Captain wifey and I like to play a little game aboard our sailboat. It involves the water tank. Maybe you play it too!

   As full-time liveaboards, we use freshwater on our boat to do dishes and take occasional showers. Our tank sits under the forward bed, with hoses running back to the galley, head, & cockpit outdoor faucet. At the dock, our 50 gallon water tank lasts us about a week. We're lucky to have water pressure (no foot pumps). The pressure system makes a predictable Chewbacca-like purr every 5 seconds or so when we're running the water.

   If you're using the faucet aboard when the water runs out, the water pressure purr gets a little louder and doesn't stop. With no water left in the tank, it is trying to pressurize water that isn't there. A quick flip of the breaker shuts it down and it's time to go outside and fill the tank.

   Rewind about a day and this is when water tank roulette begins! It's just the two of us aboard Kingsley (2 1/2 if you count the cat), and neither of us are that fond of filling the water tank back up (especially in the cold, dark, windy, dead of a Northwest winter). 

   As the tank indicator displays a low water level, the game begins. With every turn of the faucet, every dish rinsed in the galley, every toothbrush rinse before bed, there's a risk. If the water runs out while you're using the faucet, you lose & have to go out and fill the tank! It's husband vs. Captain Wifey in this risky game of water tank roulette!!!
   
   ~Paul & Amber   ETC
   

   When I dream about cruising the PNW this summer, I often think of the neighborhoods close to the marinas where we often stay. Poulsbo. Port Townsend. Gig Harbor. That got me thinking some more about folks visiting our own little home sweet home here at Shilshole in Seattle. I've written in the past about the coffee shops nearby, two of them being on Sunset Hill, but there's more...
   I wonder if our guest dock visitors know about the other businesses up on the hill? There's a mini-neighborhood up there with all kinds of fun stuff -  Italian food, video rentals, ice cream, a barber, the Green Market grocery…and there's even a secret pedestrian shortcut (Ok, & a hill to walk up).

   First, leave Shilshole marina, cross the street over to the nice bike/walking trail (the Burke-Gilman trail). Follow the trail south, behind Surf Ballard, and cross the railroad tracks. After crossing, look for a gravel path leading to a graffiti bridge. Head under that bridge (the other railroad tracks) and climb the staircase. You'll arrive halfway up the hill and be at the intersection of NW 64th and 37th.

    Make sure to get a good look behind you after the staircase, this will help with the return trip! All you have to do now is head east up the hill (on 64th).

   Once you make it you can check out Rain City Video, get coffee & ice cream at Walter's Cafe (a.k.a. The Scoop at Walter's), get a trim at the Sunset Hill Barber Shop, pick up some groceries at the Green Market, and have a nice breakfast, lunch, or dinner at Picolinos.

   It's not much but it's quaint, a little bit undiscovered by visitors, and it's enough. If you're staying a night at the marina you should definitely head on up.
   ~Paul & Amber   ETC

   I have finally decided to name a type of customer service that unfortunately seems prevalent in the marine industry. I've found that naming things like this usually makes them easier to deal with and accept–the giant spider named Anthony that once lived in my bedroom or the scary and educational plastic skeleton named Steve I keep in the supply closet at work.

   I'm naming it Alpha Dog Customer Service. I'm sure you've dealt with it. It goes like this. 

   I've started a boat project. I'm new at this. I'm not particularly handy, I'm into sailing and I own a boat to go boating. I have a full-time job and a part-time one. It's not that I don't respect handiness or people that are handy, I'm from the sticks of Missouri after all, it's that a person only has so many hours in the day. I don't really enjoy boat projects that much, but hey, I'm not rich so D.I.Y. comes with the territory. Moral of the story? When I'm doing a project I want it done well, and as quickly and cheaply as possible.

  I'm lucky enough to have friends that know what they're talking about. They sometimes agree to help me with my projects (awesome!). Kevin says, "Can you head down to Mallard Hardware Store (real store name protected) and pick up a flap wheel drill bit?" Sure Kev, no problemo. 

