Our beautiful 2002 Catalina 42 MKII is up for sale! Ma'alahi is in pristine condition and ready to go cruising.
I have converted my old blog to a "for sale" page so old posts about our life aboard can be found. My contact information can be found on the right sidebar. NEW PRICE! Ma'alahi is now listed at only $153,000! Previously listed at $167,000 and $169,000. We are serious about selling and ready to answer any questions you may have!
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:
It is official. Hell has frozen over and we made some enormous milestones this week.
I forgot to take photos on day two of the move. Our storage unit move consisted of two days with my pickup truck (about 2 hours each day) and a full day with a big moving truck (provided complementary by the new storage unit company).
NOT.BAD.
1/2 way through day three - old storage unit
1/2 way through day three - new storage unit
I did not get a photo of the completely moved into new storage unit. IT.IS.FULL.
DONE - I am going to try to sell the last two items in picture.
The above photo makes me smile. I didn't think this day would come. I am so happy!
We moved from a 5'X10' storage unit AND an 1100 square foot fully furnished house into a 12'X20' storage unit WITH loft and NOW we have everything inside a 10'X10' space. AWESOME.
Keeping it brief. Progress from day one (which consisted of 2.5 hours with the kids at grandma's).
Old Unit - Day 1
New Unit - Day 1
I am, literally, trying to pack the unit to the ceiling. I am kind of sad that it is necessary to pack things so meticulously. I wish we had less stuff. We will soon have all our belongings inside a 10'X10'X10' space. Something that most Americans probably cannot do.
There is going to be a lot of re-organization at the new unit. It is hard to move things, that were on shelves at the old unit, over to the new unit because I have to move the stuff before I can move the actual shelves. It is a puzzle.
Oddly enough, I am getting the same rush that I used to get when I move from one house or apartment to another. I love reorganizing things and taking inventory of things. It is very cleansing.
Ma'alahi's crew, namely myself, is feeling much better. Whew! Now - it is time to get to work on spring projects and things that we have been delaying due to winter-ish weather (that is the excuse at least).
I bit the bullet this morning and leased a new 10'x10' heated storage unit. Our new unit is $99 per month ($41 less than our current unit). We have notified the owner of our other storage unit that we will be out by the end of the month - SO, we have 13 days to make the BIG.CHANGE.
I am going to try to document the process with photos along the way.
I looked around the old storage unit this morning, trying to decide what can go in the back of the new unit (AKA - what we don't plan to access unless we move off the boat), I realized and that there is still a lot of things that we are going to want to get rid of. The first thing that comes to mind is our dining room table and chairs.
Considering the price of secondhand furniture (Craig's List and local Facebook networks/trading post), I do not feel that it is worth it to pay to store items that you can buy for a nominal amount or get for free.
The personal belongings that we, as a society, are conditioned to value (emotionally and monetarily) never fails to surprise me.
It has taken a lot of time for me to change my perspective on what material items are important to have in my life.
I have been meticulously combing through our large storage unit in preparation for downsizing to a smaller, heated unit. Here is an example of what I encounter on a "storage unit day":
On this specific day, I went through a large bag of gift bags (a bag of bags! Ha!) I have collected, a scrap-booking supply chest I have not used since college, and a box full of desk/office "necessities".
Before....
After!
I have since moved this three drawer system onto the boat (into K's stateroom). I store her "while M's sleeping" toys/projects inside of it. Included are play dough, play mobile toys, a small-ish magnetic doll toy, wikki stix, crayons, paper, and washable markers.
I will need to find a way to secure this unit to the boat while underway. I am thinking of turning the drawers toward the hull and using a bungee cord to hold the unit in place. We shall see.
Seriously, how many pens does a person need? AND WHY are there so many? I kept five pens and one highlighter. I dropped this pile of pens off at the "free" shack at the port (I will write a post about that soon) - they were gone within the hour.
After!
The most time consuming part of going through your things is not actually going through them - it is cleaning up the mess you make and, more importantly, finding a home for the things that you do not want. Unless something is light (in weight) and worth $20+ on eBay it goes into the garbage or to the thrift store.
If you are in "cruising kitty hyper saving mode" like I like to think we are... check eBay pricing BEFORE you get rid of something.
As a side story... I discovered the other day that USED high-end perfume is in high demand. As I write this, I have two bottles with eight and nine bids, respectively, going for a combined amount of just over $50 AND there is 18 hours left in the auctions. I was going to take these items to the THRIFT STORE!?!?! I didn't know there was a used perfume market.
Baby equipment is a funny thing. It (generally) takes up a lot of space. But ... oh the SANITY that comes with it. I thought it might be helpful to include a sequence of photos showing how our space changes throughout the day.
Open floor play time.
You can see the Pack n' Play, Bumbo (chair), and "high" chair stored (on the left settee).
M in his Pack n' Play (where he sleeps at night).
During the day, M naps in the master stateroom in his blue bouncy chair (which he has basically outgrown). I am waiting for his new tent to come in the mail (it will provide a consistent night and daytime sleep solution). More to come on that soon.
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner.
I have a request out to get an additional "high" chair for M - he has outgrown the Bumbo and can get out of it.
Folding Jumper - Active Play.
I found the Baby Einstein folding jumper/activity center on Craigslist for $30. It has been a great break (for me). We store the jumper in the "cave" of the galley/pantry area when not in use. It does not get in the way of the pantry cupboards.
Jumper stored in "cave" (on left) when not in use.
I recently discovered this folding jumper/activity center (which I LOVE for our situation):
T got us on a waiting list to move to the very popular and much larger (wider) "main dock" at the port. We were really surprised when the port offered us a slip in mid October. The prior tenant left their dock box (yay!) which easily stores the stroller (no more lugging the stroller on and off the boat!).
