Getting the engine work wrapped up and moving onto the boat was a big step but we had a lot more planned. We spent the next month and a half working through our long list of projects. The most complicated project, by far, was installing a forward-looking sonar (FLS) system. The purpose of an FLS […]
Back in the BoatYard, Part 2 Read More »
Pulling into the boatyard, 194 days since we left Alaya in the spring, Lucas and I were very nervous. How’d she fare without us? Was she full of squirrels? Full of water? The boatyard had checked on her while we were gone but this is the longest we’ve ever left her alone. We scavenged a
Back in the Boatyard, Part 1 Read More »
You know that feeling of dread you experience at the end of a vacation? For the first time in our lives, we didn’t experience that feeling as we made our way home to Alaya from the Bahamas. We were very excited to get back to the boat and to eventually start heading north again. Once
Starting Our Journey North Read More »
After a few nights sleeping away from the boat (our first since we left Michigan in September), we were excited to get back to our own bed. Alaya was ready for us to be back too. She was filthy on the outside (some birds had noticed our brief absence and decided Alaya made for a
New Year, New Projects Read More »
We got a few concerned texts in late-October, wondering what we were up to since we hadn’t moved Alaya in a while. Well, we were doing more boat work, of course! Since we had access to a slip and car (thanks again Rocky and Aaris) in Annapolis, we decided to spend 10 days busting out
Boat Work (Taylor’s Version) Read More »
We arrived back at our home marina with a long list of projects to do, and as always, not enough time to do them all. We decided to get the biggest project out of the way first – we needed to lift Pierre Diesely, our 61 hp Peugeot-Lehman diesel engine (named after the legendary 2020
Getting Ready to Go (for Real this Time) Read More »
Now that we were both unemployed, the whole adventure felt very, very real. Our to-do list continued to evolve; we made a lot of check marks, decided to postpone other tasks and added even more to the list. It was pretty overwhelming at times, we knew we wanted to leave the dock soon to explore
Getting Ready To Go (For the First Time) Read More »
Once we moved to the boat, we focused on getting Alaya’s “basic” systems running. Priority 1: Refrigerator Last year, we removed the small cold plate and old compressor from Alaya. During the winter, I sanded and varnished the fridge doors and interior. After much research, we purchased a Cruise RO Technotics compressor and cold plate.
Starting with the Basics Read More »
As the mitten continued to thaw (sort of), we turned all of our attention to getting Alaya ready for the water. The to-do list started out as manageable and then quickly, and predictably, expanded. The big ticket items included rebedding/filling thru hulls, polishing the topsides, applying bottom paint to the hull and fixing the rudder.
This is the year. The year that we will uproot our lives and careers, move onto a sailboat and sail to wherever the wind takes us. Before we can start planning our beach adventures, there is a lot of work to do, including small things like selling our house and launching the boat. I quit
The Start of a Crazy Year Read More »