   Laughter. Like, they're almost crying behind the desk at the hardware store kinda laughter. Why? Because I don't know what grit size of flap wheel I need. "We've got hundreds of grit sizes!" they say as they roll around on the floor chuckling. Chuckling is part of the Alpha Dog Customer Service technique. It's usually preceded or followed by stern looks, sassiness, or my favorite, the occasional silent treatment. 

   Luckily I sent a quick text to Kev and resolved the situation. Imagine the look on my face later when I found out that although flap wheel grit sizes go up to 600 or so, there's not actually "hundreds of sizes". The numbers jump like sandpaper - 280, 320, 360, etc. Which makes there just over 20 sizes. Bleh.

  I hate to pick on only hardware stores because some marine store customer service reps practice Alpha Dog Customer Service to near perfection. Last summer, however, they didn't see me coming. I had a secret weapon this time–my stepdad Jon.

   Jon's from Missouri. He's built houses, rebuilt trucks, driven semis. This guy is handy. The boat project this time involved my Force 10 stove. We had what we thought was a malfunctioning boat stove part. Jon was excited to go to the store and help me get to the bottom of this.

   We walked in, side-by-side. Jon had the part in a ziplock bag. The customer service rep greeted us as we approached the counter. Jon didn't say a word. I didn't either–I was scared (why isn't Jon talking?). It was just like car shopping back when I was 15. I went with my Dad and Grandpa. They played hardball. I remember thinking, why are they being so mean to the car salesman?

   Jon set the part on the counter. He remained silent. After 45 seconds or so (which felt like an hour) the rep, with a little sweat building on his brow, broke the Alpha Dog chicken contest and asked, "I'm not so sure what this is, I think Steve upstairs will know, let me get him for you". Jon grinned and said, "Thank you". I gave Jon an imaginary high-five knowing that if I had gone in there to ask about the part I would have definitely talked too much, said the wrong things, and received a little something now known as...Alpha Dog Customer Service. Bleh.

   ~Paul & Jon   ETC

   While in North Carolina last year I noticed a water-sport rental place advertising the Flyboard - an Iron Man like water jetpack. Water sprays out of your feet and arms and you're shot up 20 feet into the air. The flyboarder can dive, spin, and even flip. You're connected to a jet ski with driver that spots you and powers the whole operation.
   At the Seattle Boats Afloat show last Fall we stumbled upon a real life Flyboard demo. It seemed equal parts amazing & silly. Invented by Frank Zapata, a French jet ski champion, the Flyboard is interesting but it ain't cheap. It's a little hard to find out how much the kit actually costs, somewhere between $5,000 & $10,000. Plus, you need a jet ski to help run the thing…and you have to pay around $300 for an intro class.
   Will flyboarding catch on like kiteboarding? Will we have another obstacle in Lake Union to dodge as we go for an evening sail? I don't think so. I hope not.
   ~Paul   ETC
P.S. OK, I'd maybe try it…once. Then toss it in the back of my orca boat and head out for the weekend! Head over to our video page to see this thing in action.

   I know, I know. The title of this post kinda sounds like spam email. Sorry about that - I'm not trying to sell you anything! We've written in the past about internet aboard - how we stay connected while we're sailing locally here in the Puget Sound. There's a little more to the story though - how we stay in touch via phone service. 

   Our [cheap yet technologically advanced] system works for us while we're out hiking, kayaking, & sailing but it's not adventure or boat specific - anyone could make this work (depending on what services are available where you live). This system probably isn't gonna work at sea. {as pointed out in the comments, this system also isn't gonna work if you have a bi-zillion devices using home wifi with 20, 30, or 50 Mb internet speeds}.
   We live in a big city, Seattle (that helps a lot with service), and now use 2 cell phones (cheap 'flip-phones') - and 2 idevices -  an iPhone & iPad mini. Combined with a little hotspot internet device (basically everything in the picture above), we’re using our idevices like normal but paying way less. 

   We decided to set this up after looking at our phone bills. Not only were they very expensive, but we weren’t talking much on our phones - only to our families on the weekends. We text a lot, but since iphone to any other idevice became free (Apple’s imessage), and since most of our friends and family have iphones, we weren’t using much of the text plan either. What were we paying $160 a month for?

