When you are prepping dinner in a small galley, the last thing you have time for is making dessert. On top of that, I’m not much of a dessert eater, but Scott is. This summer, I decided to keep dessert simple and easy.
Typically we are enjoying a great bottle or two of red wine relaxing on the deck.
Red Wine & Chocolate
If you love red wine, be sure to pick up a bottle of Cab from SuLei Cellars out of Walla Walla. They are one of our favorite boutique wineries! Since dark chocolate goes well with red wine, I decided that’s exactly what our desserts would be this summer! Pick up your favorite chocolate bar or bark and pair it with your favorite wine! Here are our picks: Thindulgent, Roca Thins, Alter Eco, Green & Black’s & Divine.
Next time you are entertaining or just relaxing on your boat, grab your favorite bottle of wine & chocolate and you’re all set! Have a great weekend! Cheers, Scott & Ally
Prepping for Winter on our Boat, a Bayliner Ciera 3055
It’s October 3, 2017 and finally it’s actually cold this morning at 46º. When you just spent the past four months in 80º+ weather, it’s hard to thinking about prepping your boat for winter. But here in the PNW cold weather can happen fast.
Since Scott and I have not moored or owned a boat during winter before, we made sure to ask a lot of boaters what steps they recommended. My brother in-law moors his boat, as do many of our friends. We also read comments on Reddit and other blogs. First question was about heating the boat. Keeping a heater on the boat does freak me out. The key was to find one that has an auto shut off, low thermostat and can’t be tipped over. We had many recommendations, from oil based radiator styles to electric heaters.
Keeping the cabin mold free
After much research, we bought Caframo DeltaMAX Ceramic Portable Space Heater – 750w-1500W. The catch is, the heater will be left on at all times, but on the lowest temperature. Since it’s a 750w heater, we will turn off our fridge so we don’t trip our circuit. We plan on putting it in the head on a piece of tile and keep the door propped open to the cabin. Scott and I plan on going down to the boat at least every two weeks, if not weekly to check on it.
Other tips we were given to keep mold out of the cabin was to clean everything with a vinegar / water mixture and to open up all lockers and closets.
We also took all of the lids off of the storage spaces in the hull.
Bedding
During the summer we kept all of our linens and towels in a large Ziploc Space Bag . For the winter, we brought all of them home, including the foam pads we use on our bed.
The other big tip we got was to prop up all any cushions to allow for air flow. When we propped up the v-berth, we found MORE storage and a bunch of fenders! Crazy how much storage is on this boat! We used the lid to one of the storage bins to prop up the v-berth mattress and poles to prop up the aft-berth mattress.
We already had one dehumidifier in the cabin, but we bought another Star brite No Damp Dehumidifier just to be safe. In fact, our yacht neighbors bought a bunch of them too!
The Cockpit
While the cockpit is meant to be “outdoors”, we want to keep the moisture level as minimal as possible. We always have one dehumidifier no damp dome up top, but we also bought a warm air circulator from West Marine. This is only 70 watts and gently dries out wet cabins.
Scott also removed all of the deck carpets and took them home. Normally, we keep the life preservers under the seat in the well of the floor, but we moved those down to the cabin so there is nothing on the deck of the floor now.
The canvas on our boat is almost brand new, however it still isn’t a tight seal. In fact, water does come in (especially when we wash it) on the sides of the canvas (see circle).
Because of that, the previous owner put in weather stripping on the inside to direct water to flow out. We need new stripping, which I found at our local hardware store and we’ll get that up this weekend. In the picture below, that is just remnants of the old stripping, that someone removed.
Lastly, our boat came with a dashboard cover and we used it to cover up the gauges & electronics.
Some people might think we have gone over board (no pun intended) on trying to keep the boat dry and mold free. My biggest worry of course, is leaving the heater on “automatic”. The one we bought does come equipped with overheat protection and automatic shut off to help provide peace of mind. We’ll test it out this weekend and if I’m not comfortable with it, we’ll search for another.
Scott will be doing some maintenance items on the boat this weekend, which I will include in our next blog. Many people have asked us if we still plan on using it during the winter and the answer is “yes!” While we won’t be boating in bad seas or stormy weather, we do plan on taking the boat out on crisp sunny winter days and staying on it. Stay tuned for that next adventure – Winter Boating! Cheers, Scott and Ally
This post may contain affiliate links for products I mention.
Today Scott and I went down to the boat to take things home in preparing for the winter. The irony is, we HAD planned on spending the weekend on it, but on Thursday the weather forecast was rainy for all days. Sure enough, last night was dry and today it was gorgeous! Oh well.
