Done, Done, and Done

It’s fall here in East TN and we are done, done, and done!

Our hatch is completely installed, we won the boat lift lottery, and I picked out an interior fabric! Whew, it happened so fast!

For the hatch we just used some silicone sealant to put the acrylic on and 4200 to seal the hatch to the boat.  The previous owner almost cut the hole too big, making it a delicate process but I am glad it is done.

The drawing was last week, and as far as I know we may have been the only ones to enter the lottery, but a win is a win! I am so glad we will have the opportunity to keep our boat on the hard for a solid 5 months!

I impulsed bought 20 yards of faux suede.  I got a really good deal on  a website that usually sells “scraps” of this faux suede stuff, usually 5-10 yards.  But when I saw that 20 yards were available in a “celadon” color I jumped.  Because faux suede is soft, durable, and I was wanting a solid neutral green! Perfect.

After finally browsing some fabrics, I realized that stuff ain’t cheap! I have been doing some research and folks on the cruising forum only had good things to say about faux suede.  I looked into it, and some faux suedes were up to $49/yard!  We got our faux suede on sale for around $7/yard!!!! I was so glad with the price, now I am just praying it’s enough (since it was scraps, I won’t be able to order extra).  We did  some rough math with over-estimations and I am almost sure it will work, but have a backup plan if it’s not enough (use a different material for the backsides of some cushions, but I really think it’ll be enough if I don’t make any mistakes).  This is only for the salon cushions, I’ll get to pick a different fabric for the V-berth cushions.  When I started looking at all the fabric and falling in love with all the bright, colorful patterns, I realized that I really was going to need a solid color so I can throw all sorts of busy pillows on it.  And since I love blues, I didn’t want blue all over the cabin so figured green will go well with blue.  I am just so happy with my choice right now, sorry I’ll quit gloating.  I also found some more fabric on sale, my favorite kind.  I bought 2 yards of each and will see how they look with the main fabric.  I may make pillows out of all 4 fabrics, or I may use none of them (and use them as practice sewing to make pillowcases for gifts)  But here is a picture of the 4 different fabrics next to the faux suede.  I am so excited about how this will all turn out, now I just need to get to practicing so I’ll be a whiz at this sewing business.

We are ready to lift our boat this week!  We drained all of our water tanks, and after 3 attempts finally pumped out our holding tank.  It only took us 3 tries because let’s face it, we have no idea what we’re doing.  When we pulled up to the pump out station for the first time, we unscrewed our waste cap on the deck and pulled the hose over.  The thing was flush to our waste line, there was no way to seal it or get a connection so we left.  After talking to our neighbor who is knowledgeable about the pump out we discovered we were correct, there is a fitting that we were needing, but it was MIA.  He said he had ordered another for the yacht club but never heard where the darn thing was.  He suggested taping the hose to get a decent seal and really using your weight to keep it going.  We did.  He also suggested pumping fresh water in the toilet so I was down there pumping my little heart out, and when the hose quit sucking we took the boat back to the slip.  Only to discover we did not get all of the poo water.  So third times a charm, used the same technique but this time actually checked the tank before leaving.  (rookie mistake, but hey we learned something).  After we were done we took Ragnarok for one more spin before she goes out of the water.  It was a nice day. 

So now that all our tanks our empty, we are ready for the haul out!  The weather is about to get cold, and for us to lift the boat out it requires getting in the water.  I just got a call from Erik and he wants to try to take her out tomorrow (while it’s not freezing out)! But if something isn’t right we have until Sunday to do it (I mean we really have like 2 weeks, but wanting to get her out ASAP).  Eeeek! Once shes’ out we are going to pressure wash all the gunk off we can.  It’s probably been at least 10 years since she’s been hauled out so I am sure it will be a sight to see.  Then we will need to winterize our systems (toilets, sinks, engine, etc) since it is forecasted to freeze/snow on Friday!

Erik doesn’t have any time for fun, only seriousness.  Seriously.  See ya next time!