I Don't Know What a Shaft Seal Is

And, that's ok! Because Tony does.

He's very in-tune with all the needs the boat has in order to operate safely, efficiently and reliably. I'm so glad too. He loves that stuff and we could just sit and talk about it for hours. True, I might not understand it all, but his enthusiasm and expertise about "all things boat", is addicting. It blesses me so much how excited he gets about a project. I even like it when the project hits a snag and how his mind can troubleshoot things. Tony's amazing!

Well, I get jazzed about cleaning, organizing and making Caspian into our home away from home and that's what this post is about.

Last week I spent a few hours on the boat alone and was able to get some things tidied up. Before going I remember Tony saying something about ordering wiper blades, but needing more info about them. Whenever I go to the boat and Tony doesn't, there's usually something I'm taking a picture of for him or we're video-chatting so that he can check on something; it's pretty fun. As it turns out, he didn't need this pic of the wiper blade.

My time at the boat didn't quite go as I had hoped. You may have seen on my YouTube post that I had a whole bunch of crap to clear out. Ugh! Boxes and boxes of just icky stuff. Old, smelly towels, blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, clothes! I filled up the back of the FJ with hauling junk out. But it's definitely gotta be done.

The closets are usable now - boy howdy, they're so big! "Closet" wasn't a word we really used on Vela Via. Technically, there was a small one, but it could only house our PFDs, three of them.

Now, we have three closets! In these closets we'll actually be able to hang clothes and coats and store blankets and sheets. Yes, we need those now too because there are actual beds on this boat. On Vela Via we got away with using "throws" for blankets.

The berths on Caspian will be quite comfortable for Tony and I, as well as our guests. The master stateroom's berth can be walked around, they call it an "island berth", even though only three-quarters of it can be walked around. Notice - 6 drawers under the bed! They're big and deep too!

The guest stateroom has a queen-sized berth AND you can actually sit up in it and not hit your head. This room also has it's own counter-cupboard, closet, cabin window and large picture mirror. 

So, after I got a whole bunch more clutter out of Caspian, my granddaughter Gracie (Madison to everyone else) got to finally see the boat. She's been crazy out of her mind having to wait. Through the years, she's developed a strong love for boating, and that blesses Tony and I to no end! It took so long to get her there because, remember ... we can only be at the boat between the hours of Monday-Friday, 8-4:30 p.m. So, that's a tight window to get from Ridgefield, where she goes to school, clear to Scappoose after school and before they close.

Oh my goodness, her excitement was so enjoyable to watch. I don't know what couldn't stop smiling the most; Gracie, or me watching her smile so much. She went right to work organizing the guest stateroom. She helped me get more stuff out of there and then she made the bed and topped it with the slew of bed pillows we had purchased for that room months ago.

Then she got right to work cleaning all the stateroom windows. I was very surprised to see how dirty they were on the inside; this whole time I thought all that dirt I was looking through was on the exterior!

When she left she couldn't wait to come back and clean all the windows in the saloon/galley/lower helm area. That's a lot of windows!

I took the day off Friday and spent the day at Caspian.

I stopped at Freddies on the way to purchase some goodies. The decor you see pictured in this pic is all gone. No purple afghan, no fake greenery, no fish "art", no stinky pillows, and no persian rugs. 

When I go back to the boat, I'll include some photos of what it looks like now. When I had finished everything Friday, I had to get out quick so I wouldn't get locked in the yard like Tony did the previous Friday.

What took the most effort yesterday was the 2" foam mattress top. I had to get a queen-size and it was on sale at Freddies for 30% off. 

The thing about the shape of our mattress is, it's pentagon-shaped, except flat at the top. No, it's coffin-shaped; says Tony. I just don't like that depiction of where we sleep at night.

I don't know if you can tell for this image - 

Or, from the previous picture of the master stateroom with it.

It's widest at the "shoulders, but goes narrower at the foot of the bed and the head of the bed has the corners cut off.

I watched a couple YouTube videos about how to cut memory foam and then I began. I unwrapped it from the wad it was inside a tight wrap of cellophane. Then unrolled onto the top of the mattress. It didn't go all the way to the edge at the widest part of the shoulders of the mattress, it's only short about 1.5" on both sides. Then, I took a regular ball point pen and ran it along the underneath side of the foam along the edges of the mattress. Then, I just flipped it over and used a regular pair of kitchen shears to cut it. It worked great!

It came with a cool/breathable "mattress cover" that I ended up wrapping all around the foam and regular mattress. I cinched it all up tight with 4 mattress sheet garter fasteners so that it would "fit" nice. I did the same thing with the sheet, used the sheet garter fasteners to pull it tug. Again, I didn't get any pics, but I'll share them next time.

So, that's where we're at right now. I'll be there again Monday and take a whole bunch of pics!