Later this week, I’ll give you detailed post about our prep work for the boat. For today, I wanted to capture the beauty of the marina. Elliott Bay Marina, is truly exceptional, compared to most. It has lots of foliage, views of the mountains and view of the city. Everyone is so friendly that’s it a bit surreal sometimes.
One of the yachts that came in early in May, is back this week. M/Y Picosa Lady is on the dock next to us. She is a 101′ yacht from the Marshall Islands and gorgeous!
So calm and quiet
The marina was dead calm and quiet. In fact, had we planned ahead, we should have gone out boating today, but it just wasn’t on our agenda! Such a bummer too, because today is probably one of the last sunny days we’ll see in awhile.
Of course, the Holland America Eurodam was back from Alaska today too. That part of the marina life we don’t miss on weekends. Since our dock is so close to the cruise ships and we can hear every announcement.
Making our boat our home
Scott and I do plan on coming down to the boat and staying during a few stormy weekends. I know you are asking the question of why, when we didn’t even stay on it last night! Well, we want to see what it’s like and can we handle it? Remember, we are planning on living aboard, so we have to be able to endure the brutal wet winters of the PNW.
During a storm, we’ll be hunkered down in the cabin watching movies, playing games or reading. It will definitely be cozy! Before we bought the boat, Scott and I would give each other boat themed gifts. For our wedding anniversary, we stick to the traditional gift and this year it was “Ivory”, so I gave him the custom ivory pillow below for our boat.
I do try and make our v-berth “homey” too. Most boaters just sleep in sleeping bags, but I wanted to give it more of a comfy feel.
We wrapped up the day, with lunch at Maggie Bluffs and ate outside for the last time of the season. Just as we paid our bill, the clouds rolled in and it started to rain. It was the perfect day at the marina. Look for my next post about prepping the boat for winter!
Oil & grease on my shirt already?! Today I ran around picking up oil, a funnel and other supplies that we will need to change the oil on the boat. (I’ll put a blog together in a week or so about everything we are doing to prep the boat for winter….and also since I posted this, we have decided not to use auto oil after all. Stay tuned)
Anyhow, I visit my local Auto Zone for the supplies and the gentleman is very nice and says that the oil only comes in 1 qt containers, so he’ll get me a box since I needed ten of them. This was just a quick stop on my way to the grocery store. Today we are having another Seattle record heat wave (yes, it is September 28th and it’s 85º). When I left the house, I threw on my favorite sleeveless golf shirt from Lady Hagen figuring I wasn’t doing much other than a few errands.
After I put the box in the truck I happened to look down and noticed I had two HUGE black oil stains on the front of my favorite shirt! You have to be kidding me?! If you know me, this always happens. Because of that, I have every stain remover in my laundry room. Most of the time they rarely work, so I was not hopeful. I decided to try the Oxi Clean Max Force stain remover and OMG, it was gone instantly! No joke! I should have taken a before and after photo, but I was more concerned about getting the grease out of my shirt asap! LOL
This is a must for any boat and anyone working on a boat, as oil and grease seem to show up everywhere.
While I’m on a roll about stain removers and how they don’t usually work, I do have a favorite for carpet! Since Scott and I were in the wine business for over ten years, it wasn’t uncommon for wine to be spilled anywhere in our house. Yes, we sold many “wine stain removers”, but honestly they don’t really work either.
The only thing that works great for serious carpet stains like wine and pet accidents, is Spot Shot. We keep a can of it on the boat (sadly, we’ve already had to use it for Mac) and a few in our house. They make two kinds, one for regular household stains and one for pets. I like both! The pet stain remover is non-toxic for animals, so we use that one. If you like to entertain, especially with wine, be sure to keep a can of this on hand!
You can buy these anywhere and also at Amazon, just follow my links:
Okay, so that’s my plug for products this week. In fact, this was a very impromptu post, but I felt as if I needed to do a public service announcement! At least I feel better now that my shirt is stain free. Stay tuned for our next few blogs as we’ll give you details as to what we are doing to prep the boat for winter. Cheers, Ally
This post may contain affiliate links for products I mention.
Thinking back on how this dream of living on a boat started, it all began when I started following other boating blogs. Business would be slow at our wine shop and the weather was miserable. Why not immerse yourself in someone’s journey? The unfortunate part of following other bloggers is that in some cases their boating journey comes to an end. I remember feeling a bit depressed, know that they had to be sad too.
Some of our favorite old blogs were found onSail Blogs. Here you can search through the list of active blogs and read where they are in the world and what they are doing.
