Our Boat Interior: A Photo Tour

I love taking a look inside other people’s boats given the opportunity. Each one is so unique and I love to see the different ways people make their boat's their home. I think this desire to “look behind the curtain” is pretty common among boaters, as most sailors love a good peek 'down below'; there is always a new boat hack to be learned, interesting gadget to check out, and, lets face it, there’s something intriguing about seeing how folks make the most out of a tiny space. I always enjoy how people express themselves in the decor (or lack thereof) of their boat, and the stories their boats tell.

And so now I want to show you ours.

As our boat is not only a cruising boat, but our home, I have done my best to make it first and foremost, functional, but also comfortable and welcoming. I have written about the art of making a boat a home before, but times - and decor - have changed since then, so I thought I’d revisit. It's been a work in progress and I really love how she looks and works down below. As comfy as she is, her decor is also super functional...when we are sailing, everything stays put and we don't have to worry about projectiles and general mayhem down below. Living in this boat's belly is cozy and, despite being a pretty tight space for a family of five, enjoyable.

For more technical information about our boat like what make she is and why we bought her, please visit this page. But for the grand photo tour of how she looks today, stick with me.

Ready? Let's go...

We’ll start at the pointy end and work our way back...

Starting from up front, this is called the "v-berth" and is where the twins, Haven and Mira (Meer-ah) sleep. You can read more about how I designed our girls' sleeping arrangements here, but the twins really enjoy sleeping and playing up here. I wrote about decorating their room, specifically, here. I really, really love how it turned out. They seem to like it, too.

Here are some more pictures of their sleeping space. To the left (port side) is where both girls sleep, together. They have a few stuffed animals (including their beloved lovies) and snuggling blankets in there. It's roomy and cozy. On the right (starboard side), is a small gear hammock for their books and a few stuffed toys. The mirrored cabinets above this are where all of their clothes are stored. I have a portable changing pad that I put down in this space to change diapers as well. Who says you need a changing table?! 

Connected to the v-berth is an ensuite bathroom, or "head" as we boaters like to call it - which can be accessed from both the v-berth or the salon (there are two doors to it). It's small and simple, but it works and has plenty of storage for most of our medicines and spare toiletries. It is also where my most favorite quote in the world lives. If you don't know this quote, you should definitely read Desiderata. 

Moving aft of the v-berth is our main living space, often called the "salon" or "main cabin". I love how bright and airy it feels, something that's not always easy with a monohull where you are technically living "below ground". To the left are all our physical books which are mostly reference guides and children's books since Scott and I have e-readers. Underneath and behind all those white cushions you see is storage. Tons of storage. We keep food, beverages, spare parts and all sorts of stuff in those compartments. Also worth noting (because everyone who sees pics of our boat asks "How do you keep those cushions white with small kids!?!), the cushions are made of vinyl (starboard) and ultra-leather (port), meaning anything that gets on them - from markers to spaghetti sauce - wipes right off, piece of cake. Pretty clutch if you have small kids aboard. (Note: They are different materials because when we reconfigured the salon seating, ultra-suede was too expensive so we opted for vinyl).

Here are some more pictures of our salon. The picture on the left is looking aft (back) from the v-berth, the others show the salon from other angles. "A place for everything and everything in it's place" - that's my motto down below. Keeps life tidy and simple.

This is our kitchen or galley. The two rectangles you see are our fridge (left) and freezer (right). Since we eat vegetarian on our boat we don't use our freezer and it, too, has become more coveted storage space. The open cupboard to the right of the stove is a new pantry area we made by removing our old microwave that we used exactly never. So nice. Our boat does not lack storage, and we love her for that. Can you spot my trusty copy of The Boat Galley Cookbook? (wink)

Here are some other views of our galley. As much as I really hate cooking and everything related to it (provisioning, grocery shopping, food prep, meal planning, etc.) I do really love our galley. For being the size of a small hall closet, it's very functional and has a great layout with plenty of counter space.

