A Bit of Our New Life

Morning tea on our first rainy morning aboard

You know how you can imagine something and it never lives up to your expectations?  I've imagined living on Me Voy for years, and now that it has happened, it has actually exceeded any expectations I had. So roomy, so much storage, so comfortable, and we take it all with us when we go places. That's something to wrap my mind around. I keep thinking- oh when we go back to work on Tara this weekend we'll need to bring this and this... and then I remember, its all coming with us, everywhere, all the time. That blows my mind. Compared to the van this is really living it up!

I'm also so stoked at  how smoothly the boys have adapted to this boat, especially Billy, who is usually the problem child. Yesterday he actually laid on the the galley floor while the motor was running (we currently charge our batteries with the motor) below him. I think he wanted to prove a point. Namely - don't lock me in the forward berth while we're underway- ever! That's what I did when we first fired it up with him on board. Here's a snippet of the miserable attempt to introduce Billy to motoring...

Before turning on the motor, I took Billy with me into the v berth. I was cooing little love sounds and he was rubbing himself pleasantly around my hand. Everything was peachy. The motor started and his ears perked up. He sensed something was up. I stayed with him a bit longer, cooing and reassuring, then made my escape to the deck. Now he knew something was up. While I was on the foredeck handling lines, I could see him thru the forward hatch. He was pissed off and screaming about it.  Next, while I was unhooking the bow line, he took to jumping against the hatch. From my perspective it looked like someone was throwing him against the lexan. Smash!  Splat! All I could see was his face momentarily smooshed against the plastic hatch and then he'd disappear again into darkness.  It was cartoonishly funny and terrifying at the same time. I've never seen him this desperate.

Finally as we were pulling away the screaming and banging stopped and Billy appeared on deck, satisfied and redeemed. My best guess is he worked the door handle to open the door because it was swinging merrily and we cruised along. And Billy? He wasn't even freaked out that we were leaving the dock, and had no designs to jump off the boat like I feared. He did tell me what he thought of my idea of locking him in, by leaving me a big stinking poop in the v berth to step into.

That's all behind us now.

At least for a little while. Tomorrow we plan on blowing Billy's mind by sailing to our old marina.  As unexotic a location as that is, our number one priority is getting Tara cleaned up, spruced up and put up. The fun anchorages have to wait a bit longer. But not too much longer.

Billy on his sail bag bed

In a bit of a  curtain sewing frenzy

Chopper has had it with the pictures

Moving onto Me Voy

So it happened.  Cart by cart we loaded our stuff off of Tara onto Me Voy, docked a few hundred yards away. It couldn't have gone better. Billy, who my my biggest concern, took to rubbing himself over every line, nook and cranny of the new boat. All of our stuff, despite looking like it would never fit, got swallowed up in  all the holds, and cabinets of Me Voy with room to spare. Our clean prop, and reliable engine took us back and forth from the new marina to the old and back again without problems. Billy whose world was already rocked by the move, took the engine noise in stride and showed me that he could be trusted on deck while underway. We docked without problems and everything went better then I could have imagined. And now we rest and adjust.

visitors at the old marina

Billy first full day aboard

motoring to the new marina

all aboard at the new marina

relaxing

happy to have this move behind us

Moving Back to go Forth

Now that Me Voy's haul out is over we are moving on to step 2 of our loosely planned operation.

Today T and I both have the day off, the weather is beautiful, the necessary arrangements have been made, and we are bringing Me Voy over to the marina so we can to the "stuff swap".

We have been scratching our heads trying to figure out how all of this is going to happen , and last night, during our evening figure- things- out session, it all came together. So today we will motor (unfortunately there is no wind to speak of today, which is also fortunate in terms of docking) over to the marina to the end of "C" pier. Then we will spend the next two-three days getting settled before we go back to the new marina.  I'm so excited!

Me Haul out - Conclusion

At the end of three days, when our skin is still slighty green and our muscular system is begging for mercy (at least mine was) there is this ... the lift off.

If you ever get the chance to be near a large heavy boat while its being lifted off the ground - do it! It is a thrill. As Me Voy's massive body elevated, there was the sensation of a giant wave of air rolling over my chest. Like the air displaced by the hull was sucking back under and rolling out over the space previously occupied by the boat. Phew.

Then came the rush of activity as we painted in the spots left by the jacks and keel blocks.

And then the splash in. Again everything went smoothly. The guys running the lift were totally professional and super helpful. When we didn't have a 50 amp adapter cord, the yard manager, R, sold us one for one third the retail price!  Score! So yes, if we are in Baltimore for our next haul out it will definately be at Baltimore Marine Center. What a great place. 

Me Voy Haul out- Day 2 and 3

Even though the haul out now seems so yesterday, I'm pressed to write about it. It was after all our first haul out with Me Voy, and we had no idea what to expect.

So there we were...

...at the Baltimore Marine Center Boat yard. This place was soo cool! From our awesome spot on the water we could see TUGS!...

other cool boats...

and even helicopters!

It was like all the big toys came to play in that yard...

It was difficult to keep on task with all there colors, sights and sounds. This  was the most exciting boatyard I have been to yet and all I wanted to do was run around taking pictures. 

Travis kept me in line by example.  He ground, prepped, glasssed and epoxied primed our sail drive, sanded most of the bottom himself,  and generally behaved like a captain whose vessel is out of the water. 

Finally, after all the prep was done, I got to hose of our girl, and put all that nasty green dust behind us. I hope to never have to deal with that awful bottom paint dust again.

I say that, because from now on we hope to use the new water- based bottom paint. Yup. After reading up on it, we decided to give it a try.

It was weird, and by weird I mean super great, not to wear respirators and suits while painting. There was no awful after smell either, yet the paint rolled and felt like the heavy copper based bottom paints. We'll see how it does. A worthwhile experiment I think.

And that was pretty much it. No problems. Three days and we were done. Me Voy got her share of compliments, and Travis got a kick out of telling people she was a wooden boat. Cold molded but still a woody. This was my favorite snippet:

Stranger: "Hey! Nice boat. Is that mast wooden all the way to the top?"

Travis: "Yeah. The whole mast is wood. In fact the whole boat is wood."

Stranger: "What? Really?'

All the while Me Voy stands, blocked like a plastic boat, winking and smiling.  

Hauling Booty

 Even though there is so much to say about the awesome haul out experience we just had, all I can remember from today was this... 

...hauling booty up the Chesapeake in  20 knots

...then changing the pace and cruising the Inner Harbor 

... boat yard, what boat yard?

Shark White

WHOSE BOAT IS THIS???

Busted our bottom on Me VOY's bottom. Tired and tipsy. Check her out.