   I will say that this system isn’t for everyone - you do have to give up some of what you’re used to...but guess what?...15 years ago we didn’t have any of this stuff and we were doing just fine. Put on your nerd glasses, here's how you save big.

   I always knew that Google Voice existed, but to be honest, I never really knew what it was for. To be really honest, like many of Google products, I still don't know everything about it. Here's what I know about it - it's used to forward calls. Let's say I have a office phone, an office cell phone, and a home phone. Want to dial one phone number and make all of the phones ring at once? Use Google Voice.

   Here's how we use it. We had an AT&T family phone plan with one iPhone and one regular flip-cell-phone (this is what we were paying $160 for). 
   I set up two Google Voice accounts and paid a one-time $20 for each phone. The two $20 fees were for Google Voice to cancel our current plan with AT&T and take our phone numbers from them. I really wanted to keep our old numbers (switching phone numbers is quite a hassle when you consider how many people/businesses use it). 
   A couple of days passed, Google then confirmed via email that our AT&T contract was no more and now Google had our phone numbers. Our phones no longer said "AT&T" at the top…and they didn't make calls anymore. AT&T sent us our final bill (with a early termination fee for my iPhone because my 2 year contract wasn't quite up yet). Google took care of the whole thing, we didn't have to talk (argue) with anyone (worth $20 a phone;).

   We went to Target, grabbed a couple of $15 Tracfones (a national, tons-of-coverage, no contract phone) and bought 2 phone cards (you enter the cards for talk time…you don't actually have buy a card, you can just add it online). Be sure to look at how the phones work - they are usually "double minute" or "triple minute" phones. It's a subsidy thing - basically the phone companies are trying to get you to buy their phone. My tracfone is a triple minute one - when I buy a 60 minute card (for $20), I actually get 180 minutes. My wife's phone is a double minute one - when she puts in 60 minutes she actually gets 120. 
   Depending on the phone you buy and how many minutes you purchase at a time, minutes can be pretty cheap. We pay between 11 and 16 cents a minute because we buy the small 6o minute phone cards.

   Follow directions and you're good to go. These new phones have their own phone numbers (not my old phone numbers...yet). If I were to call my Mom with my new tracfone it would show the new number. She wouldn't see my picture show up on her iPhone and the ringtone wouldn't be a duck quacking. She would know it was from Seattle because of the area code,  be she would still be confused.

   We each logged into our Google Voice accounts and added the new phone numbers to the accounts. We setup my phone with my account, and my wife's phone with her own. Now when someone calls our old numbers, Google Voice forwards the calls to our new cheap phones. 

   This one is optional, but so great if you are used to using an iphone. Here’s what you do. You turn off text forwarding through your Google Voice account. This means when someone texts you at your old number, it doesn’t get sent to your pay-as-you-go phone (that would cost you $ against your phone minutes). It does, however, come to the Google Voice app (installed on your iphone/ipad). It pops up, just like a text used to. The app has access to all of your contacts, already on your device. Wanna text someone that doesn't have an iPhone? Use this app and text for free. This only works when you have an wifi internet connection though (see below). 

   You’re doing well...only a few more tricks to bring the price way down. Right now, you’ve got a phone you can make calls from and receive calls at your old number. Texts get sent to your old iphone (for free). You can only read the texts when you are around wifi, because you canceled your iPhone service.
   If you want to text someone that also has an idevice, no worries, imessages still works like it used to (except you’re sending messages from an email address instead of your number...your friends won’t really notice). Problem is, you can’t use your iphone/iPad when you’re out and about unless there’s wifi (‘cause you shut your phone plan off, remember!).

   Luckily, the glue that holds these cheap phone shenanigans together is a mobile internet hot spot. We use a $50 a month/no contract Clear Spot. It’s 4G around the Northwest and other major cities...it works in between where there’s service. Verizon also makes a similar device - a little battery powered brick (keep it plugged in when your at home...ours runs for about 8 hours on the go). Up to 8 devices can sign-on to this brick’s wifi. This is great while sailing if your sailboat doesn't have an inverter to convert power and run your outlets. Your boat will be a wifi hotspot! The Clear service is OK in Seattle, I bet the Verizon is better...Next, cancel your home internet/cable. 