Our Favorite Boating Blogs Right Now:
Sailing Britican – This is a family of three on board their 56′ sailboat and they have traveled over 18,000 miles over the past three years. They share a lot of tips, lessons and advise on their blog.
Quit Your Job & Live on a Boat– Author Ed Robinson wrote his first book “Leap of Faith – Quit your job and live on a boat” which tells the story of how he and his wife left the rat race and are now living on their trawler in Florida. You can follow him on Facebook too.
Sailing Totem– This is a family of five on their 47′ sail boat, which left the Puget Sound in 2008. They are still cruising and both of them co-author many articles in 48º Northand Sail Magazine.
Lahowind– This was one of my favorite blogs to follow. Jereme & Kim from Florida decide to leave the rat race for one year onboard their 37′ sailboat along with their dog Oliver. They traveled all over the Caribbean, got engaged and returned home a year later. They sold their boat, married and had a child. Now she blogs about family and raising their baby. Kim is a professional photographer and her photos & videos of the Caribbean are stunning. Check out her photos & video of the pigsin the Exumas!
Jill and Jake Adventures– This couple started sailing in February 2015 from the East Coast down the ICW onto the Caribbean. Be sure to start reading from the beginning to really feel their adventure.
Sailing La Vagabonde– This is a YouTube blog following an Australian couple as they sail on their new Catamaran across the oceans of the world.
I am always looking for new blogs to follow, so if you have any favorites, please share with us! Cheers! Scott & Ally
Pacific Northwest Summer has come to an end and it surely will be one to remember for a long time. Everyone teases us for all of the rain we get and how dreary Seattle is. So imagine their shock when we say we didn’t have any rain for almost four straight months setting an all time record! Of course, we watered our plants and yard every day, only to get a $1000 water bill this week! Finally, Autumn is here and we are looking forward to it.
The Summer of 2017 will always be the one where our boating journey began. Scott and I really lucked out having a great weather summer. Normally in Seattle our summer starts on July 5th and doesn’t last very long. Thanks to our great summer, we made sure we took advantage of our time on our boat.
Pacific Northwest Cruising Destinations
In the short four months we have been boaters, we covered a lot of water in the Pacific Northwest. When Scott and I first got the boat, we didn’t expect to make that many trips at first, but we got the cruising bug instantly. Where did we visit?
We also went through Deception Pass on our way home from the San Juan Islands. That was on our bucket list!
Labor Day in Seattle
We enjoyed the three day weekend of Labor day turning it into a four day mini vacation. We started in Gig Harbor, then Seattle and then the Ballard Locks!
One of the coolest things we did this summer that I recommend every boater do at least once, is go through the Ballard Locks! We had so much smoke from the fires in Eastern Washington that all of our photos and videos have a “burnt sienna” look to them. Check out our video below:
It was definitely a summer to remember. Seattle usually has a mild Fall season in September and October, so we are looking forward to spending some weekends on the boat coming up. Stay tuned! Cheers, Scott and Ally (and Mac too)
Scott and I attend the Boats Afloat Show each year. Seattle has two main boat shows, one in January and the other in September. The January show is held at the convention with a floating show on Lake Union. Then in September, they do just the floating show. This is a great show, because the weather is normally nice and you get to tour some larger vessels, typically 45′ and up.
Now that we have owned our Bayliner Ciera 3055, Kokomo for five months, we feel comfortable making the next step. Remember, the main reason we bought THIS boat was to make sure we liked boating and sleeping on it. We are hoping to find a larger boat that we might be able to live on, come spring time. While at the Boats Afloat Show, we looked for boats and features that would work for us.
Check out the SeaRay 48′ Sundancer
The Sea Ray Sundancer is not set up for a liveaboard. However, we were curious to see how this “weekender” was set up in comparison to our Bayliner 3055.
The cockpit and deck is very roomy. What was really cool about this model, is the captain’s seat swivels towards the other seats on deck, so everyone can mingle.
The beam (the width of the boat) is just under 15′. To compare, our boat is about 11′.
With the extra 4′, it is much roomier inside the cabin, than on our boat (of course, this boat is also 48′ long).
I did love the size of the galley and all of its’ counter space. I mean, I guess you really could live on this if you wanted to. In addition, it had a two burner stove tope with a microwave / oven combo.
The main stateroom was in the V-Berth and very roomy for two people.
The main head had a separate shower stall which is nice. Having a separate shower stall keeps the rest of the head dry.
In the aft berth, the Sea Ray Sundancer has two full size beds.
Overall, this was a very nice “weekender” as we call it. It would certainly be much more comfortable than our current boat, but we didn’t pay $515,000 for our boat!