Our new home.
The view.
We did not realize all of the benefits of our new spot until we moved. The dock is extra wide. We are able to step right off the boat into an area large enough for K to run around a little bit (in a life jacket and heavily supervised of course).
WIDE dock.
The distance from the car to the boat is much shorter and we have the added bonus of being able to drive down the dock (to the ramp) to unload kids/groceries without having to get the stroller all set up.
The port's main dock.
Our old (first) slip was on a normal dock that was much more narrow:
Our slip had a utility unit right where one would typically have a dock box.
Old slip.
There are a lot of little things that we did not consider when we got our first slip assignment. Moving the boat (about 200 feet) was different than I expected. We are meeting new people and neighbors, we have more sun in the afternoon, and for some reason Ma'alahi does not get rocked nearly as much (if at all) when the ferry comes and goes. It kind of feels similar to when you move to a new home and neighborhood - except, in our case, we moved our home to a new neighborhood.
When we first purchased Ma'alahi (December, 2010), I had to scramble to find something for K to sleep in. K was 11 months old when we had our first overnight trial run on the boat. That first night, I had her, in a standard size pack n' play, in the main living area. The pack n' play took up far too much floor space so I knew that it would not be a long term solution.
Internet research, initially, was not of much help. Google-ing "infant bed boat" "baby sleep boat" ... etc did not come up with any real functional ideas. I wanted to find a solution that would work for a few years AND be functional when away from the dock.
I did have some success when I did an internet search for infant sleeping arrangements on RV's/Motorhomes. Apparently, it is more "mainstream" to travel with young children on the road than it is on water.
My research turned me on to a travel tent that is safety approved for newborn/toddler use - the KidCo PeaPod Plus (Model P204):
We purchased this bed online for about $70 (I do not recall the exact price). This is the "fully loaded" model that comes with an inflatable mattress that zips into the floor of the tent (from the outside). The inflatable mattress appears to provide additional stability. K's "house" is situated on the mattress in her stateroom.
K is able to get out of the tent on her own (via the zipper door).
K - 21 months
This tent has been perfect for our situation. Soon, K will transition to sleeping on the bed without the tent and M will likely move into the tent... which will then be moved into the main cabin area (at night time).
When not in use, the tent folds up into a very manageable compact disk and is stored in a bag provided by the manufacturer. (I don't see why anyone travels with a pack n' play when they can travel with these!)
Here is a good video demonstration of how the tent works (the model in the demonstration does not come with the inflatable mattress... same idea though).
As for M, he is still sleeping in his inclined bouncy chair (due to acid reflux) in the main cabin area:
M - back in July when it was warmer...
Looking into the future, our goal is to have both of the kids sleeping in the guest stateroom (tour to come). We are exploring different customization ideas involving canvas walls and/or a bunk-type situation. For now, the kids are far too young to safely sleep together and M is still waking up in the middle of the night to feed. Time will tell...
When T and I moved from the city to (what was) our nine acre property on the island, we thought that we were simplifying our life. My experience has been that when some tasks or aspects of your lifestyle are made more simple, other things become more complicated and/or time consuming.
Although life aboard is (generally) very simple, one of the inconveniences I deal with on a weekly basis is laundry.
I make a point of doing our laundry no more than one day per week. The port has a laundry facility but it is VERY expensive ($8 to wash and dry a medium sized load).
My in laws, who live nearby, have been very generous in offering the use of their house and laundry room. On laundry day, I take K and M to their house during K's nap time and push through two to three loads of laundry:
Because we do not have constant access to a washer and dryer, I try to stock the boat with at least one weeks worth of cloths.
We do keep the Wonder Wash manual washing machine and Mini Countertop Spin Dryer aboard. These machines can be purchased on the Laundry Alternative website. I have experimented a little with these machines and seen good results. However, I could not imagine doing all of our laundry manually. Maybe that will change when both of the kids are potty trained and M stops puking on himself (and me) multiple times a day.
Wonder Wash Demonstration:
I am very meticulous (retentive) with organizing and folding laundry. All of our clothes need to be folded and categorized very specifically in order for them to fit well into their respective shelves, drawers, and netted hammocks. Once all the clothes are folded accordingly, I tightly pack them into our laundry hamper so that I am able to unload everything on the boat from bow to stern. K's things (belong in stern stateroom) are packed on bottom, then kitchen linens, then M's clothes (midship), and finally my and T's things (bow).
Adjusting to a marine galley has been difficult. Ma'alahi has one of the better and more spacious galley designs out of all the boats we were considering.
The Galley - located on the stern port side
Ma'alahi's galley is equipped with a 700 watt microwave. The microwave theoretically can be used while at anchor, however, as general practice, we only use it when hooked up to shore power.
Dishes, bowls and cups are stored on the fixture above the sink.
There is an additional ice box (without refrigeration unit) just bellow the dehumidifier (next to the sink). Tupperware and dry food goods (flour, sugar, etc) are stored inside.
The countertops are made of corian.
Double Sink, Brita Water Filter, Cabinet w/ Cleaning Supplies
Three Burner Gimballed Princess Propane Stove (Bakeware is stored inside the oven)
Storage behind stove/refrigerator
Top and Side Access Refrigerator/Freezer
"The Cave"/Pantry
Folding Counter-top & Garbage Can
We keep a large garbage can aboard. We fill the can (mostly with diapers) about every other day. We remove garbage from the boat so frequently that we have not had to deal with icky diaper smell.
Silverware Storage (container is on pivot)
Cupboard forward of Microwave (storage for cooking utensils and oils)
Cupboard aft of Microwave (storage for snacks, mugs, and toaster)
Swinging Spice Rack (just to stern of refrigerator)
Pantry - Top (Cookware, Pressure Cooker, and Measuring Cups)
