Daily Archives: May 7, 2012

We went to the storage locker today determined to find the rest of my saucepans and Jack’s general tool bag. Every time we open the door, we have to move the bikes out of the way, then start at the top of a tower of boxes and work our way down, opening each box to see what’s in it (why are they all labeled “boat misc?”) Then we have one of three options: pack into the car, throw in the trash or put it back into storage with a groan and a hope that the boat fairies make it disappear before we come back the next time.

We did find the box with the saucepans. It was labeled “kitchen misc, bike bottles” in Jack’s handwriting. The bike bottles are two plastic water bottles marked Cannondale, and apparently Jack wanted to be sure he could put his hands on them in a hurry. In any case, I now have all my favorite pots on board.

Jack’s tool bag is very heavy so we hefted a few boxes until we found one weighty enough to be it. Success! Now all the tools have found a home on board. I think.

We also made a list of things to sell to other boaters. First on the list was a set of nesting cookware that we bought for our previous boat. This new boat has much more storage space, so I can use my regular cookware. No sooner did we post the sign than we got a call from one of the people working in the marina office wanting to buy them. Pots off.

Jack is gradually sorting through the various bits of media technology on board. We decided we don’t need a VCR so that got de-wired today. Drew told us we don’t need a separate digital TV antenna so we returned the one we bought and fished out the antenna cable that we think goes up the mast. That gave us perfect reception, although we still don’t get the local PBS, CBS or NBC stations.

We’re still working on the settee cushions. It’s so humid that the foam isn’t quite dry but we’re hoping maybe tomorrow we can sit more comfortably.

…beats a good day at the office. I discovered yesterday that it’s true. We woke up with good intentions to get through more of the storage space and do more boat cleaning and organizing. But Jack noticed a small wet spot on the upholstery and said, “What’s that?” I bent down to sniff and discovered that the cat had peed on the settee. She never does that.

I sniffed and wiped but before long I realized that the pee had gone down into the foam and all along the seams of the covers, so I had to deconstruct the cushions, take each component out on deck and wash it, then treat it with the enzymatic pet odor eliminator we were glad we kept with us just in case. I told Jack with a sigh that this would be my week, and it’s not far from the truth. Imagine how long it takes for a big chunk of foam rubber to dry in the Florida humidity.


All day I went out on the trampolines and picked up each piece and sniffed every square inch, retreating anything that still had a lingering odor. I’m sure our dock neighbors were amused, but even as I was doing it, I kept thinking, “I’m on a boat!”

We don’t know why Izzy did it. We suspect that she may have tried to go to her litter box, but the door may have been closed. We have it located where you have to go through the guest head to get to it, and if someone is in the head with the door closed, she may have been thwarted and had to go elsewhere. We’re going to work on that.

We didn’t get to the storage space at all, but we emptied out the space under the kitchen sink, cleaned and inventoried and reorganized everything there. I can report that we will never need to buy dish detergent, all-purpose cleaner or soft-scrub ever again.

I also washed under the sink in the guest head, and that seems to have taken care of the boat funk we smelled every time we opened the door to access the toilet paper.

Day by day, little by little, we are making Escape Velocity our home.