice.


﻿ ﻿For reference here's a couple pics:

(We converted a small bedroom to our master bath a couple years ago, hence the random bathroom pics available for your viewing)
﻿ ﻿ Upon hearing the news, my friend Jessica said we'd be safer living on the boat.  She may have a point.

Posted by Skelton Crew at 9:53 AM 5 comments: We'd LOVE to hear from you! We've Gone To The Dark Side