Spring Cleaning - or napping, as I like to call it.

I haven't posted much, but that's really because there's not that much boat related going on.  I'm finishing up a semester at Culinary school - 3 classes to go!  But I've also recently dual enrolled - so I'm going for the Baking/Pastry degree as well.  As long as Mark is loving his job, we'll be here, so I may as well rack up as many options for making cash on the road as possible.
We spent a bit of time on Luna Sea last weekend - hung out with friends in the evenings and took out our daughter (finally!) on Sunday for a quiet sail.

Calm day on the water

Brit boarding the dinghy to explore an island

Then this weekend we took it a bit easier.  I had 2 wisdom teeth removed on Friday, we spent Saturday on our friends' boat and scouted Daufuskie Island (where they seem to have a plethora of adult beverages that make you forget you had surgery the day before), then worked on some tiny projects on Sunday. Of course, those projects were intermingled with copious amounts of napping in the sun.  And the shade.  And on the iSUP.  (yes - when the tide and the wind are in opposition, I can lay on the Tower and practically dose off)

One of those projects has me pretty excited - even though it's pretty small.  Luna Sea came with a charcoal grill.  I'm not personally a big fan of a charcoal fire on a boat - but hey, maybe that's just me.  It was nice to have a grill - but I was in the market for a gas version.  And one magically appeared on our front porch one day this week.  (technically, Mark's boating friend gave us his used one!)  I took a little time to clean it up some and Mark figured out that we need a rod holder on the boat to attach it to.  So that's my goal for today - to go pick up a rod holder so we can finally get our (gas) grill on!  Weeee.  Grilled veggies and burgers and fish, oh my!

Now just because we'll be here as long as he loves his job does not mean we are not still transitioning over to being boat dwellers.  In fact, I've taken the summer off from teaching fitness classes (well, except for the 2 water aerobics classes I'll teach in my neighborhood) and plan to get myself and Luna Sea in shape this summer!  I'm heading out to Spain for a couple of weeks the day after my finals - I'll be visiting my sister and her family in Altea.  And then I'll be back in Savannah to start the major project of recovering the interior of the boat.  We're replacing all of the foam as well as changing up the layout of the salon.  We need more of a "lounge factor" - it's about the only thing missing.  You can't just plop down at the end of the day - the seats are hard (old, OLD foam) and the vinyl tries to remove several layers of skin when you get up.  We're opting for two layers of foam and Izit (faux) Leather in a light cream color - VERY similar to what's in there color-wise, but the softness of the new fabric does not even remotely resemble the hard, cracking vinyl that we're replacing.  It may be a slow road - I'll be learning this whole reupholster thing as I go along, but the few tiny projects I've done on the new Sailrite have been easy-peasy, so fingers are crossed for a cozy new interior by the end of summer!  I am also anxiously awaiting some bright colored fabric samples in the hopes that I will finally find something I like.  I want to make some curtains/throw pillows etc to brighten up the cream/cherry wood interior.

Mark also worked on some things this weekend while I was napping.  He changed the oil and also changed the sacrificial zinc on the prop.  We seem to have an issue with the sacrificial - still trying to narrow down if the electricity is coming from our boat or the marina - but the zinc is deteriorating entirely too quickly.  We may call in a professional for this one.  Better safe than sorry when it comes to metal being eaten away on your boat!  We're also discussing pulling the boat sooner than later.  We're planning to have the bottom stripped and go with Coppercoat - and possibly replace all of the metal thru-hulls with composite.  (He IS a composite guru, after all - and the less metal to risk failure, the better)  I'd love to paint her a soft blue above the water line, as well, but that's pure aesthetics and not required maintenance.  But if we don't do it now, then when?  We'd obviously like to do as much big-ticket work as possible before we one day "retire" and shove off.    Who know's?  I guess we'll see what sort of quotes we get!

This coming weekend is my last before I fly away to play with my sister.  We'll be heading back to Daufuskie Island for the weekend - this time on Luna Sea.  As long as the weather cooperates.  So hopefully my next post will be jam packed with pics of fun and sun and sailing!