Renaming Ceremony & Celebration--YOU ARE INVITED!

You know what the first rule of sailing is?  Love.  You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds.  Love keeps her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens.  Makes her a home.

~Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)

It's a party in honor of the boat I love!  The date has been chosen, and if you are reading this, you are invited!

Friday, June 7, 2013

7:00 pm

Four Seasons Marina

4609 Kellogg Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45226

Last night, by kayak, I removed the old name from her transom:

Her old name: Nauta Priority, was, unfortunately, a fitting name for many years.

But she has been a priority this past year, so I had to take a pic of the name half-removed.  :)

The letters peeled off easily.  She was ready to be rid of them!

With the old name removed, she is ready for her new name!

New graphics will be applied tomorrow and covered until the Denaming and Renaming ceremonies have been conducted.  Following those ceremonies...a celebration.  She shall know that she is loved.  The gods shall know that I will take care of her.

According to legend, each and every vessel is recorded in the Ledger of the Deep, and is known by Poseidon or Neptune.  

The Denaming ceremony removes the name from this Ledger and the Renaming ceremony places the new name in the Ledger.  For more information on this process, check out this site.

The ceremony will be officiated by Commodore Bob Pattison (Commodore of Four Seasons Yacht Club).

Some of my friends are asking me why I am having this ceremony.  Lore has it that renaming a boat without taking the proper steps to inform and appease the gods is very bad luck.  Some say this is a myth, others say it is sailor's wisdom.  Which is true?  Who cares!  It is not worth the risk and it is the perfect time to celebrate more than a year of hard work to completely renovate a vessel in need of love and attention.  It is the perfect time to celebrate her--the vessel that I love...the vessel that is home.

Understanding all the systems and details

"It's the little details that are vital.  Little things make big things happen."

~John Wooden

On a boat, your systems are largely self-contained.  Your source of water is onboard, your "water treatment plant" is onboard, your electrical system is onboard, etc.  Since I am living on the boat, I decided it was important to understand all of these systems.

First on my list was the blackwater system (the head, holding tank, and all of the pipes and lines that connect them).  The goal was to identify the source and destination of every water line, hose, etc. in the system, as well as the direction of flow. Gregg and I opened all of the hatches and followed every hose to determine how the system worked from start to finish. We started at the head, and followed the system through each step in the process.  This idea came from a blog I follow:  The Boat Galley.

We labeled every hose with 3 pieces of information:

• Direction the contents travel (with arrows),
• From where the contents are coming,
• Where the contents are going.

We also walked around the outside of the boat to be sure we understood the purpose of each through-hull.

We did the same exercise with the fresh water system--but on a different day.

It's nice to know that if something goes wrong (or even while everything is going right), I understand how things are supposed to work and what each component does.  Here is a simple diagram I found online that helped me picture the fresh water system in its entirety before I looked at each component:

Click here for the source of the diagram

See if you can name each component in the diagram!  Some of them are a little tricky.

I presented this information to some women in the Four Seasons Yacht Club in this year's "Women in Boating" event.  We also shared tips and tricks in boating.  Jo Baehr shared how they use PINALEN in their black water system to keep everything clean and smelling fresh:

I asked Bill and Jo Baehr to explain how they use PINALEN on their boat, Dancing Baehr:  Add 1/2 gallon of PINALEN diluted with 1/2 gallon of water directly into the holding tank after each pump out.  They also put about 1/2 ounce into the head each day.   Warning: if you are putting this directly into your head, be aware that full strength pine oil causes slight swelling of polymers such as rubber impellers.  Since flushing it through your toilets will dilute it with water from the flush, this should not be a problem.  It will clean your head and your pipes, as well as deodorizing your tank.  

Pinalen can also be added to any standing water in the bilge.  This will eliminate odors (and kill bacteria), and it should not cause problems with bilge pumps because they have plastic impellers.  It can be dumped down any drain (showers, sump pump, etc.) to kill bacteria and stop odor.

I haven't tried this yet, but I plan to.  I'll let you know what I think.

In our area, you can find PINALEN at the Family Dollar store.  If you can't find it in your area, it is also sold on Amazon.com.  On Amazon, a pack of 15 (28 oz) bottles is $59.83.

It is a good feeling to know your boat inside and out--all of the big things as well as the little details!  Next blog--we started an engine!  More on that soon!  

Living aboard a boat...

"Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home."

~Matsuo Basho

I've been living aboard my boat for about a month and a half now.  I almost forgot to enjoy it!

I started this blog by explaining my hesitancy to own a home...also known as a slight fear of commitment.  While owning a home is comforting to some--providing a sense of security--it makes me feel vulnerable and limited in my options.  I'll admit that soon after moving aboard I started to feel the weight of my new responsibility.  It may be a boat, but it is a houseboat and I own it--and all of the responsibility that comes with it.

Then, I reminded myself why I wanted to live on a boat.  I reminded myself to take some time to enjoy it.  Aahhhh....I'm home,  And I love it:

Sitting on the back deck enjoying coffee and a book with the pups.

Moving from an apartment with a basement and a garage onto a boat is a challenge.  I discovered that getting rid of things, and keeping only those things that really bring me joy, is a liberating process!

More on living aboard a boat later.  Let's look at some before/after pictures:

And with a little help, the new bridge seat is in place where it belongs.  It fit absolutely perfectly:

For the first few weeks aboard, I made do without some of conveniences most of us consider necessities: running water, a working head and a stove/oven.  After many frustrating conversations (and unfulfilled promises) from the electrician , my friend Gregg Tepe determined to get these things working for me.  The next day, I received a video message from him with running water from my sink.  What an exciting moment!

Running water gets a thumbs up!

The boat is still a work in progress.  Next priorities: the floor, window treatments and tinting, interior doors (head, closet and pantry) mesh around the railings (to keep pups onboard), painting the decks, a shelf for my microwave, etc.  

Even so, I'm home.  It has been, and continues to be, a journey.  And I love it.