   That’s right. No more home internet or cable.  I would say just cancel the internet, cable has nothing to do with it, but usually these two are bundled. Plug some digital rabbit-ears in so you can watch Letterman and the Super Bowl. Get a Roku and subscribe to Netflix streaming. Get a library card (we just watched Game of Thrones Season 1 from the Seattle Public Library). You'll get over it (and hopefully the mythical Apple TV comes out soon and traditional cable will be dead anyway).

   If you skip this step you'll still save but won't be able to use your iPhone on the go.

   Download the Skype app to your iphone/ipad. Sweet talk your Mom, Dad, and Sis to download it too. Talk for free. Mom doesn’t have a computer/phone/anything? Pay Skype $3 a month to call real phones (landlines or cell phones) from your wifi only iphone. Unlimited talk-time. Also, spend a little more and you can transfer your phone number to Skype, kinda like we did with the pay-as-you-go phones…then your really just walking around with a mobile internet brick and your iPhone...

   Well, there you have it. It sounds a little more than $10 a month, doesn't it? Well, the real key is the mobile internet. By using that as your home internet as well you're saving big. Assuming you already have home internet, that takes the place in the budget. Your actual phone bill then is only what you spend on pay-as-you-go minutes and Skype (which for us averages about $10 a month per phone). Are there any cons? There's a few.

   Realize that if you and your spouse/fam are together, everything is normal. Friday night, Saturday morning, etc. But, let’s say it’s a work day. Who’s going to take the mobile internet? If my wife does then I don’t get text messages (since I blocked it from my tracfone) until I get to work or back home (where there’s wifi). I still have a phone for emergencies and since I live in Seattle there is free wifi at almost every business so if I really need it I can grab an extra coffee and check my messages. I could unblock texts so I'd actually get them on my pay-as-you-go phone.
   Are the cons a positive in disguise? You won’t see this guy texting and driving...or distracted at the crosswalk ‘cause I’m staring at my little black box.
   Oh ya, one more con - if Google decided to halt their Google Voice program, well, you can forget about forwarding calls. The only problem that would cause would be that texts would be a little more $ and you’d have to change your phone number (which can be a pain). Hopefully that doesn’t happen!

   Refer your friends to this post so you don’t have to nerd-out and try and explain it to each one of them. If they are single they should do this - it's a no brainer. It works pretty seamlessly for us too. Nerd glasses off.

   ~ Paul & Amber   ETC

Links: 
Google Voice
Tracfone
Clear internet
Verizon hot spot
Skype

   Captain wifey and I have been really excited to check out the newly relocated MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry) here in Seattle. The new location is perfect - nestled in the South Lake Union neighborhood, right next to the Center for Wooden Boats, there's restaurants, it's close to the Space Needle and the Seattle Center, there is free parking around the corner, it's on the lake, and the museum is about stuff we're interested in - boats, the Northwest, & Northwest history. 
   Also, before I got into teaching (my current day job) I worked  a little in the museum world. After spending hours on the museum floor and interacting with guests it was easy to see both what works, and the many challenges local museums face. From that experience I can say that the new MOHAI was carefully thought out by people who know museums - it shows.

   Another cool thing about the location of the museum is its access to Lake Union from Lake Union Park. There are boat tie-ups everywhere - you could actually sail up, tie-up, go to the museum, eat lunch, and sail off into the sunset (that may be wishful thinking, the actual tie-up rules are a little confusing, read more here & I'd call ahead). It is also right across the water from the new-ish kayak put-in (pictured below). We've set off from here in the past.

   It seems there's always something going on around the outside of the museum - from FarmBoat drop-offs, to toy sailing races, to the carving of a traditional Native American canoe (check out the plans for a new Northwest Native Canoe Center at Lake Union Park!).

