BY APRIL WINSHIP W Becoming Boat Wise bilge we had inherited, what we would keep and what we would discard. This helped us uncover and scrutinize every square inch of our new home, and the process revealed additional projects that melded into our workload. We focused on assessing systems that hen meeting a new friend, I find there’s loads to discover … and a new boat is no
different. As Rogue One was awakened from her yearlong COVID hiatus and lowered gently back into the water, we were grinning ear-to-ear. Under the watchful eye of the previous owner, my husband Bruce fired up the engine, shifted her into gear and motored toward the marina. Just as he nervously angled us into our assigned slip, a sudden gust of wind broadsided us. Stretching beyond my normal abilities, I barely lassoed the dock cleat for a safe landing. Whew! First challenge accomplished. Blame it on the excitement, adrenaline or my fourth cup of joe, but instead of counting sheep that night, I laid awake tallying up the barrage of questions swirling in my head. Morning came too quickly, and I grabbed a pen to jot down what I could remember from my brain’s overnight wanderings. What does that yellow knob beneath the steering station do? Why is the red fault light on the invertor panel blinking at me? And the most pressing question, what if the contents of the holding tank that sat for way too long is a rock-solid block of you know what? The growing to-do list beckoned us to action. As I ruminated about where to begin, Julie Andrews’ sage advice from The Sound of Music spilled from my lips … “Let’s start at the very beginning… a very good place to start. When you read you begin with A-B-C…” With this in mind, we began from stem to stern nosing through and emptying out every compartment, locker and cubby. I took inventory of what treasures of the
were imperative to our new lifestyle, then graduated outward to the ones necessary for venturing beyond the breakwater. We first familiarized ourselves with the plumbing, refrigeration, shore power and battery banks necessary for comfortable dockside living. Because of Bruce’s engineering background, he is compelled to use check-off lists to keep us on track. Handing the list over for my review, I playfully penciled in a few items of my own. It wasn’t even 9:00 a.m., and I had already completed my first two tasks: wake up and have my morning coffee. Crossing off a few simple jobs such as installing shelving in the hanging lockers, upgrading the dozen cabin lights to modern LED fixtures and repairing the torn seams on our canvas bimini top led to greater confidence to tackle more substantial projects. With fresh bravado under our belts, we hoisted aboard 450 pounds of fresh house batteries and tamed the colorful bird’s nest of wiring lurking behind the electrical panel. I took sole charge of the sanding and varnishing of all the interior teak, which evidently shamed Bruce into elevating my galley fantasies into reality. Measuring twice and cutting once he took his jigsaw to the kitchen counter and replaced the outdated alcohol stove with a newfangled induction cook top. On a roll, he tore out the frustratingly shallow sink and swapped it for a larger, deeper one. Life was looking pretty good. Since all work and no play isn’t a healthy combination, we took time to walk the
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