It has been ONE WHOLE week!!!

Living on our boat has a different feel compared to visiting the boat every weekend. Big deal right? It sorta is. This is the week where we realize what we need and what kind of space we have to store what we need. Lucky for us downsizing really hasn't been that difficult. I prefer the coziness of our 42 feet of living space. Our boat has most essentials already stocked, focus for this week has been where to store everything. My clothes however, may become a problem. How the heck do I pack for a year knowing we will be experiencing all sorts of weather? I also need options, my mood may be feeling yoga pants so I better have several pairs right? I do know I will be living in comfy clothes 90% of the time but I just got some really cute wedges so I  had to bring a few things to wear with them!

I do not claim to be well organized but I do have 'my system' that seems to work. I have a place for my stuff and I usually put my stuff back where it belongs. While I spent the week getting us both organized, all I could hear was my dad saying "Everything should have a place and should be put back in its place". This usually was exclaimed in a heightened tone as either my brother or me had lost or misplaced something of his. His knowledge rings especially true on a boat. All items need to be in their respective spots locked, shut, stored, secured while underway. There is nothing worse than coming into the saloon from the flybridge to find the entire contents of the fridge rolling about the galley. All because it was not shut properly. 

After about three trips to numerous stores, back to the boat with various bins in all shapes, sizes, colors and materials, I started making space for all our things. Boy, it really feels good to know it all fits but crazier is we still have lots of storage space waiting to be filled...hmmm, what can I put there? We will be going home a couple times before we set off for the loop in September, I'll have to grab a few more outfits to go with those wedges! 

Of course the week brought Ben a couple projects (he loves to have something to fix). He is always telling me to listen for any new noises. New noises can be bad. Our fresh water pump was making some weird sounds. In the "basement" (our engine room) he went. The pump kept cycling which after Ben checked, found it had plastic shavings from our new water tanks, which were put in last spring (resulting in us NOT being first in our harbor. Something we strive for every season!). Yay! Go Ben, my personal mechanic!! While he was down in the basement, the bilge got a little cleaning. How often do you clean your bilge? We make it a practice to do this at least twice a season. Moving forward, we will be cleaning it at least every other month. Like how I say we? Really I mean Ben!

Hope you all have had as productive a week as we have....we are all tidy and organized. Stinky boat? Not here!!! 

I hand pumped every last bit out of the bilge, dry as a bone!

A little extra organized = a little less stress!

Really?? The boat needs work?

If it smells I won't clean it, So Ben got this for me! 

Anyone who has owned, owns, wants to own a boat will find out that boat fun and boat work go hand and hand. Owning Jammin Jane since 2011, we have encountered many boat jobs both massive and minor. While I have been involved in some of the work in the past, it was frequent, making it difficult to see and work on a task from beginning to end. Let's also mention here, since I am not at all uncomfortable talking about my flaws, I am technically unskilled at most jobs so I need to be directed and checked on, which can take up a lot of time. Especially since we were working at the time and only had weekends to work on the boat.
Well, things certainly have changed since then. Now that we are not working, we rented a place near the boat yard and treated it as our 'new job'. I'm not going exaggerate that we clocked in 8 hours every day but we were there everyday for 6 weeks (give or take a few trips home and a couple sick days) including weekends. I became Ben's apprentice, learning the steps to the wonderful world of varnish (since my husband has a love affair with varnish, I'll dedicate a post to that later), painting, deck work, sea cocks, impellars, and just a few of the dirty jobs reserved just for the apprentice! Hehehe!
Up until this year, I could not say that I physically touched every part of our boat. I can say that now, and for those of you who can say the same understand when I say that I feel a different connection to the boat. It's pretty surreal to think, but this is going to be our home for a long time. We will be relying on her to get us to our next destination. Any extra knowledge I have under my belt makes us a safer boat. So, understanding things and maintaining our boat the way we (mostly Ben) have since 2011 will keep our 1979 beauty not only looking like she's new, but she will be in tip top shape to get us there safely.

I will be posting about all the work we have done to Jammin Jane since purchase. 

Here's a look at the work this past year... 

leveling the chaulk

Ben reefed out the old seems and is filling a seem with a chaulk (SIS 440) from Teak Deck Systems

Ben has done extensive repairs (re-plugging, sanding, re-seaming) to the deck, they were in bad shape when we bought the boat.
Here's a peek from the past...

I cleaned all windows (ewww!) with bleach/water.  One of the flaws on older GBs is the felt track. 

Ahh! Clean & opens like butter!

We painted all interior rooms (aft stateroom and head and forward birth and head). I became great at prepping for projects. I actually started to enjoy taping.

All exterior windows were taped, scraped, sanded(by me!)then painted(by Ben).We had a special visitor do our chaulk!

Uncle Kevin, the Master Chaulker! Seriously, this guy can chaulk!

Both heads (bathrooms and shower floors and pump) were assigned to the apprentice. Love my mask!

shower floor grate (soap scum yuck!)

Crocket, the mighty springer!