This are is directly across from our galley and is our navigation station, "nav station" for short. Our SSB radio, VHF radio, FM radio, modem, inverter controls and battery monitor live here. As do all of the children's toys. What you see there is just about all of them, minus the craft stuff which lives in a cupboard. We keep the boat tidy and organized by keeping a policy of cleaning up after ourselves before moving on to the next toy. It works. Sometimes. Either way, the kids can keep themselves pretty well entertained for chunks of time in this area. The drawers to the left are huge and deep and we keep electronics in the top two, and the bottom is a huge file-like cabinet where we store our onions and potatoes. All our cupboards drawers and cabinets latch shut so the boat is more or less baby proof in this way, which is nice.

Moving aft beyond our companionway stairs is the walk-thru to the aft cabin. This is also where Isla sleeps, but each day we break down her bunk and stow it because this is also a high-traffic and very functional area as this is where Scott stores pretty much all his tools. You can see the mast steps Scott installed so Isla can climb up to her bunk in the picture on the right. The counter top of this area flips up to expose what has become our sort of "junk drawer". We store all sorts of things from battery chargers to simple everyday tools to charts in this area so we need access to it daily. The large opening doors you see on the port side are our engine room access. Plenty of space to do oil changes and work on our generator and engine. Big bonus.

Here's what the walk-thru looks like when it's all set up as Isla's little bunk bed. She loves it up there and the set up and break down takes all of three minutes.

Emerging through the walk-thru is our aft cabin, or the master suite where Scott and I sleep. Our bed is more or less king size and the fact that all sides but one are contained mean morning pile-ons with all the girls happen here...a lot. The large top drawer you see in the center is where all of Isla's clothes are. The bottom one is where our air conditioning unit lives. The mirrored side cabinets are more clothing storage.

More shots of our aft cabin.  The picture on the upper right is looking back to the walk thru from our bed, and the two bottom pictures show where Scott and I keep the bulk of our clothes (mine are kept in the cabinets pictured left, his in those pictured center - yes, I have more storage space than he does - but only slightly so!)

This is our aft head or "bathroom". It's pretty small and cramped and if I am to be honest it's my least favorite room on our boat, but it works. And, hey, it's a bathroom so big deal. We have a separate sit-down shower stall which we hardly ever use (we chose to shower off the back of our boat unless we are at a marina) and it works well enough when we need it. Not much more to say about this room. Lots more storage, blah blah blah.

And here is our cockpit where we spend a huge amount of our time. It's our front porch, back porch and living room all in one. Ours is pretty spacious, super comfortable and kind of perfect for little ones. We love it. The views are great. 

So there you have it, our boat from front to back. Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into our home!

Snug as a Bug in a...Lee Cloth?

Falling out of bed is something that, on land, is usually reserved to children under age five.  When you are at sea on a monohull with pretty agressive heel angles, however, the threat of falling out of bed is very real and knows no age limit.

Our two "bedrooms" - the forward cabin and aft cabin - both have self-contained beds that will allow the sleeper to roll from side to side without falling out.  Because we have two wonderful crew members here to help us on this upcoming passage we need to utilize other bed space in order to give everyone a place to sleep comfortably.  Namely, the two settees (the couch-looking things) in our salon area.  Unfortunately, the nature of the settee is to have one side open and as such, falling out can be a real probability depending the "angle of the dangle"...

Despite this, the salon (or "main cabin") is often the best place to sleep in a rough sea because the motion is the least in the center of a boat.  When sailing into the wind (as we will be), there are two predominant "sides" that we deal with almost always:  the high side, and the low side.  The high side, also known as the "windward" side, is where the wind is pushing from and the low side, or "leeward" side,  is the side where the wind is pushing the boat to.  Typically it's more comfortable to sleep on the 'low' side since gravity wants to take you there anyway but when you can't go low, a lee cloth is your friend.

A lee cloth is a piece of fabric (or mesh, or canvas) that is attached to the "lee side" of a bunk to keep the sleeper in that bunk.  One of my pre-departure jobs was to sew lee cloths for our two settees as well as rig up a type of barrier for Isla in both the v-berth and aft cabin.  I must admit, the temptation to just buy some lee cloths online was there.  But I persevered and decided to bust out my trusty Sailrite sewing machine and get my sew on.

