Author Archives: Brenda

Now you see it, now you don’t…

Posted on by under interior, living aboard

One of my greatest joys aboard is something so totally NOT circa 1931–it’s our combo washer/dryer. Heaven. Every cruiser has their own priorities…we don’t have a refrigerator aboard, nope, we don’t have a motor on the dingy, nope, but we do have a washer/dryer, yep. I must admit we don’t use the dryer function because it seems wasteful to do so–we hang our laundry to dry.

Since it’s not a high priority for David to make a door to cover the laundry closet, earlier in the year I made a curtain to cover the washer when not in use. I also made curtains to hide the outboard pilot berth above the main saloon settee adjacent the laundry closet. Yea, I can tell guests that the curtain is for their privacy…but really it’s all about my having the ability to stash lots of things behind that curtain!
washer/dryer aboard

A Blue Moon

Posted on by under Musings

America is remembering the recent passing of astronaut Niel Armstrong with tonight’s blue moon. “The next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink,” the Armstrong family said.

Tonight’s blue moon isn’t as rare as it sounds since it happens every 2.7 years.  The term “blue moon” is something of a misnomer. There’s no reason for the full moon to be any bluer than usual. Instead, it has to do with the extra occurrence of a full moon in a given calendar cycle. Read all about it here.
Blue Moon

Varnish Time Yet Again

Posted on by under brightwork and paint, living aboard

It seems like along about the end of August, every year INCLUDING when we were rebuilding the boat and in the boatyard, once we put caprails on the boat (uh, that would be during 2008) we’ve been varnishing right about NOW. End of August. Sure, we’ve varnished in the spring and at other times. The “big varnish job” always seems to come along in late summer. It goes from high gloss to less high gloss and we know–get some more on there! I don’t wait for the varnish to fail, I just go for it. This August, in search of varnish inspiration, I turned to others who have written about it on their sailing blogs. All sailors seem to have a “varnish position” similar to a political statement. The bare wood vs oiled wood vs Cetol vs high gloss–they’ve all their bit staked out and they do surely OPINE about it. There’s a great post about all the varnish opinions here on another sailor’s blog: Varnish Insanity

I learned from taking care of our house that you really need to stay ahead of things while keeping it all simple. Simple says to me to put on some varnish and do the upkeep. Don’t think about it, don’t worry about it, just DO IT. So, since those fateful decision days in 2008 when I decided what to do, I’ve been varnishing a bit here and there several times a year and then having a big varnish ‘fest in late summer. David and I agreed that we’d keep up the varnish and if it got to be too much, we’d selectively paint things. So far, the expanses of woodwork remain shiny varnished.

Lots of things to varnish aboard Mahdee…

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