Stool at the boat

We took the stool to the boat and it's perfect!

On a comical note, while I was at the grocery buying provisions the other day one of the Texas Baptist Men's Association members  struck up a conversation.  They are in Oriental volunteering to help local folks clean up after the hurricane(s).   I guess  he noticed that I had the cart piled to the top with dozens of the same items.  We chatted about what they were doing and what I was doing.  He pulled out this Monopoly-like card and asked if he could give it to me - of course!    I gave him one of my "boat cards" also - not nearly as valuable!  Great folks!

Life raft

You know it's serious when the life raft gets taken to the boat!

Making a new storage stool for the salon table

Our salon has an L-shaped settee -  we don't have extra seating for the other side of the table.

Lots of folks have stools - so I shopped for those.  Specifically stools with storage inside since space is at a premium on the boat!!

This is a photo I grabbed from a similar boat.   These stools are nice, but they're too short.  You feel like your elbows are being pulled up if you sit near the table on them.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a stool tall enough to purchase online.   Most were in the 16" tall range.   The table needs something in the 19-20" range to be comfortable.

Since I have a resident handy-man, I asked him to make me one of course!

Before I knew it, he had the basic structure done.  Just scrap material.  

I went up in the attic and found an old blanket to use as batting.  Measured and cut to fit.

Stapled the blanket material around the  box.

 I had gone to the local thrift shop and found some cool fabric -  $1.50!

I pieced it together to wrap the box tightly.

Then we pulled the fabric tight and stapled it in place.

Next was the lid/seat.   Duane made the frame out of some old plywood and some pine boards.
We cut out a cushion for the top out of the left-over foam from the sling seat.

Made a "box" out of fabric  for the lid.

Fabric stretched and stapled in place.

All done!

Will try it out in the next few days when we get back to the boat!

Provisioning for the winter trip

We plan to be gone on our upcoming Bahamas trip for about 6 months.  That's a long time!!  Since groceries and toiletries are very expensive in the Bahamas, we are trying to get as much accumulated on the boat as possible before we leave.

We plan to cruise south to areas that are not well-stocked with grocery stores and it is also just a royal pain to "slog" groceries to the boat in the dinghy.  So we're minimizing that while we're comfortably at our home dock.  

We eat a lot of canned tuna - mostly just a quick snack mid-day when we don't want a real meal, easy-quick and very filling.   In particular we only like the solid white Albacore variety.   We found it on sale for $1.06 a can - which is a great price - and bought them out!  This is not the final storage spot for these....working thru that as we haul stuff onboard.

And the other thing I struggled with last year was my dry goods.  I had bags of flour/sugar stashed but didn't bring any canisters.  My canisters at home are round and that just doesn't use precious space on the boat very well.  I found these square ones and they're just perfect for our storage shelves.  

We did finally get a Foodsaver Vacuum sealer.  Working with that now to put some meat in the freezer too.  All for now!

Cleanup and a little sailing friend's music

We spent a couple of days cleaning up our other lot- chainsawed a couple more trees and hauled the wood and brush out to the main road for FEMA pickup. 

Funny story...we got a "little bit" stuck with our van on the lot.  We had parked the van with the trailer attached in an area that didn't have any gravel.  It was still wet/soggy from the remnants of Hurricane Michael....and one of the front wheels bogged down.

While trying to extricate ourselves, I unfortunately decided I might assist by pushing.....and got rewarded by a bunch of black mud splattered all over the van and myself!

Strangely, the mud was about body temperature and I didn't really realize it was all over me until Duane told me!

We ended up jacking up the van and put some boards under the tire since we didn't have another vehicle for a tug/tow.  


Got cleaned up and went back into Oriental to hear our new friends Bentley and Jim from the Manta "Salty Paws" play at the New Village Brewery.  Enjoyed hearing their Irish folk songs.

After their performance, the "4 Manta couples" had a nice visit and a fun meal together.  Great to meet like-minded folks!

Cover for the dinghy motor

Our sunbrella dinghy motor cover had blown off when we went thru the heavy wind/seas on our way to Ocracoke several months ago.  