Not gonna lie - there were a lot of incredibly frustrating moments in this process and a couple times I almost lost my marbles.  Expletives flew freely as I jammed my machine for the umpteenth time or ripped out bad stitches.  The fault, of course, was solely my own and due exclusively to operator error.  As usual I went without a pattern and just made it up as I went along (I mean, how hard could some simple lee cloths be?) which caused a few hiccups along the way.  Nevertheless, we have lee cloths - and pretty nice ones if you ask me.  Here's hoping they do what they are designed to do.

Particulars (skip this if you don't care about how I made these):  Because I am not a seamstress, I will leave the pattern-making to someone else out there in cyberspace.  But in case you are curious, I used phifertex vinyl mesh on the suggestion of a fellow boat mama for breathability and ease of cleaning.  Dimensions allowed for a one inch hem around the entire piece as well as ten inches to lay under the body with an eighteen inch height.  The hem was for added strength (these cloths will potentially hold a lot of weight) which I beefed up some more by adding facing along the top edge where the grommets would be.  I relied heavily on my Press-n-Snap tool to add grommets and snaps where needed.  Basically, I just eyeballed the whole thing and winged it.  Luckily, it worked.  Phew.  Here's the photo evidence that I actually did it:

My cockpit sewing area, not the most comfortable, but a nice view!

The Beast.  This machine is AWESOME

We mounted these pad eyes to bulk heads to attach either end of the lee cloth to.

These screw in button bases were SO useful.  This is how we attached the undersides of our lee cloths to the bunks.

Half the lee cloth is under the sleeper, snapped into place under the cushions.  This ensures a nice, tight fit.

Installing my first snap was way cool.  Not sure why, but it was. The Press-n-Snap tool made it easy.

Fixtures for easy in, easy out.  We have hundreds of caribiners on board.  Very useful. 

Here you see the super sweet pocket I added!  Plenty of room for a book, a phone, a camera, head lamp...etc.

She's not so sure how she feels about being contained in the v-berth.  She'll come around. 

The aft cabin lee cloth.  Technically, it doesn't need one - but if/when Isla and I co-sleep back there, it's necessary.

So. Very. Tired.

I am exhausted.  I have been going non-stop since Scott left.  While we have checked lots of our to-do list, Scott left me with quite a few loose ends to tie up and I've been tyin' up those loose ends like crazy.  Thank God my mom is here to watch Isla, because I wouldn't get one tenth of what I have been getting done if not for her babysitting.  "Free time" and "babies" just don't mix.

After dropping my dad off at the airport at this morning, I drove the well worn path of marine stores I frequent daily around Ft. Lauderdale. I swear I could drive from here to Marina Mile with my eyes closed.  I kept on having to explain to the clerks that Isla was with grandma because I am known around here as "the lady with the baby".  When I got back to the boat, I popped the last three LED bulbs into their new homes and got to work wiring and installing a light in the v-berth for Isla.  I stripped the wire, butt-connected it, crimped it and mounted it - the whole shebang.  Turns out I'm pretty handy when I don't have my arms full with Isla.  Scott and I were texting back and forth and he was like, "Oh man!  Where was this crazy worker person when I was there?" and I replied, "Caring for your baby".  Point for mama!

After I installed that light (which took a lot longer than I thought because it was in a tricky location and, well, projects on a boat always take longer), I installed a bunch of grommets in the cover I made for under the nav station with my fancy-schmancy press-n-snap tool.  And then, since I was in the sewing mood, I busted out my awesome sewing machine and made some jerry can covers.  I wish I could say they turned out fantastic and perfect but, alas, that is not the case.  I was rushed and decided to "wing" it and skip the whole "pattern" thing.  I thought to myself, "Oh heck! I got this!" Turns out, this sort of false confidence and lack of preparation doesn't bode well for both wedding speeches and beginner sewing.  Oh well.  They might not be the prettiest, but they'll do the job.  For now.

