We are finally nearing the finish line for moving onto our boat. It's so exciting. Every day I go down there and hang more curtains and putdown more rugs, it just feel so exciting to see it come together. We have managed to sell a lot of our stuff, and on small, cheap, Whidbey Island that is no easy feat, but it's nice to see things head out the door and get new deliveries for boat needs show up.
We have ordered from every single marine supply store we have found, defender, go2marine. iboat, hodges marine, as well as a ton of shopping from amazon, ebay, Walmart and target. Noticeably we do not shop at West Marine, which is the biggest marine supplier here in the PNW, we even have a store on the island in Anacortes but there is a reason we don't shop there... in a word, expensive.
When we first brought home SweetHaven the previous owner had a ton of West Marine coupons that we could use about $500 worth so we went on a shopping spree and came out with some paint and a few cleats and things, it was extremely depressing. When you buy a boat you hear all the old adages, "a boat is a hole in the water you pour money in" but really once you get away from what the "experts" say you need, it really isn't that bad.
By browsing around and shopping for the best deals we have found all our equipment from netting to radars, from pulleys to fridges, for at least half the price of West Marine. We still check out West Marine when we are in the market for another piece of gear but the lowest price gets it and it is never them.
The Nav table curtain, we assume this cubby will be used to store coats and shoes. For all the curtains I have recycled some of our curtains we had around the house, this blue used to be the downstairs bathroom, waste not, want not, right?
Ashys cabin coming right along, it is so pretty and cheerful in there, I just love it and so does she. She is so excited to have her own space again.
The boys cabin, that pirate rug was a bit of an extravagance at $50 but when it comes to the kids we tend to splurge.
The settee cushions, these are temporary but will do until we can afford professionally sewn ones. I can sew and am artsy, crafty is a lot of things, but I know my limitations.
The other bench.
When I was putting a second coat of bar epoxy on the galley countertop to use up the rest of the bottles I happened to look around and notice the Nav table and thought, "huh, I should use this on that too." Of course by then I had used up the last of my epoxy on the galley and now will need to buy another $25 kit, but oh well, it was too cool of an idea to pass up.
Eight years ago Mark joined the Canadian Navy and went through three years of MARS officer training which included extensive navigation using real charts. For all these years I've been lugging around from house to house these massive charts he used for his homework and now finally had a use for one. Since his training took place in Victoria, BC all the charts are of the Gulf Islands, seems fitting.
Painted ladder and new non skid treads, hands down, easiest boat project.
Galley countertop with two coats of epoxy over it, nice and shiny and I still need to varnish it.
Hatch covers. Of course someday we will want actual sunbrella type fabric for these but right now, left over fabric from Aislinns old bedroom curtains will do fine.
Adding a curtain to close off their cabins just make it more fun.
My big, little girl in her own space.
There will always be more to do and projects to 100% complete but we are nearing the point where we could live in this space. My new stove is on order and Mark's Memorial Day weekend project is to finished the drains from the sinks and we will be good to go. I for one cannot wait.
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