On the boat

Zoe and I moved onto the the boat yesterday. We ended up using a car service to do the move, which wasn't bad, but since I hadn't quite finished everything, I had to get up first thing this morning and take the LIRR back into Manhattan to take care the last few details, including cleaning up. I was back in Huntington by a little after noon.

I've spent the day organizing the boat and trying to get everything stowed. Since there's so much to do, and I'll be living on the boat, I decided to get a head start and try to organize and stow things just as I would for a voyage. That way, I won't be surprised if I run out of room or have to come up with some creative way of rearranging things to make it safe and all fit. I'll just move stuff around as I work on each project.

It got sorta cold on the boat last night. We got in pretty late and didn't have time to unpack anything, so I didn't even have anything warm to wear. I cleared off the starboard quarter berth, but since the boat was still packed from trucking it down from Marion, the salon was full of sails, line, anchors, outboard, etc., so it was impossible to move stuff around to even get to my sleeping bag - which had been used as padding. I could see it, but couldn't get to it. I ended up finding an old rain jacket in one of the lockers and used it as a blanket. That worked okay, but I was still sorta cold and didn't sleep much. We got up early and walked down for coffee, then I took the first bus to Huntington Station and the train into Manhattan.

This afternoon, I moved all the sails onto the fore deck and stuffed the anchor and all the lines in the v-berth for now. With all that out of the way, I could go ahead and setup the salon and raise the table. The outboard is still on it's side on the sole of the cabin, but I'm not sure what to do with it. People normally hang them from the stern pulpit, but since I'm going to be installing a wind vane, that may not be an option.

I don't really like the idea of hanging a bunch of stuff off the boat anyway, but there aren't a whole lot of other options. It can lay on it's side, but unless it's secured, you might end up with a loose cannon in rough weather. And it's big enough to do some damage. Other than that, which might have to wait, I plan to go ahead and install everything I've got and make sure it works correctly, that includes the radios, AIS, wind vane, antennas, and the autopilot. That will help clear up a lot of space as well and make life much more pleasant.

Most of the stuff I brought over from the apartment is still stacked on the deck. I've got a really good canvas cover on the boat, so it's safe to keep everything on deck for the time being. Hopefully, I'll get it all stowed this weekend.