   Once you head into the museum you'll be in a giant great room. This building used to be a Naval Reserve Armory back in the day. The museum has a open layout in the middle with exhibits on multiple floors in the rooms along all sides of the building.

   One of the highlights of the great room is John Grade's massive wooden sculpture "Wawona". It was made from old planks salvaged from the hull of a ship (named Wawona). It actually extends below the floor into the lake and above the ceiling/on the roof…it's amazing.

   There's lots of hands on stuff (a.k.a. great for kids). Touch screens galore, a periscope on the top floor with views of lake and city, railroads to pound on, things to turn, pull, push, & move. Make sure to try the educational old-school slot machine!

   The exhibits are nicely organized, not too cramped (with artifacts), and there is a nice flow. Lots of cool stuff. Definitely worth the visit!

   ~Paul & Amber   ETC

P.S. The food at the cafe is good and reasonably priced - you could museum it up, have lunch, then go back for more...

   Boat shows  mean different things to different people. They're kinda like the town you live in. Where you lived when you first moved to your town, who you met and became friends with, where you work - these are the things that make your town feel the way it does. Someone else in the same town has probably had a very different experience. They came for different reasons, moved into a different neighborhood, came from a different place. 

   Folks who come to the boat show often come for different reasons and experience the show in different ways. Some people come for the deals, the dream of owning a boat, seminars, the chance to walk aboard a boat you'll probably never be able to afford, for commercial purchases, and more.

   This is our third winter show here in Seattle (there is another annual outdoor-only show in the Fall on Lake Union). Our first show was before we had purchased and moved aboard our sailboat. The second was our upgrade show - what can we buy at a discount for the boat? Now, the big number three.

   Any local boaters who attend the show annually probably have discovered what we found out back on our second tour - it doesn't change much year to year. Especially if you already own a boat and you're not looking to upgrade. The layout and vendors are very similar to past shows (I'm sure it's not worth the headache to move things around each year) and even the seminars (which are great & free!) have a few repeat performances.

   So, we do what we love doing - we pick a handful of things at the show to feature. We look for different things than we've featured in the past. Our choices are not based on advertising, discounts, or freebies (although we're not against getting free boaty stuff!). It's basically, what looks interesting?  We finish this post up with some suggestions to make the show better and attract even more people, especially a younger demographic that the industry needs to survive. Let's have a look!

In some ways similar to Northwest's own OAR Northwest, Epoch Expeditions is another crazy, adventurous, and educational outfit that rows across oceans and more. Check out their website to see how you can get involved in their next expedition on land or sea!

Coeur D' Alene custom wood boats are shiny, smooth, & sweeeeeeet.
They're the best thing to come out of Idaho since Sarah Pali - err -  I mean, potatoes. Check them out here and get started on the boat of your dreams!

Although I like wearing my Xtratuf boots around town after a long day of sailing/working/kayaking, my wife will be happy to know I can fit into the new xtratuf shoes instead…pow!

It turns out a recession is the perfect time to launch a hot tub boat company. Made right here in Seattle, these boats are perfect for a little Lake Union cruise/soak. Rentals are available…Best birthday present ever. Reserve now!

   This one needed three pics (click on them to enlarge). Tucked in a quiet corner of the show were three of the coolest boats. They came from Antique & Classic Boat Society - a international organization with a large and active Northwest Chapter. Great people, great boats, and lots of great stories.

I don't think Hobie gets the serious look it deserves when you're talking about Northwest sailing & kayaking. These boats could fly you up and down the Puget Sound…the only tricky part - where to store the boats when you're not using them - these things are pretty giant. If I lived in a house by the water I'd get one for sure.

Not one, but two big sailboats inside this year. Signature Yachts & Beneteau made a nice showing with a couple of beauties - a 37' and a 45'. Touring the decks and down below was great but, despite the hassle, they've got to put the masts up indoors. I heard more than one group of  people explaining that these were in fact sailboats…:)

   After our visit we read a few great articles from local bloggers about the show. One talked numbers - attendance at the show was down (especially to the Lake Union portion  - which we skipped this year too). The good news was that reports claim that vendor interest and purchases were up. 
   A different post, but related, was about the state of sailing in the Sound - is sailing (versus power boating) getting less popular here in the Northwest? Does our boat show reflect this?
  Amber (captain wifey) and I talked and brainstormed about what was lacking at the show for us, keeping in mind that shows mean different things to different people. We came up with a few suggestions for future Seattle boat shows…7 ideas to move the show into the future and attract more guests, buyers, and young sailors.

