Out with the old and saving for the new

When we bought our boat, she had these basic cockpit cushions (that you see stacked up on the vberth) on it. And that's where they always stayed, until we started sleeping up there. Then we stacked them up and started storing them back in the aft cabin. 

Now, you might be wondering why didn't we just leave them in the cockpit? Believe me, I tried several times! But try as I might, every time I forgot to bring them in at night, it would rain. It was like an open invitation to get the most sideways wind and rain to completely soak all 7 of the cushions. Ugh! It's like when you wash your car, or worse, pay to have it detailed. Deep down, the minute your car becomes pristine and dry, without a single speck of dirt left on it, you know it's about to pour down raining. You can be in the middle of a drought....wash your car and bam! It starts raining!! 

What I don't like about these standard cushions is, they are made from an open-cell foam and then covered with vinyl. New, they probably work well, but now several years old, the vinyl is a little worn and the water gets into the foam and mold begins to take up permanent residence. So, basically, you have to lay them out to dry out (when it stops raining). And if it's raining for a few days, you're just stuck with soggy cushions because you can't bring them inside while their wet.

 It's a pain all around and why we decided we were going to invest in new, closed-cell foam, cockpit cushions! {I can't wait!!}

So, we got tired of them cluttering up our limited space and well, they took a short trip to the dumpster! I tried taking them to the resale shop, but they don't take in cushions because they're too boat specific {I get that}. Then, I tried selling them, but also no luck there, so I found them a new home in the big blue metal box. Of course they didn't stay there long because my next trip up to the dumpster showed that they were no longer there and instead in the back of a red pickup truck. One man's trash is another man's moldy cushions treasure, I guess 

 I snagged the photo below off of C-Cushions website, just so you could see what type of cushions I'm talking about. 

They're called C-Cusions and what I really like is that you can leave them in the cockpit at all times! The one slight drawback is, when summer time rolls around, you can slide right off of them with a little sweat, but a beach towel in between you and the cushion fixes that!  There's no measuring involved either, all you do is go online and enter what type boat you have and they already have all the measurements. They also double as a floatation device, though I hope I never have to experience that, unless it's because I'm laying out getting a tan....I mean, working on my vitamin d deficiency!

Our boat is no longer nameless!

Bah badah dam........{clearly, I don't know how to type out a drum roll} but you get the picture! 

And speaking of pictures, here's a picture of our now *named* boat!!!! 

Okay, so we always knew what her name would be, it was just waiting eight frustrating weeks dealing with an unprofessional jerk to finally get the work done. But enough about that idiot {for now} there will be a thorough review somewhere on the Internet to warn others of my experience. [Yes, it was that bad!] Anways,  I think the quality of the graphics turned out really well!!! And if we could've dealt solely with the girl that actually installed it, we would've had a lot better experience....moving on, before my heart rate increases anymore! :/

This photo really shows how badly we need to wash the boat....try not to look too hard at that! :)

Yes, we stayed with the same name as our old boat {I hear the new owner is changing the name anyways (yay!)}. So, we'll be the only Irie again, at least at our marina. I'm sure there's another boat named Irie, somewhere out there. 

We went through numerous name ideas, but kept coming back to 'No Worries' {which is what Irie means}. We thought about actually naming her No Worries and then we thought about putting it in Afrikans because I grew up in South Africa. But the constant pronunciation assistance would be a pain... or we could go with Hakuna Matata, but everyone would've thought we had a weird fascination to The Lion King. So, that brought us back to No Worries or Irie.  Then my brother said, "you need a name that means something special to y'all." 

Our life afloat began in Kemah, TX on a boat named Irie and we have done our best to incorporate and live a 'no worries' lifestyle ever since. It wasn't hard to then decide that we would name this boat Irie as well and have our port of call be Kemah, Texas. 

Here's a closeup of the palm trees decal,  

I really like how well they turned out!! I wasn't so sure {at first} about the vines hanging down and wrapping around the trees, but it looks great on the boat!! 

So, there she is....what do you think? 

The story behind the {almost} shiner....

I feel like I should start a "You know you live on a boat, when:" segment to the blog, or maybe just the Facebook page. 

A few week's ago, I told you how my scrabble words were all boat terms, this new entry Is even better! 

If you saw my amateur video clip last week of the walk through on our new boat, I briefly mentioned my near hit & miss. Well, here's the whole story on that almost black eye! 

Apparently, when I dream, I really live in the moment. One night I was dreaming we were at a restaurant and Joe's coke got knocked over and was about to run off the table into my lap, so I quickly stood up {in my dream}. But in reality, I sat up really fast in bed and smacked the side of my face and corner of my eye into the roof/wall/window of the boat. 

While it was sore for a few days, it never actually discolored my face, which I was very happy about. But man it hurt so bad I was sorta shocked it didn't bruise. In case you were wondering, that is not the way I ever want to wake up again. Ouch! 

So, that is one of the reasons why we are now sleeping in the vberth. But really, hubs is the main reason we made the cabin switch. See, I made him sleep up against the wall in the aft cabin and there are apparently a few more obstacles on that side of that bed, so he was always hitting his elbow or knee or both. 

After a couple of nights in the vberth I was convinced that he was right {don't tell him I said that} about this vberth being bigger than on our last boat. So hopefully we won't have any disputes about it, like last time. :/

Ahh, the joys of living on a boat! :)

And because I don't like posting a post without any pictures...here's a shot of last night's sunset {that you may or may not have already seen} but I think it's beauty is worth repeating!!!