We took Kingsley for her first sail a few weeks ago - the weather and sailing was perfect. We sailed almost straight west and ducked some of the north wind to float in the warm sun near Port Madison. On the way back we dodged some race boats practicing. We think some of them were finishing the Three Buoy Fiasco - a somewhat locally (PMYC) sponsored race. Until I get captain wifey in the mood to race we'll have to settle for being the press boat:) 

   The sun has finally set on another surprisingly sunny Spring weekend in the usually gloomy Pacific Northwest. As I kick back inside the boat, picking up a few things that fell down below in our first sail of the season, I'm distracted. I hear a rumble in the aft cabin. I carefully step over some sailing gear and make my way back to see what's the matter...and there she is.
   Kali, our faithful boat kitty, is balancing on a ledge between a space heater and some xtra-tuf rubber boots, attempting to squeeze out a partially open cockpit hatch. Sunset is her new curfew, completely due to the fact that a few moons ago she (a mostly indoor cat) leapt from our boat, went all the way down the dock, and somehow got on to someone else's boat and hid under their row boat. I tried nicely to get her off of the strange boat (this is what you have to do with cats - try nicely even though you're furious). Treats didn't work. 'Nicely' didn't work. I eventually tricked her (this, again, is what you have to do with cats) and then grabbed her. Hello new sundown curfew.

   Now, don't get us wrong, Kali has adjusted just fine to life aboard. She loves the smells, sounds, and sights living by the water. She prefers lounging in the cockpit while at the dock, soaking up some rays, staring at the water, actually chasing birds away from our radar stand, and spying on fellow sailors. She sheds like mad but we brush her often, uses her pine cat litter faithfully, and theoretically keeps Kingsley free of dock rats. 
   Kali doesn't use the head yet (go Lily!), but she's a pretty good sailor as cats go - she hides under the blankets the whole time. Do you have a pet aboard? How do they like their adventure so far? Do they come on deck while sailing? Do they go potty in the actual potty?
   ~Paul, Amber, and...Kali ^..^

   Trying to get the kids excited about sailing? Want them to stay busy down below on a long passage? Cruise on over to a new ETC sponsored site - www.bricksailboat.com. It's a place where you and the kids can check out the first 20 or so EKTC brick-pics, with many more on the way, updated every M/W/F. The photos chronicle the adventures of Nigel, Jerry, Cali, Rover, and Will as they attempt to take over Kingsley the sailboat and sail to warmer climates!
   The blog writers over at Everyone's Travel Club are usually too busy working on 'boat projects' to notice what is going on...now is your chance to check it out!
   Sincerely,
Ned Brick (Brick Sailboat's I.T. guy)

   With the time change coming this weekend, some sun over the past few days, and the hope that Seattle has seen the worst of her winter, we start (continue?) the S/V Kingsley upgrades in preparation for spring. Since we live aboard we started with one cockpit and a few interior projects.
1. Hang the Bill Murray/Steve Zissou portrait (purchased on Etsy). It doesn't really get any better than Bill Murray in the movie Life Aquatic...does it?
2. Install custom made roasted oak cockpit tables (mentioned before).

   Now, don't worry all of you salty sailors out there...you're right - oak isn't a great wood for the saltwater environment...however, roasted oak is a lot better, it has actually been roasted/baked to get all of the water and sugars out of the wood. It's quite dense and, well, it's way cheaper than teak. Not to mention that I'll probably take them off in the winter (they attach pretty easily).
3. Fabric frames to cover our saloon (middle part of the boat) windows.

   Not my best cutting on the two window frames but I knew captain wifey would hide my edges with pretty fabric...3 boat jobs done, more on the way - All before Spring!

   ~Paul, Amber, Kali (she slept through the whole thing)   ETC

   First of all, while this may appear like a slightly shameless plug for Clear internet or maybe even Apple computer - it's not. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't argue with either of them for throwing us some freebies (I'll take a Macbook Air for starters) but they haven't.
   When we first moved aboard Kingsley last May we were excited to take our existing Clear internet right onto the boat. If you live in a Clear city (like Seattle...and most major US cities) you've got one of the fastest ways to install home internet - just sign-up with Clear and choose a modem, bring it home, open it, plug it in, and bam...internet. No cables, phone & TV bundles, boom - done.
   Now, the speeds aren't as fast as cable internet through Comcast or wherever, but you can blog, stream netflix, watch youtube, and surf the web easily without too much of the dreaded 'buffering'. Our first Clear modem is pictured below (on the right). We plug it into the wall and then into an Apple router (left) (which also plugs into the wall) so wifi can be spread to all of our little gadgets.