Scott and I walked the entire show. We ran into our broker, Eddie from NW Yachts and he had some recommendations for us too look at. Of course, this will have to wait until next spring! Did I mention that my job was eliminated in August and now I’m job hunting? Oh yeah, that too.
Dream Yachts
Not really seeing anything that we liked, Scott and I were about to head home when we stumbled upon M/Y Gal Sal, a 1998 NorthCoast Custom Yacht for $939k. This yacht is moored at our marina, Elliott Bay Marina on G Dock. We walk by it every time we go to the fuel dock. Now we have our chance to take a peek at what she looks like on the inside! Trust me, she did not disappoint us!
I think we could live on this boat, what do you think? It’s hard to see in the photo below, but right next to Scott is the dining room with six chairs. The opening on the left is the pass through to the galley.
The oven on this yacht is bigger than mine at home!
I got so caught up in the beauty of this yacht, that I failed to take a lot of photos. But I did manage to get one of the main head with his and hers sinks!
If you needed to do engine work, there’s plenty of room!
From the helm, there was lots of visibility for the captain.
Modern Day Yachts
For kicks and giggles, we decided to tour the 2017 Presitige 750 which was about $3 million. The decor was modern and very sleek.
Here’s a funny story about our tour of this yacht – not really! I get that there are hundreds of people looking at boats and most of them are “looky loos”. However, the broker doesn’t know who is actually in the market to buy a yacht. After I took the photo below, Scott went into the galley and opened the fridge to look in. Within seconds the broker, who was standing where I took this photo, shouts “It’s a Fridge!!”
I looked at him and said, “why are you shouting that at him?” and his reply was that they didn’t want hundreds of people opening the fridge. Are you thinking what I am at this point? If that’s the case, why don’t you put a note on the fridge that says “Please don’t open”?! He was so rude, that if we were in the market, we certainly would not buy from this guy!
Yes, this foot belongs to the rude yacht broker
The yacht was very modern and sleek. We toured this yacht with our marina neighbors, who own a 75′ yacht. In their opinion, this modern look will be outdated in a few years. (Remember the yachts of the 1980’s and the disco lighting?).
Overall, it was interesting to visit a boat show as boat owners (finally!). The big Seattle Boat Show is this January and they will have two satellite shows, one on Lake Union and the other at Bell Harbor. At that show, they will have supply vendors showcasing their products, which will be a great resource for us. Stay tuned! Scott & Ally on Kokomo
When you keep your boat in a marina, you are going to have to deal with lots of bird poop! The bimini top on our boat is black canvas and it’s nearly impossible to clean the back end of it during regular washes. This is because we can’t reach it from the front and it’s too tall to reach it from the swim platform.
Scott and I knew we need to address this, as our neighbor’s boat in the marina was covered in heron poop!
The dirty job
We figured we could remove the top and lay it on a tarp on the dock to scrub it clean. In fact, we had purchased outdoor fabric guard by 303 Products, but it has to be absolutely clean and dry before you apply it. Scott thought we just needed to remove one of the rods and slide it out and we would unzip the rest.
The highlighted area shows where the rod is attached to the inside of the bimini
Now what?!
The bimini had to be cleaned and so we decided to unzip the back of it, so the dirty part would hang down into the boat. Can you say “YUCK!”?
This is not “art”, but heron poop all over our canvas! So I moved the tarp into the boat and put a large beach towel on the floor right below where we would be scrubbing to catch any water. (I did take a photo of all of this, but I guess it didn’t take). Scott used a bucket of clean water,Mer-Maids Canvas and Vinyl Cleaner and a scrub brush to clean it. We rinsed it with a bilge sponge with clean water. It wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly better than it was!
Once we were done, I wanted to figure out a way to deter the herons. All of our marina neighbors are laughing at us, as they say there is nothing we can do. They say we just have to clean it regularly. Not giving up, we decided to put up an Inflatable Owl and Bird Repellent Scare Tape. Let’s see if it works!
If anyone has suggestions on what has worked for you. please let us know. We’ll check on it in two weeks and give you all an update!
Our Bayliner Ciera 3055 comes with a 35 gallon water tank. Every boater we have talked to uses the water in their holding tank for everything from washing hands to drinking.
I admit, I’m a bit of a water snob and I can only drink bottled or filtered water. When we bought our boat, it had sat on the hard for over two years. This told me that the water in the tank had to have gotten stagnant. However, it never had an odor and was crystal clear. Perhaps it was bone dry?
When Scott and I took possession of the boat, our broker Eddie was cleaning it up and had filled up the water tank.
