After all the boat work we did in our couple months in Annapolis, you’d think we’d be all caught up. Right? Wrong. Boat work is a constant. The harsh salt water environment we are in 24/7 insures that. The fact that our boat and diesel engine are 39 years old doesn’t help. Previous owners surely have done a lot of maintenance in the past, but they seem to be masters at maintaining the easy to reach, easy to see things. The harder it is to see and get to, the more likely it has never been touched. So, one task …

With a couple of idle months until the end of hurricane season, it was time for us to do our annual maintenance-a-palooza on Holiday. We had been watching the usual increase of leaks of various fluids from various sources, and aging parts were glaring at us from the running rigging, to the engine, to the sails, to even a thruhull in the bathroom. There were some upgrades and improvements to make boat life better, and, of course, there was the regular preventative maintenance of the onboard systems to take care of. Our fourth big refit was to occur at the …

One very important aspect of cruising is upkeep and maintenance. Keeping the boat floating, the systems functioning, and repairing/replacing old broken parts/systems is a constant endeavor in the harsh salt water environment. Ignore the “to do” list too long, and at best you end up with an overwhelming amount of tasks in the way of ever having fun while cruising. At worst….well, something really important will probably fail at the most inopportune time. Even with a ship shape, well maintained boat failures like this will happen. Best to swing the odds in your favor. So, with plenty of time on …

So, we’ve been down in the Keys at the Boot Key Harbor mooring field in Marathon for quite a few weeks now, and we’ve settled into our regular routine of living on the boat again. The repairs to the keel are proving to have worked, and we aren’t seeing any water in the bilge now. Such a relief! (check out our videos of the trip down the west coast of Florida here) Life in Marathon for us is composed mostly of relaxed and lazy times enjoying the wonderful winter weather of the Keys. But, there is always boat maintenance to …

With the peak of hurricane season approaching and our condo not rented at the time, we decided to head north for Cortez to hide from storms, make some trips to visit family and friends, and have Holiday hauled out for a routine bottom job. This made sense for a lot of reasons especially because while the boat is hauled, we would need a place to stay for a minimum of a few weeks, and not to mention that our condo dock is free and very well protected for the time when the boat isn’t hauled. We arrived to Cortez, visited …

After a ton of fun at George Town, we decided it was time to start making our way back north through the Exumas. There was a nice long weather forecast of settled weather blowing the best direction (from behind), and we left Elizabeth Harbour early in the morning heading for the Exuma Sound. We were excited to spend a couple of weeks or so exploring the area from Lee Stocking Island (where we had anchored for one night on the way down) to Black Point Settlement since we had sailed straight through these areas on the way down. From our …

I decided to recover our V-berth cushions. This is where Zach and I will sleep, and the old cushion covers were starting to fall apart. I watched a YouTube video with very detailed, step-by-step instructions and followed them exactly. I bought upholstery fabric from a local marine surplus store for a great deal. This made me feel a little bit better, knowing if I ruined all the fabric, we weren’t out too much money. Here is a picture of the old covers…circa 1980. I took the old covers off and used the cushions to make a pattern for the top . …