75% Projects/25% Sailing
Newly adjusted list that we are working on.
Unfortunately that's what it feels like right now owning our sailboat, MerSea. However she's 38 years old. So there are definitely a few things we need to add to make her the kind of boat we want to sail & travel in. That being said, we still feel extremely lucky to have found her. She was good looking enough to buy & put more money into. I'm not sure if all the technical stuff on her was perfect yet the exterior & interior left a lot to be desired, if we would actually have bought her. Does that make us shallow? Maybe a little bit. Although, we could sail MerSea when we bought her. So that's the important thing. We just couldn't get her in & out of our slip. (I described this several blog posts ago.) Anyway, I think it's more motivational if you can actually stay on your boat & work on it than if it's just too gross to lay down for the night.
What have we been working on? Well, I'll just mention at first that it's mostly been Matt working on stuff & checking off our to do list. It's amazing how much stuff he's repaired, replaced or added to our boat! His father taught him well on the virtues of manly abilities such as plumbing, electrical, carpentry, etc.... Thank you Paul!
Matt cleaning the hull.
The water is very cold!
The water is very yucky!
First, Matt cleaned the bottom of the boat. It had been a while since the last proper cleaning & it was time to do the job to his satisfaction. The water is cold, dirty & murky so it's a really fun job for him. I always am begging him, "Matt, please let me clean the bottom of our boat! It's not fair you get to have all the fun!". But he won't relent & insists on doing it himself. Actually, it's far from fun. I wouldn't mind paying someone else to do it. -Who cares if someone else freezes or gets a staph infection? However, Matt knows he can do it; which he can, but I hate to see him in misery. Luckily we have hot showers at the dock.
He also pressure-washed & polished the whole exterior of MerSea! It looks stunning! I should have taken more photos. I promise to take more photos in the future so you can praise his work along with me.
Day-Glo jackline.
Matt finding new projects in anchor locker.
Next, he installed jacklines. These are lines that go along the length of the deck so that we can clip onto them during rough weather or night time for safety. I make it seem easy because he makes everything seem easy. Truth is that he's just that much of a pro!
Zephyr says he would totally help if he had his sunglasses. He totally, totally would.
Other accomplishments that I failed to take photos of: He fixed our leaking compass on the binnacle. He also organized his infinite collection of tools. -This is no small feat as a boat needs a ton of useful tools & our boat is small. Will they still be a pain to get to? Yes. But way less so..... Hopefully.
He's also found other things that need taking care of. Yay! Well, better now than on a long trip somewhere at sea.
See, I contribute by cleaning! Proof!
As for me? Outside of my magical & fabulous sailing skills, I have ordered some stuff online, sewed a patch on our dodger cover - that also included affixing a snap!, organized our galley a bit more & a few days ago I overcame something that has plagued me with fear!!!
I have been very trepidatious on using the oven in the galley. It's an alcohol stove & oven made by Dometic. I love how easy using the stovetop is! You just pour some alcohol into the burner canisters & light it. Many people say it takes too long to cook anything but I haven't experienced this to be true. The oven part is a whole other story though!
Behold! The innocent looking but ferocious oven!
I tried several months ago to bake some sweet potato medallions in it but they hardly were cooked - even after an hour of trying to bake them. So that scared me & I have been avoiding it like Snow White avoiding her psycho queen step-mother.
Matt did take a look at it about a month ago & saw that the temperature gage was in Celsius & not Fahrenheit. Duh! That was one thing I overlooked. -The instructions that come with it are in French. -And they didn't have the consideration to make things easier for someone like me in the US?! However, the instructions were very basic & only instructed how to open up the canister for the oven & how to not burn myself. They didn't put any directions on how to make delicious food in their oven! Again, French people have an innate knowledge on how to make 5 star meals wherever they are. (I can actually vouch for this as my brother in law & his mom are excellent chefs & they are French!) Stupid girl from California! You will never know the magic of the French & making food!
Anyway, I decided to face this demon from my past. Mainly because Matt wanted me to finally cross this item off of our list: Figure out how to use the oven. And I did! I made a five course meal for the two of us. Plus, it was so good that Matt cried out in joy after he finished his dinner!
It was a lovely evening!
Psyche! I made cookies. Oatmeal cookies. It's hard to mess up oatmeal cookies. Also, if I messed up the first batch, I would have a lot of dough to try several times.
How did it go? Well, it took about a half hour to get the temperature up to 190 degrees Celsius. The first batch went in & it was hard to keep the temperature at that level. -Mainly because I didn't put enough alcohol in the canister. Aaarrrgggh! I probably should have waited for the oven to cool down enough to refuel but I am impatient & a few burns on my hands would not stop me. I got the temperature back up & finished the batch. Slightly burnt on the bottom but the tops were edible!!!
A second, third & fourth batch went in & they all came out pretty good. And that my friends is my big accomplishment of the last few weeks!!! #humblebrag
Sadly, Matt has devoured all of the cookies. Well, I guess not sadly because that means they were edible! But no photos for proof. I'll put in a substitute photo though: (for reference in case you don't know what oatmeal raisin cookies look like).
Wow! We are out of time! Who knew that my story of conquering a galley oven would be so fascinating?! You're welcome! Or.... I'm sorry.
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