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!

Boat shopping continues....

Just when I think we decide on a certain boat brand, we {and by we, I mean Joe....(okay, I do too a little bit) but it's mainly him} change our minds and go with something else! We both are desperately trying not to jump into a quick decision just because we are indeed desperate, but the clock is ticking before we wind up homeless, again!

A few of the boats we've looked at lately. 

At first we thought for sure we would buy another Catalina. Then we threw that out and decided on a Morgan Classic <---my favorite!! 😊 After finding none locally, we thought it might be better to find a boat near us so not to have to pay any extra charges (I.e. shipping/trucking the boat, hiring a captain or taking time to go get it & sail it back ourselves) all of which are added expenses to the purchase price of whatever boat we buy. 

Originally I wanted five things in my next boat:

1. Walk through transom 

2. Two separate cabins 

3. Usable counterspace in the galley

4. Double stainless steel sink in the galley

5. More overall storage

One & three were somewhat negotiable, but the others were basically must-have's. 

Then Joe went back to his love of true ocean going boats. Which are great for well, ocean going, but living aboard, not so much. Don't get me wrong, they really are great boats {most of them} they are just much much more narrower than I would prefer. And none of them meet my full criteria, basically I get the double sink and more storage. No walk through transoms on the older boats, usable counter space is sketchy and don't even get me started on the lack of cabins. 

When I think of an aft cabin, I'm thinking more along the lines of what a 2nd bedroom would be in a house....maybe more like a tiny house 2nd bedroom. But mainly, it would have an actual bed that sleeps two people, somewhat comfortably! However, the problem comes with most of these ocean-going boats only having a quarter berth and if you're real lucky, maybe a 3/8 of a berth..... Not exactly what I had pictured in my mind. .

 In all actuality though, I could probably do without most of my criteria. I mean I lived on a 30' boat for 14 months and quite frankly that was never what I had thought would happen, so maybe I just need a new picture in my head. Needless to say we are both going to have to come to some sort of compromise or even a few compromises, before we can decide on what boat to purchase. But really, it would also help if we fell into a nice loan too! Because if the boat is more than thirty years old, banks will not finance it and well, most of these ocean-going boats that is within our budget tend to lean on the older end of the spectrum. 

So that's where we are at right now. A lot of "I don't knows" and "we'll see's"!! Hopefully by my next post I'll have something more to tell you! 

Until then....

Sail for Sale

Trying to sell a boat, while living on it is a lot harder than selling your house, while still living there. Mainly, I think it's just because it is so much smaller than a house. Plus, there is no real hiding spots to toss something into when you have an unexpected showing...,because every nook and cranny already has something tucked into it. :)

While our boat isn't technically on the market, it is still being shown as if it were. Our broker showed it three times on Saturday {with good reviews} and they are showing it again today!!! Every time I clean it up for a showing, I take a one last look over everything to make sure I have everything staged & looking good and I get a little sad feeling, while simultaneously, feeling excited¡! 

I'm excited because I know how much our current boat has meant to us and I feel we will get that much more out of our next & bigger boat! But, then I'm sad because this is the boat that we started on and she has been so good to us!  She has been the perfect starter boat for us and I feel she will be a great boat for her new owner too, whoever that might be!

All bright & clean and looking so pretty!!!

I hope it sells quick so we can get back to being sailors & liveaboards, but on the other hand I'm not looking forward to being homeless either{since we haven't found our next boat, yet}...I'm hoping it works itself out and just has a domino effect and everything rolls into place perfectly! But since our life isn't a scene from a movie, our backup plan is to stay at an extended stay hotel or something. And while I think it would be sorta nice to have a bathtub again, for a brief time, hubs is not looking forward to a stay on land. I think he will forever be a boat dweller!!

 So, for any of you who were taking bets on when we would give up this boat life....we are not done yet, we are just moving towards a bigger boat!!

What made us decide to live on a boat? Part two:

If you missed part 1 of this story, you can read it here.

So, we had made the decision to buy a sailboat, now we had to narrow the search down to size, layout, and functionality. 

As a full-time liveaboard, we knew we would need more storage than if we were just planning on being weekenders. We really liked the layouts of Catalinas and they seemed to have the best use of space {for our budget, anyways}. After Joe searched 100's of different boats and more brands than I could count on my fingers & toes combined, our researching always brought us back to a Catalina. 

Of course we wanted {and still want} something bigger than a 30 footer, but at the time of purchase, and because we wanted it to happen quickly rather than waiting longer to afford bigger, we went with a 30' Catalina. 

Everyone says, you won't find a bigger 30 foot with any other brand than that of a Catalina sailboat. I know it sounds small, especially when we came from a 2,200 sq ft house, but any boat will sound small with that comparison. 

We kept close tabs on  the broker's websites and when a Catalina 30' {within budget} became available we made an offer and it was accepted! 

Now, was the hard part, for me anyways. I had to move away from my family and a job that I absolutely loved! Hubs was fortunate that he was able to transfer down here with his job, but that wasn't an option with my job. :/  I was a nanny for 2 of my nieces and walking away from that job was one of the hardest things I have ever done. It goes without saying, that I had become seriously attached to those girlies and their momma, {one of} my sis! Then there's my parents, whom I have always lived within a hour from. I don't think you ever truely realize how big Texas really is, until you can't just hop in your car and be at their house in 30 minutes......miss y'all every day! ;) 

Despite how hard we knew it would be to make the move away from family, friends, & my dream job, we knew this was to be the next chapter in our lives. So, we did it! We said goodbye to a life we knew and people we loved and moved aboard our Catalina! 

For just the two of us, Irie has made a great starter boat! And, we couldn't be happier with our decision and our new life afloat!! :)

Welcome to our blog!

Hello & welcome to our blog about living aboard our Catalina sailboat! We have dreams of sailing off to the Bahamas', but for now, we are land-locked at the marina while hubs' continues to work. If you listen real closely you can hear him saying, "someone's got to work around here."  Haha!! He's a real comedian, that one! :}  

Thank-you for checking out our site! We ahem, I am working at getting the blog up & running....be sure to come back often & see what's new with our journey!

Thanks for stopping by :)