Come Sail Away...or not.

“Come sail away, come sail away, come sail away with me…”

Remember that song from Styx? I wish it was our theme song for this post, but nope. “[Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” is more like it. That’s us…’watchin’ the ships roll in and then watchin’ ‘em roll out again’ while we sit here stuck at the marina working on projects and waiting for jobs to be finished.

We have had the standing rigging, the wires and stuff that support the mast, replaced. The mast is back up but we are waiting on a part to come in and the headsail to be installed.

Meanwhile, we replaced the leaky manual aft head with a new Jabsco Electric Flush toilet along with all the sanitation and supply lines to both the aft and forward heads. In fact, we have replaced just about every water line on the boat.…if it drains, fills or vents, we’ve replaced it. The professor estimates about 135 feet of hose all together. And when I say we, I mean he replaced 135 feet of hose.

He worked on the engine too, which had been leaking oil but doesn’t now. It also got new coolant lines. Then there were the electrical wiring projects: adding a breaker, wiring navigation lights, adding an on and off switch for the anchor wash down water pump. Yeah, that’s a thing. The Professor also managed to fix the aft A/C. And clean all the stinky bilges.

We (and I do mean we here) have been cleaning EVERY INCH of this boat. From the sole to the ceiling, bow to stern. It has all been (or is in the process of being) wiped down with bleach water. We’ve scrubbed lampshades and accordion blinds (so many blinds!) and because the forecast yesterday was sunny and warm, we rented an upholstery cleaner so we could freshen up all the tired, dusty-blue cushions. Or should I say, tired, dusty, dusty-blue cushions?

Of course it rained. So, we didn’t get to set them out in the sunshine to air out and dry, but at least they are clean! I'd like to say they look brand new, but I would be lying.

Cleaning a boat is not like cleaning a house. I’ve never pulled up floors to clean the subfloors in my house. Nor have I scrubbed the ceilings with a Magic Eraser, which, by the way, really is magical! I’ve never tried to clean my couch cushions with a Shampoo Doctor on a floating, moving pier while trying not to drop one of them off the edge, or fall in myself. I’ve never had to reach inside my walls to scrub areas with a toothbrush that I can’t even see. But we’re doing it now! If you ever think you want to try it, I highly recommend you stock up on disposable gloves and Aleve. And cancel your gym membership cuz’ you won’t need that yoga class for awhile!

While we are doing this, we see the professional detailers working their way up and down the pier on our neighbor’s fancier boats, getting them ready for Saturday’s Christmas parade. I mentioned to the Professor that I wish we could afford to hire a crew to do our dirty work for us, but he reminded me that by doing it ourselves we are getting to know this boat and its systems inside and out. Not just where everything important is, but also where the dirt likes to hide and water accumulate. We’ve found clogs and leaks that we would not have known about. We have found things that weren’t found during the survey and were able to fix them. And I must admit, he is right. As we get to know every nook and cranny of this boat, and we clean out the old grime and take out things left behind by her previous owners, she feels increasingly familiar and more ‘ours’.

Still, I am really looking forward to getting off this dock!

Today, I am going to settle for just getting off this boat. We have been working hard and tonight we are going to treat ourselves to dinner out on the Boardwalk while we watch all the pretty boats go by, decked out with their twinkling Christmas lights. Yep, just going to sit there ‘waistin’ time’ Otis Redding style.