Well, Kim and I live on a boat now. As you read this, we have spent 48 hours with Meraviglia as our only residence. “Wow!” you’re thinking-“they really got a lot of work done fast!” Nope. We have no running water, no toilet, and sort of an electrical system. So, we’re camping. Fortunately, we’re in a marina, so it’s a short walk to the “heads” with toilets and showers, etc. If you are of a certain age, you know that making it through the night without a potty break is unheard of, so… there’s a bucket. I have been camping exactly twice in my life. Both times were, shall we say, less than ideal. There was snow involved. Happily, that is not a problem here. However, I am not a camper. But at some point, we had to take the leap-continuing to scrounge AirBnbs was not helpful, either to our sanity or to our wallet. So here we are.

Happily, we can cook. The propane system had to be completely rebuilt. It took TWO WEEKS! Why, because the first regulator I bought was defective. So I got a second one. It was defective. Finally, today, the third regulator arrived and “Voila!” we have gas. Kim’s coffee can be made. Food can be cooked. Things can be grilled. Kim’s coffee can be made. Did I mention about the coffee?

On the plumbing end of things, we had bad new last week-what other kind is there? Our plumber who said in March that the original copper water lines could be used reversed course after a deeper dive-they are all leaking and corroded. So a new Pex-based plumbing system it is. And the water pumps are all corroded and broken, so we need new pumps as well. And the new water tanks and holding tank need to be connected. He says we should have one working sink and a toilet this week. Pray for us.

Old plumbing-guess what this carried!!
Our toilet. Or bucket. You pick.

The rewiring of the boat continues. It’s actually almost complete, to be fair. We removed what seems like 10 miles of old, unused electrical cable from the boat-I thinks she’s actually floating higher now. Our project manager (or “Savior” as I have taken to calling him) has nearly finished rewiring the main panel and sub-panels. Boats have both AC and DC systems, so both had to be redone. They look amazing!

This was the second, smaller pile of old electrical we removed!
New electrical panel-ooooohhh!
New inverter with breaker

On our to-do list, we are continuing to work on the interior where we can. We did get the aft cabin, where we live complete: we faired in the new side-deck plywood, sanded, re-faired, then painted. They we reinstalled the trim and covered all the screw holes with teak bungs. The same process is underway in the crew berth. I have disassembled the windlass up on the foredeck. That’s the big winch that raises the anchor. We do NOT want to be hauling a 75 lb. anchor and 300 feet of anchor chain by hand. It’s original to the boat-made in New Zealand back in the mid-80s. But I contacted the company and they promptly sent me detailed instructions and diagrams. Thanks Nilsson! The V-Ring needs to be replaced. It’s kind of like an O-Ring: round, rubber, smallish. Minimum order was 24, so I have plenty of spares.

The aft cabin-our new bedroom
The windlass-before
And after disassembly. Sure hope I remember how I did this!

Oh, and I had surgery today. Note to self: wear gloves when using a grinder. I caught my hand 3 weeks ago and it wouldn’t heal. Debridement and 6 pieces of metal removed later, hopefully I’m on the mend. An expensive lesson for a grinder newbie.

I know this post was sort of all over the place, but that’s how we feel. It’s been a lot. But sitting in the cockpit as the sun sets…seems worth it so far!

But I still don’t like camping.