1. Sponsors. We need GoPro. Puma Ocean Racing. Heck, even Red Bull. Do they pay us to show up in some capacity or do we pay them? Whatever it takes. Puma brings a Volvo Ocean Race Volvo 70 virtual sailing experience (I just made this up, it might exist...think water-ride meets video games...3D...splash!). Get REI there and offer REI members some sort of discount (plus they would market the heck out of it on there end). Get the Seattle Aquarium involved. Did you know in the Spring there are literally thousands of jellyfish floating around at Shilshole? We learned that after we bought a boat. People need to be sold on the experience...on the crankies!
2. Guests. The America's Cup is happening just down the way this summer...did we hear about it at our boat show? I didn't. How about the Deadliest Catch dudes? Surely they could have an exhibit to entertain! Crazy Coast Guard Rescue presentation...
3. Seminar Alley. So, the seminars are great. Sailors, fishermen, boaters, and more share their experience for a small, friendly audience. Wouldn't it be great for them to have a section of booths where guests could walk through, see pictures, talk to the presenters, all at once? I know this doesn't sell anything in the short term but it would really be refreshing to stroll and chat with folks who aren't trying to get me to spin some wheel to get a free cookie. 
4. Tattoos. Sailors should have tattoos. Get Anchor Tattoo to set up shop and hook pirates up with a boat show party favor they won't forget...
5. Bring back the wakeboard challenge. Or something like it. A trapeze group is one thing (that really has nothing to do with boating...). Crazy individuals standing on wakeboards for 72 hours is quite another (and good training for standing watch on a long ocean crossing one day). Lure weary standees out of the contest with gift packs from sponsors before the 72 hours is up…"Step off now for a GoPro gift pack!" (and a nap).
6. Start small - get people interested in small watercraft. Besides the awesome Hobie display and the I-would-never-be caught-in small inflatable sailboat brand at the show, where are the other kayak folks? Pygmy? Innova? What about SUPs? 
7. Boat launch headquarters. You know that booth in REI with the national park dudes that can answer any question and sell you maps like crazy? We need a centralized place at the boat show where people could buy (and maybe trade) charts, ask questions, look at interactive maps of the Puget Sound and plan some trips. A lot of this stuff is at the show but it needs to be pulled together and the presentation spiced up a bit.
8. More video. OK, this one is a little vague...Well, the thing is, after going to this show, do I have a sense - a feeling - of boating in the Northwest? Of what it looks and sounds like to, I don't know, sail a boat from Shilshole to the San Juans? To surf some freighter wake in Elliot Bay? To race with the Thunderbird fleet on Lake Washington? To sailgate a Husky game? Do I come back from the show thinking about this stuff? No. More video might help. Giant flat screens are cheap these days and with everyone mounting GoPros on everything...and them being a sponsor (hypothetically)...Northwest Boating Short Film Contest anyone? The only videos we noticed were powerboat sales videos showing the boat cruising in South Carolina or somewhere not the Northwest. 

   This is the kinda stuff that, for us at least, would breathe new life into the show. It would make us want to come and spend money even though we already have a boat (and no money:) Sure, half of it is too expensive to pull off but it is the direction the Seattle Boat Show needs to go to modernize for the next generation of Northwest Boaters!