Just getting around to replacing it.  It's important because we often get backed into a boat or dock with swells or just random moving around.  Without a cover, the motor will get scuffed and/or scuff whatever it's up against. 

I started before hurricane Florence  when we had the dinghy on the trailer.  It was much easier to make a pattern on the ground than with it hanging mid-air off the back of the boat!

I just took kraft paper and wrapped/taped the motor to make a pattern.  

Then I cut the pattern out.

I ordered the "Sapphire" color of sunbrella to match all the other items on the boat.  I cut out the pieces, adding extra allowance for the darts to make it more fitted.

Just assembled it with basting stitches and fitted it wrong side out.   After I had it fitted, I re-stitched it to make it stronger.

Fitted pretty nice - doesn't have to be perfect, just needs to stay on this time!!

Added a drawstring at the bottom and pieces of the reflective fabric.

I turned the flash on so you can see the reflection - we should be visible in the dark if someone shines a light on us!  Also, our friends lost their dinghy in the Bahamas at night - and couldn't find it after hours of searching.  We figure that the reflective tape might help in that case also.

Pretty pleased with it!

Cleanup

All along the roads in Oriental are piles and piles of trash/insulation/vegetation/debris.  FEMA, NC DOT and Pamlico County are sending trucks out to pick it all up over the next few weeks.

Here is one of our piles.  We've hauled many trailer loads of wood/brush. And loads of treated lumber/dock boards that washed up on our lot.  They want you to keep it separated since the different varieties of trash go to different dumps.  I look forward to this all being over and back to pretty green roadsides!

We took a break last night and had a little "Manta" get together.  Attending were Jim and Bentley from Salty Paws, Rhonda and Bruce from Lila Jane and Jerry and Donna from Blue Jacket (not a Manta but we enjoy their company!!)  Had a nice long visit and we got to use the new sling seat!!

Oriental

We're just hanging at the boat, doing chores.

Still lots of trees to haul out to the main road.  FEMA and NCDOT are picking up storm debris, so we need to get it finished before they stop!

In our grass this neat flower popped up!  I understand it's called a "Bare Naked Lady" since it only has a stalk, no greenery.

We went to New Bern to spend the night with friends - forgot to snap any photos.....

But we all went back to Oriental to enjoy the Old Front Porch Music Festival.

And we wandered around Oriental - the shrimp boats all appear to be parked in town.   They must not be able to fish right now - maybe due to the hurricane??

And that's about it for today - just chores trying to get ready for a fall southbound departure!

Sling seat finally finished!

The long awaited sling seat is finally installed! 

Pretty pleased with it - very comfy.

This will be the perfect "perch" while visiting with friends or underway with great visibility forward.

We had bought stainless hardware to attach/hold up the lower bar, but Duane decided a neater method would be to braid some extremely strong Dyneema line.  He did a nice job as usual!

Busy, busy

We've been busy at home doing a list of chores.

One big chore was to sew the long-awaited "sling seat".

Remember this is what it will look like in general - but not dark green!

So time to get started!

Rolled out the Phifertex material and started measuring, marking and cutting.

This is a closeup of the material - its a vinyl coated weave that allows water to soak thru and doesn't retain any moisture.  An important factor since this will be exposed to the elements.   Very strong and heavy.

I won't bore you with the step-by-step.  But it was lots and lots of straight long stitches!  The new machine handled it well - just a few times were difficult when I had 8 layers to sew thru at the corners. 

I was pleased with the long zipper installation.  It's been a long time since I've sewn a zipper!

The finished zipper placard ready to be sewn into the big box cushion edge.

I ordered a special "dry fast" open cell foam that allows water to just pour right thru it without soaking in.  Cut it to size with an electric knife.

Here's the finished box cushion cover ready for "stuffing".

And here's the cushion all ready.  I'm pretty pleased with this first time attempt!  (Gotta give Duane lots of credit because he helped the entire time with holding and moving this heavy material.  Couldn't have done it without his help!)   We'll be at the boat soon and you'll get to see the finished installation!

 And this has nothing to do with sailing,  but we did take a break and flew home to visit the folks.

Approaching Asheville Airport....pretty fall day.  And I completely forgot to snap any other photos!  Later....