   So, this was one of the easiest moves when we left land for the boat life. Unplug, move to boat, plug in. Here's where the story takes a little turn...
   Amber and I had looked at so many boats when shopping for this one, a lot of them very similar. When we finally settled on Kingsley we discovered that some of the things we thought she had, well, she didn't. We had actually combined in our minds some of the other features from boats we had looked at onto the one we actually bought (surely that's happened to other folks, right?). Needless to say, we combined a lot of really cool features that aren't actually on the boat we own now...huh.
   Luckily for our internet aspirations, Kingsley has batteries, outlets & stuff...problem is...she doesn't have an inverter. That's a handy little device that converts battery/DC current to outlet/AC current - what's needed to plugin our Clear modem and surf while we sail the high seas (of Seattle and the Clear surrounding area). Now, I know what you're thinking - ahh, poor little sailors don't have high speed wireless internet while sailing. Well, may I direct you over to one of our past posts of a 70 foot powerboat with heated floors in the head, err, bathroom (last boat)...
   Well, enter our new Clear upgrade. After a extra challenging time dealing with customer service folks online and in person - don't get me started - we finally picked up a new Clear Voyager mobile modem. 
   The setup now: plug in the tiny modem (pic at the beginning of this post). Want to use it on the go? No problem, unplug it. It has batteries that supposedly last between 6-8 hours. It is the same 4G speed that we were used to with the old modem. You won't need a router like the Apple one I pictured above (there goes my free Macbook Air for the shameless plug) - the Voyager beams a wifi signal to up to 8 devices. Also, I imagine you could easily charge it using one of a few new solar chargers on the market (they carry a few at R.E.I.) since it has a USB charger similar to an iPod. 
   Downsides? It's super small and because of that I'm probably gonna break it soon. Battery is internal so once it goes so does the device (you can always plug it in). Clear suffers from some series corporate/customer service/retail store communication problems ("Yeah, sorry sir, I can't sell this to you here at the store because you're an existing Clear customer"), It only works in Clear cities - ours luckily happens to be one with water everywhere.
   Dear readers, what type of internet do you use on the run or at the dock? Do you block out the net on purpose while cruising? Someone's got to share about their wifi extender antenna thingys!
   ~Paul & Amber

   I don't know who said that catchy phrase, well, actually, I think it is just me saying it. Our Kingsley boat project of last week was heading over to my friends shop and working on new galley sink/trash covers (inside) and some new cockpit tables (outside). The orginals were made from plastic...not even a workable plastic - some composite that is equally hard to clean/paint (a.k.a. it is probably cheap).
   We upgraded the galley covers to bamboo and the cockpit tables (not finished yet) to roasted oak - a wood that has been literally roasted, removing water and sugars making it good for outdoor use (and cheaper than teak). I haven't installed the cockpit tables yet but I am pretty happy with our [almost] finished project.
   Do you have any recent add-wood-to-your-fiberglass boat projects? Did you use teak or something different? What do you use to maintain your indoor wood shine?
   ~Paul   ETC

   Welcome to our new Aboard series! Over the next few months we'll be adding posts to this portion of our site, describing how we do things aboard S/V Kingsley, our sailboat-home here in the Pacific Northwest. We're excited to share some ideas and ways of doing things with our readers and hopefully receive a good deal of feedback and ideas in our comment sections on each post (because we're kinda new at this and you people are smart!).             
   We start today with something we couldn't leave behind when we sold [almost] everything and moved aboard our 32 ft boat - coffee. We are in Seattle after all! 
   Be sure to check back in on our Aboard series as we'll share posts on lots of aboard topics including: cooking, cleaning, entertainment, heating, cats, kayaks, marriage:), the head, storage, books, music, apps, candles, and more!   ~Paul, Amber, & Kali

 

We like to think we have mastered the art of a good cup of Joe on land or sea. On Kingsley, we often use the ol' stand-by - not a plastic, old, plug-in coffee pot mind you (this is Seattle don't forget!) - the french press. We heat up just enough water in the teapot on our Force 10 propane stove, add some ground coffee beans to the press (ground at the store or by our hand-powered grinder), add the water when it is warm enough, wait 3 1/2 to 4 minutes (using a timer), then press...pow!