       ~Paul & Amber   ETC

   An online boating forum is a place to get answers, to ask questions, to meet fellow sailors, and sometimes just a place to entertain yourself. Armchair sailors alone have circumnavigated the online forums hundreds of times providing excellent gripes, compliments, feedback, and lessons on how things should be done. 
   When you get into a pickle and there's no real people on the dock you can track down for help, an online boating forum is where you go. With the spread of smartphones it's almost too easy to thumb your problem into cyberspace and wait for an answer (you can wait while playing Angry Birds!). 
   If you're lucky, someone has already asked your boaty question - had your problem - and the answer is already there (after scrolling through 65 comments that are not the answer). There may even be a forum with posts and comments that cater to your exact problem on your exact boat. But will there be answers?
   Take my problem aboard S/V Kingsley. Captain wifey & I are new to a lot of boating & engine stuff (we get eaten alive on the forums!). We've read books and been to seminars, but when it came down to changing my impeller on my Yanmar diesel, I turned to the best boating forum...brace yourself…here it comes…

   I turned to Youtube. That's right. It seems that these days it's the place to be to learn how to do almost anything (there's also quite a few good cat videos on there as well). Want to virtually hike through the Grand Canyon...Youtube. Fix the CPU on your Playstation video game console (that one had me heat-gunning the guts of my system…it was awesome)...Youtube. Switch the impeller on my sailboat's Yanmar diesel engine…yep…Youtube. 
   I searched, scrolled, read a few comments, I watched, I learned, I conquered. The actual video is kinda boring so I leave you not with that, but with a great engine rebuild clip (a car engine, but still). Below that is a picture gallery of my much wimpier, but still important project - the impeller change. 

   Have you got a forum/blog/site that beats Youtube for answers to your boat project questions? Let us know in the comment section (how ironic it would be if we all got fighting in the comments just like on the boat forums!). Alternatives count too, like Small Boat Projects - lots of great ideas with tons of pictures…Let us know!
   ~Paul & Amber     ETC

   Now, hate is a strong word. I really wouldn't say we hate anything about living aboard, but dislike isn't really the opposite of love (our last post). So, get on board the hate train, she's leaving the station! Surely there are things you dislike about the live aboard life, if we didn't list them, leave them as comments below. Let's get negative.

Before we moved aboard we rented a nice little house. It had a washer and dryer. We never took them for granted. The ability to do your own laundry whenever you want should never be taken for granted. Now we haul the dirty clothes from the boat all the to the laundry room...only to find it full of folks.  

Captain wifey loves to cook. She even loves our small, two-burner-with-oven Force 10 stove. The only problem is, she needs more counter space to make the magic happen!

Another captain wifey issue: no tub. Hey wait, the giant yachts we check out at the boat show don't have tubs either. Hmmm, I wonder how much a custom tub would cost {see #6 below}.

Besides crankies giving me a heart attack every time I mosey down the dock, all of the other birds tend to poo on everything when I'm not looking. I know Shilshole/Seattle aren't too bad compared to other marinas around the world - I've read some interesting stories from Australia - but nothing is worse than getting home to find that the welcoming committee (the 3 seagulls that are always yelling at me when I get home after work), has applied a new coat of bird-paint to my top deck {Insert swab the poop deck joke here}.

One of our friends actually warned us about this one. She grew up aboard and started to notice that when you'd tell people you were going somewhere on a 3-day weekend, let's say San Francisco, they would ask, "Are you gonna sail there?"
   Hey everyone, Amber and I are going to the San Juans for one night only {A.Y.G.S.T.?} We're off to Napa for Veterans Day weekend {A.Y.G.S.T.?}. Visiting Maine for the first time…from Seattle...{A.Y.G.S.T.?}. Silly landlubbers!

Did you notice how a propane tank at a boat store costs double a propane tank at a hardware store? Or how replacing those foam saloon cushions & fabric will run you around $3,000? OK, this one I actually hate - I thought yachting would be cheap (kidding:).

Besides the Wii Fit being out of the question, yoga kind of is too. I've read great posts of people exercising aboard, usually in warm climates out on deck, but then my winter reality on a 32 foot sailboat in Seattle sets in. Downward-facing-dog is tricky with the wife spreading her cooking all over the living-room {see #2}.

Flip goes the breaker! It's not a huge deal, but 30 amps of power at a time is all we've got. Any live aboard knows, things that heat up stuff use a lot of power. Hairdryers, toasters, & electric heaters need to pretty much be used one at a time…oh well, toast can wait.