 As the sun was setting Isla was bathed and fed by grandma and then I read her a story and put her to bed.  My mom and I then ate a quick dinner of leftovers and proceeded to collapse, in unison, on our respective salon settees with heavy sighs.  We are both tired.  Me from my day of go, go, go, her from her day chasing around a baby while I went, went, went.

Speaking of baby, I'm going to sleep like one.  Or better yet, I am going to sleep like a really, really tired adult. Like, right now.  Goodnight!

Placemats

I made placemats yesterday.  Backed with non-skid and complete with a Sunbrella trim, these are going to class up our table.  If you haven't noticed, I have two speeds:  full throttle and off.  I am currently full speed ahead with this sewing thing and there is no end in site.

I even have a super cute little helper which makes it even more fun.

In addition, Grandma Sue is in town which means Scott and I have a babysitter who is more than happy to spend time with little Isla while we go off and do adult things...like go out to dinner. So last night with our good friends Travis and Emily we hit up the local Raw Bar and enjoyed a few too many adult beverages.  Interesting to note that I totally forgot about Saturday nights and how many people go out and enjoy them.  If you would have told 23 year old "party Brittany" that future Brittany would write that, well, I'd have thrown my martini in your face.  Furthermore, if you would have told me I was going to sew my very own placemats I probably would have laughed out loud in your face.  My how things change!

Sew Cool!

I sewed my first project last night! This panel will cover a large opening below our navigation station so that we can store bins behind it.  All I have left to do is install grommets along the edges with my fancy-schmancy Press-N-Snap tool.  Unfortunately, being the novice that I am, I didn't realize I needed a grommet hole cutter so I have to wait till we get one of those before I install the grommets. Wah wah.  I was soooo excited to install the grommets too.  Remember how much I loved pop riveting?  I imagine it's equally satisfying.

The machine - as intimidating as it was at first - is super easy to thread and use.  Suffice it to say I am hooked.  Based on the success of this ridiculously easy project and a *slightly* inflated sense of accomplishment, I have a HUGE list of things that I'm going to make:  lee cloths, jerry can covers, kite board bag, cockpit cushion covers and - wait for it - an awning for our boat.  Yep.  It's on like Donkey King over here.  But first, I'm going to finish the non-skid backed placemats I started this morning.  Easy does it...

A monster has been created!

It's Sew Time People!

Had I been a housewife in the 1950's I would have failed miserably.  I do not own a single tube of lipstick, I am a terrible cook who hasn't the first clue how to make a casserole, and the last time I sewed something was an obscure pillow project in junior high.  I think I got my first and only "C" in that class.  I was lucky to even get that because, to be honest, I give myself a big fat "D" in domesticity.  I'm okay with it.

That is about to change.  We are the proud owners of an awesome marine-grade sewing machine from Sailrite and I am super excited about the possibilities of this beast.  Not only can we use it to repair our sails, but this rugged machine (it can stitch through eight layers of Sunbrella!) is what I will use to make all sorts of goodies for our boat.  This puppy has the potential to save us a lot of money and turn me into a DIY maven.  For an idea of the awesomeness that is created with these machines, just check out the pictures on Sailrite's Facebook Page.  Amazing.  I'm going to start small, but armed with the Big Book of Boat Canvas, I plan to give my twelve year old self a little run for her money.

The first order of business is to make various lee cloths for Isla's bunk in the v-berth and a couple lee cloths that I can tie off to keep her contained in the main salon area and out of the galley.  I have a rough sketch and idea of how I am going to do this and - dare I say - I think it's actually going to look good.  I have decided to use phifertex mesh for this project because it's breathable, rugged, easy to clean and Isla and I will be able to see through it (I got two types: phifertex plus - the striped pattern - is not see-through and will be used for a decorative edge and regular phifertex - the navy blue - will be the middle bit) .  All my sailing notions (fabric, needles, facing and grommets) arrived yesterday and the plan is to start sewing tomorrow.  I will post more specifically about what I use and how I do it as I get underway.  There is no turning back.  This is happening folks.

Do not, however, hold your breath for a casserole.  That will not be happening.