Being a liveaboard

Today I introduced myself as a livaboard for the first time. Not in an ostentatious way, but merely as the most direct way to describe my situation to a mechanic. That was fun.

We have been on the boat just over 48 hrs at this point. Day 1 was hard, but 2 has been better. We flew out Sunday (day 0) after an all-nighter spent packing and preparing the house for the renters. We had 7 bags and carried on a 50 lb sewing machine. I am supposed to be taking it easy after my back injury during the Bermuda 1-2 race which was hard to do. We took a bus from Boston airport to South Station. Graciously some former liveaboards, Sandy and Sidney Van Zandt, means t us at the train station and forced some pizza into us before we passed out. 

Monday was one thwarted project after another. I couldn’t get the propane working. The sensor to detect stray gas (a big deal on boats because propane is heavier than air and will settle in the bilge until BOOM) had been flooded with salt water and I was determined to save it. The kids had a broken shelf in the V-berth. The countless smack landings after being launched off a wave in the race had broken a bracket. I glued it but it cracked a second time when I tried larger screws. The kids are stubbing their toes on floor boards that have swollen and won’t sit flat. AndvI tried to take the kids for a dinghy ride with our new outboard but it wouldn’t start. And all this “fun” is just making my back hurt.

Fast forward to today and it’s like you can’t give me a project I can’t solve. The propane works, shelf is up, the floor boards are in, the fridge works, I have a plan for building a plan for how I’ll stow and secure the sewing machine and I have figured out why the outboard won’t start. Each of these successes involved someone helping me out and I am fortunate to find such generous people. The list of repairs is still long, but making progress has buoyed my spirits. 

Sometimes fixing things on a boat involves getting into small spaces. Having little people onboard is going to prove useful!