Friends of ours recommended that we add a tablespoon of bleach to the water tank each time we fill it up. In order to do that, we need to put bleach in a water bottle and then tip it down into the tank. Since the side of the boat is at an angle, this is more difficult than you realize.
We fill up our water tank using a special micro-bacterial hose Teknor Apex Zero-G Hose . We also make sure that the opening of the hoses never touch the dock and when we are done, we connect to the two ends together to keep organisms out. Be sure to drain your hose completely before storing.
When you are filling up your water tank at the fuel dock, those are typically just garden hoses. With that said, if we fill the water tank using the dock’s garden hoses, then I never put the hose directly into the tank because they are just laying on the dock. I let the water run for about 15 seconds and I hold it about 1″ from the opening.
So back to the question – is the water potable?
We do use our water for:
Washing dishes
Brushing our teeth (yet I still use bottled water for that)
Washing our hands and face
Boiling water for pasta and veggies
But I don’t use the water for anything we would consume. What does that mean exactly? Well, for coffee I boil bottled water (it’s a mental thing). When I rinse food like veggies and meat, again I only use bottled water. I don’t mind using it for boiling pasta as all of the germs would be killed and we also aren’t drinking or eating that water.
Recently, we grilled up Salmon and Veggies and I rinsed them at home before we left.
So the answer is really up to you and your comfort level. Since we use our water regularly, the water in the tank stays fresh. Keep in mind, that some marinas (especially around the San Juan Islands) don’t have “good” water and many boaters will avoid filling their water tanks. In addition, many boaters do not recommend using bleach as it can be very harsh. We have only put in about 2 tbsp total all summer long.
Our recommendation is to see if your water is clear and odor free. If it is, then you decide what you are comfortable with. If it is not, then see a boating specialist for recommendations.
Scott & Ally
This post may contain affiliate links for products I mention.
When you are occupying a small space on a boat, then kitchen gadgets come in handy. The first weekend Scott and I stayed on our boat Kokomo, we quickly learned that preparing food isn’t that easy.
I had bought a cutting board and a knife set, but the cutting board is either too small or it slides around. The knives got dull very fast too.
Knife Sharpener
Soon I was looking for kitchen gadgets to help solve this problem. Since I don’t mind chopping my own ingredients, I first looked for a knife sharpener. The one we have at home is electric and big – that won’t work on a boat. Then I found, this portable KitchenIQ Knife Sharpener on Amazon for only $5.99! Plus it had over 8100 great reviews! Guess what? We love it too. It’s small and fits perfect in the galley utensil draw.
However, when you are using a small cutting board, it’s difficult to chop a large quantity of ingredients as they tend to fall off and land on the floor. That’s when this awesome gadget comes into play!
Onion (and other veggies) Chopper
The Vidalia Vegetable Chopper by Müeller chops way more than just onions! It has two chopping sizes (1/4″ dice & 1/2″ dice) and it keeps all of your ingredients inside the container! It’s so easy and it works great! I ordered this on Amazon too for just $19.99
I do recommend putting round objects, like onions, tomatoes round side down on the blades for best results.
This gadget does way more than grate cheese. It also slices and juliennes veggies. After you are done, simply store all of the graters and slicers inside the entire kit! This is one of my favorite kitchen tools for the boat!
As I continue to find items that work great on the boat, I will be sure to share them with you in our blog. A few items we have already mentioned that we use regularly is our Xpress Redi Set Go Oven (which is now called Xpress Platinum Countertop Cooker) and our Magma Grill.
Cheers! Ally
This post may contain affiliate links for products I mention.
Manage Cookie Consent
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
We use cookies to optimize our website and our service.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
. The catch is, the heater will be left on at all times, but on the lowest temperature. Since it’s a 750w heater, we will turn off our fridge so we don’t trip our circuit. We plan on putting it in the head on a piece of tile and keep the door propped open to the cabin. Scott and I plan on going down to the boat at least every two weeks, if not weekly to check on it.
just to be safe. In fact, our yacht neighbors bought a bunch of them too!
, but it has to be absolutely clean and dry before you apply it. Scott thought we just needed to remove one of the rods and slide it out and we would unzip the rest.
and a scrub brush to clean it. We rinsed it with a bilge sponge with clean water. It wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly better than it was!
and 
. Let’s see if it works!
. We also make sure that the opening of the hoses never touch the dock and when we are done, we connect to the two ends together to keep organisms out. Be sure to drain your hose completely before storing.
on Amazon for only $5.99! Plus it had over 8100 great reviews! Guess what? We love it too. It’s small and fits perfect in the galley utensil draw.
by 
and our