Moving in to our new boat
It has been a busy past few days. We were out on Orcas Island when the paperwork on the new sailboat was starting to pour in. Documents needed to be printed, signed, and the boat still needed to be paid for. And we really did not want to extend this whole closing process even a single hour, so we jumped on a mid-day ferry and got back to the mainland – mostly to get to a bank to wire the funds. Two days later we received the title. The boat was 100% ours with no way for it to fall through anymore.
We rushed to Bellingham – after a visit to a Walmart to pickup cleaning supplies – and got straight to the job of scrubbing and wiping ever surface. Literally, every single shelf, panel, wall, ceiling, nook and cranny needed to be wiped down with vinegar to clean up the little bit of mold that had already collected in the boat. Kerri went to town on it, crawling into every space imaginable – and new areas we just found – to ensure no alien life forms existed before we moved in.
After two full days of cleaning we spent the final day of our weekend hauling most of what has been packed into the van for 10 months, over to the boat. It was an all day process, and although the boat interior is likely twice the size (or more) of the van, we were quickly filling it up. It still amazes us both just how much we were able to fit inside Big Blue and still be comfortable in it.
It was only minutes before the sun set that we stopped to bring the dogs down from the van, mix a couple drinks, and spent the next half hour up on deck enjoying our first cocktails and sunset together on the boat. We didn’t last much longer afterwards – skipping a meal but both of us grabbing a nice hot shower before crawling into the new bed for our first night’s sleep onboard. I dreamed of boat life.
Waking in the morning is when things really started to set in with me. Not only can I stand all the way up in the boat (not true for the van), the galley (kitchen) is all the way at the aft (rear) of the boat while the birth (bed) is all the way at the bow (front). Kerri and I are not accustomed to being 20+ feet away from each other, but that is what it took to prepare the first morning’s coffee to convince Kerri to slip out from the blankets and come get her coffee mug. There is also a huge amount of seating options (compared to the van) and I feel a little lost in my choices at times. And hey, we have an actual toilet too! The real big thing is a double-sink with actual running water, although I keep looking for the foot pump like in the van. It was so easy to wash dishes after our breakfast.
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