Cleaning Marine Canvas

Still fueled with excitement from our first successful weekend cruise of 2012, I decided to start cleaning the canvas in our cockpit.

Dirty!

First - I cleaned the canvas on the dodger. 

Next - I innocently removed and cleaned the canvas walls.  

THEN - I casually (HA!) removed and cleaned the canvas ceiling.  

Canvas walls removed.

Canvas Ceiling Removed

Reinstalling the clean canvas is a more than one person job.  I highly recommend a partner.  The fact that I got everything back in place, by myself, before the kids woke up, was a miracle! 

One more maintenance project checked off our list!  :)

Cleaning Vinyl Cockpit Windows

The weather on our first overnight/weekend trip was amazing.  Enjoying the view through our cockpit windows while underway (with the sun reflecting brightly off the water) was NOT.

Dull Vinyl Windows w/ Salt Residue

T brought this product home:

Plexus Cleaner - Approximately $25

Simply spray product on vinyl windows, let sit for one to two minutes, and buff with a cotton rag/towel. 

AFTER

 Easy nap time or after bed time project.  Very noticeable difference!

Happy Birthday Baby M!

M @ 3 months

Has time flown!  Today, baby M is officially a one year old.  This last year has gone by so fast (we are nearing our one year anniversary of full time living aboard).  

What a joy he is.  I am so thankful.

M - one year old.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy! 

Love, Mama

Captain's suite courtesy of eBay for $13.99 (including shipping)!  Priceless.

First Trip of the Season!

We took Ma'alahi out for her first trip of the season (the weekend of May 5th).  Our family had such a great time that over the last two three and a half weeks (that is how long it took to finish this post!), I have been working my bum off to get the boat ready for Summer cruising.

We untied from the dock on Friday evening (after T got home from work) and headed northbound on San Juan Channel to the north side of Jone's Island.  We tied to an anchor buoy ($10/night), put the kids to bed, had hotdogs on the BBQ, and a well deserved drink.  This trip felt like a well earned reward for our making it through the winter living aboard (with a two and one year old).

Saturday morning, we rowed the dinghy to shore and walked around and explored with the kiddos.  K is not yet focused enough to go on a walk involving a specific destination, but as long as T and I do not have a real agenda, we are all happy.

M, 11 months old on Jone's Island

At about 10AM we headed further north to Sucia Island and tied to another anchor buoy ($12/night).  The weather was amazing and the kids were awesome!  T and I lounged on the beach and the kids pretty much entertained themselves with little need for our intervention (there IS a light at the end of the tunnel!!).

Sucia Island

Sucia Island

This was also the first trip that we have taken Buddy (our labrador) out with us (usually we leave him with family or put him in the kennel).  He is NOT a boat or water dog.  He seemed a bit shaky and anxious while we were underway (we didn't sail) but he calmed down a little by the end of the weekend.

Buddy Holding down the "fort"

Buddy was able to get in and out of the dinghy and go up "on deck".  Thank GOD for the walk through stern!  We tried to get him to go to the bathroom on the bow/deck area with no success.  We are going to try to train him to go to the bathroom on a doormat with a line tied to it (so we can clean the mat by dipping it in the water).  I am sure there will be more to share on "boat training" the dog in the future. 

Spring Cleaning

It is difficult to keep any sort of living area clean when you have two kids.  OR - in my case, it is difficult to keep my personal space clean because cleaning is not something I enjoy.  One of the things I like about living aboard is that I do not have a large area that I need to keep clean.

We have a responsibility to keep our boat clean.  I think having a clean boat is a boat thing.  We don't want people to walk by our boat and KNOW that we liveaboard just by the way Ma'alahi looks.  We don't leave stuff lying around the cockpit or decks.  We want to be able to leave without too much preparation and securing of things down bellow. 

Stuff is always accumulating on our desk.  I spent sometime cleaning it up today.  Here is the finished product:  

Before

 

After... lets see how long this lasts!?

After

 

Photo of the Week - He did it -

I am guessing this is where sibling conflict begins?