life aboard so far

We've been living on board Hello World for about 3 weeks now. Here's an update of what we've learned whilst living aboard to date.

• The smell of cat poop inside a 40' sailboat is eye watering.


• Popping your head out of the companionway every morning and looking out over the water and neighboring boats just does not get old. Moves me every time.


• The cat does not like sailing.


• Pressure cooker = the awesome.


• Every object on a boat exists in two states: broken and almost broken.


• Christy and I do just fine in small spaces. The space was never a problem in our 450 sq. ft. houseboat and it's not a problem on the sailboat.


• Electric oil radiant heaters are essential to life aboard in the Pacific Northwest. Waking up on a drizzly fall morning to a boat interior that is dry and 70 degrees is heaven.


• The manufacturer of all of our winches went out of business and replacement parts aren't available.


• Our starboard cabin top winch needs a new stripper ring.


• Sea lions never tire of barking. And that's just fine with us.


• One positive thing about laundromats: 1 load of laundry or 6 loads of laundry - it still only takes about an hour and a half.


• One negative thing about laundromats: taking off your pants and throwing them in the wash is frowned upon. Whatever, man.


• Trying to walk up the companionway steps with the hatch closed will result in an excruciating head wound. Ask me how I know.


• The excruciating head wound is apparently not painful enough to prevent me from doing it again. I now wear a helmet when I step on board.


• Laying down below listening to the wind whistle through the rigging and feeling the boat fetch up on the docklines is pretty exhilarating.


• We love life aboard.