Wow - look at all of these online boat forums! Let see, the power on our boat just went off for no noticeable reason (noticeable to me anyway - we're kinda new at this). It's 26 degrees outside so I really need to figure out what is wrong. Let's download that forum app. Click on the problem, oh sweet, there are like 235 posts about this very problem…and none of them…I repeat...none of them have a solution to the problem. We need solutions!
P.S. - It was a dirty/faulty ground connection (one of the green ground wires located around the boat got a little dirty and need cleaning)

Here we are at number 10. You thought it was gonna be the head, didn't you? Well, we can live with our head. The thing that keeps you honest and makes you own less and less stuff every year (which is actually a good thing sometimes), is condensation. In the winter the boat is hot on the inside and cold on the outside. We're inside breathing, cooking, and sometimes showering. It gets a little humid. A dehumidifier helps a lot. Those little black damp-raid things with the white dip-in-dots do too. But man, if you leave a bunch of stuff pretty much anywhere aboard over the winter and don't check it every month or two…get ready…for mold:(

   With the new year approaching it seems like a good time to reflect on living aboard our sailboat here in the Northwest. I'll admit - these 'best of 2012' posts and news articles that litter the web around now drive me a little crazy after awhile. But hey, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
   Living on a sailboat full time (myself, captain wifey, and Kali cat) definitely comes with pros and cons...here's our top ten favorite things about the lifestyle (our top cons come in our next post)...Do you feel the same way? Are there any we forgot to add? Are some of our pros your cons (I'm thinking wildlife and/or neighbors)? Leave us a comment!   ~Paul & Amber   ETC

You can't beat them. These are the primary mode of transporting stuff to & from your car to your boat home. Doing laundry? Leaving the boat for a few days to housesit for some friends (a.k.a. doing laundry)? Taking groceries to the boat? Dock cart, dock cart, more dock carts. Just don't grab a squeaky one as you pass by all of your neighbors on the way to the end of the dock:) Why don't we have these on land?

Sure, they're a pain 'cause they leak all of the time (in houses too), but you can't beat falling asleep every night under the moon and stars.

That's not our water heater, that's a solar shower. Our water heater is a little non-photogenic 6 gallon metal box under one of our salon (saloon if you prefer) seats. Just flip a breaker and give her a 1/2 hour to warm up and pow - hot water. Combined with our water pressure (no pumps here) means we've got hot showers when you need them. Also, once the water is hot it usually stays hot long after the breaker is turned back off.

Organization. Living aboard a 32 foot boat requires quite a bit of organization. We've found that having containers (many from Ikea) of all sorts keeps everything under control. Shirts in this one. Pants in that one. Tools here, bathroom stuff there. Do you only use/wear something a couple times a year? Get rid of it. Books? Get a Kindle.

The most affordable water views in Seattle? Yep. Do we get tired of Shilshole sunsets? Not yet:)

When we first moved aboard at Shilshole Marina in Ballard we were blown away by all of the animals and sea-life on our doorstep. Birds of all kinds (including crankies lurking on the docks), otters, seals, sea lions, fish, jellyfish like crazy, & more!

Weather is everywhere of course, but living aboard we really feel the weather. We hear the rain & move with the wind and waves. We can tell new weather is on the way when the wind switches directions. Pretty cool.

Do I still make excuses not to go paddle or take the house out for a spin? Sure. Do I kayak & sail way more being this close to the water? Yes!

It's nice to know more of your neighbors. We've never been so friendly with our land neighbors as we are with our marina ones. Maybe it's because we look out for each other and each others' boats. I can't really say but I like it. Now, our Golden Gardens friends aren't always so nice…although they do like to party:) 

It's not about the washing machines. It's really not about the cleanliness. It's because the laundry room is the unofficial place to leave some stuff and find some new treasures. Finished with a book? Drop it off for someone else. Does that t-shirt not fit like it use to? Drop it off. I've uncovered all kinds of great free stuff here - pants, books, line, boat cushions, snowboard boots, dishes, etc. one sailor's trash is another's treasure!