   In our last post we showed a few of our highlights from the inside portion of the 2012 Seattle boat show, now we move on to the outside 'boats afloat' Lake Union showcase. Even I get a little bored going in and out of boats so we just focused on a few of our dreamboats (keyword - dreamboats -  as they are either too big and/or all too costly:) We also noticed something this time around - we like newer boats. Not just any new boats but ones that are new(er) and well built for their purpose, whatever purpose that may be - ocean going, charter, weekend cruiser, party-boat. 
   And you know what? I can appreciate a cheaper boat that gets people out on the water that otherwise wouldn't make it (like, cough-Kingsley-cough). You may have to add a few things - switch to a higher grade stainless on those hose clamps for instance - but I've always thought it is better to be out on the water (and safe) than on dry land saving your pennies for the perfect boat (P.S. start saving your pennies for these next boats:)   ~Paul & Amber

Island Packet 
Estero Not too flashy but a solid ocean-going production boat.

Coast Guard Dude, the coast guard is cool...their boats are almost cooler.

Catana 50 Hey, I thought part of sailing was heeling over and making people scream...plus, uh, they forgot to mention the double slip fees to park this thing.

Waterline 57 The boats on this list are getting dreamier

Tayana 48 Our favorite boat this time around...who needs pics of the outside when the inside looks like this?

   Captain wifey and I just got back from an exciting couple of days at the 2012 Seattle Boat Show. This post shows a peek at the indoor portion of this year's show, our next post will be the outside portion (afloat on Lake Union). I admit, the experience was a little less this year as I didn't compete in the 'wakeboard challenge' - they didn't even have it this year. 
   Not familiar with the wakeboard challenge? It was my chance to stand on a wakeboard in the middle of the show with 9 other souls in an attempt to win an $18,000 boat. 3 hours on, 1/2 hour off...last person standing after 72 hours wins. Over night? Oh ya. The ol' Wednesday night to Saturday night watch. 
   Well, I made it all the way to the end, post 50 hour hallucinations and all. The only problem was 4 other contestants made it to the end too. So they pulled a name out of a hat. It was mine. Luckily for the other contestants they were drawing pageant-style so I got a free wakeboard and a t-shirt. I remember it being so cold as I left that Saturday night after breathing event center air for 3 days. Good times.

Fisheries. I mean, we practically live there throughout the year. Seeing them at the show is like seeing a family member - someone friendly and familiar ("do you have an account?"). We finally bought a smartplug from them at a pretty good price. Installation coming soon.

HMC - Handcraft Mattress Company. Mmmm. Soft bed that theoretically stays dry. Note to self: probably can't afford.

Free boating seminars. We went to seminars on anchoring in NW waters, cruising small, sail repair, and even caught a little on boat blogging (Three Sheets represent!). I got real fancy and paid for a little extended 'boat show university' diesel engine workshop with Nigel Calder (he's like totally famous in certain marine diesel engine circles).

I don't know anything about this stove except I like the cutting board on top and the name makes it feel warmer outside.

 


Weta. Wouldn't want to store it or put it together but I bet she is a great sail.

Darn it. Forgot to buy one of these for Kali cat.

Great anchor display selling Ultra anchors - it really let you see how all of the different anchors work. Went nicely with our anchoring in NW waters seminar.

It's hard to describe an orca-ish type power boat...half underwater, pops out of the water..etc (etc equaling other odd abilities).

   OK, I couldn't help myself...a few pictures from last year's boat show - the wakeboard challenge!  ~Paul & Amber   ETC

When we bought our boat in early summer they didn't mention this.
      ~Paul, Amber, Kali   ETC



*update - I took a little Marina/Golden Gardens stroll, a few more shots here.