Boat Tour - Main Cabin

The main cabin is both our living and dining rooms. Much of our storage space is behind and under the settees. The locker on the starboard side is where we keep our foul weather gear and our coats. In front of the locker is our laundry bag. This is one of the trade-offs as there is just not enough space for this in any other compartment.We have two air conditioning units, under the forward most portion of the settees on both the port and starboard sides.





















The dining table is shown below in both the up and in the down positions. This is a wonderful design as it is so easy to put away when not being used which really opens the space. For the two of us we use it as shown. When we have guest aboard the table folds open again to double in size. The navigation station and chart table are just visible in the picture with the dining table in the down position. This area really doesn't get much use as we have our instruments and radar/chartplotter at the helm. Without a seat back this area just isn't very comfortable to work at for more than a few minutes. We have solved this by adding a work desk in the guest cabin which we will review in a future post.

Boat Tour - Galley

The galley features a three burner propane stove with oven, a double stainless steel sink with hot and cold water, a microwave oven and a large refrigerator freezer. This is a roomy space with good lighting and good ventilation. Visible in the foreground is a fold down counter which when up provides additional counter space which is at a premium. The cabin sole (floor) is fiberglass and gelcoat in this area which makes for easy cleaning. This space is at the base of the companionway (entrance) so it is also a good area to remove wet clothing. The refrigerator / freezer box is split about 1/3 freezer and 2/3 refrigerator. We keep the freezer at 0 degrees and the refrigerator at about 40 degrees. The refrigeration unit uses sea water for cooling and does not have a fan so it is very quite
and very efficient. One of the improvement projects we undertook was to add additional insulation to the interior of the box. We added custom made vacuum panels and then a new fiberglass covering. We lost a little space but the gain in electrical efficiency was well worth it. We keep most of the frequently needed items in the galley area, but food supplies are also kept in storage spaces in the main cabin. One nice feature, not visible in these pictures is that the waste basket is mounted in a roll out drawer under the galley sink. In that we have an inverter (converts battery power 12V to normal household electric 110V) we use some regular appliances such as a toaster, blender and coffee maker.

Boat Tour - Forward Berth

This is our cabin. It is quite roomy The bed at it widest point is between a queen and a king. Linda makes custom sheets beginning with a king size flat. She adds a pocket for a drawstring to tighten the sheet under the mattress. Forward the mattress sides follow the shape of the hull so without some way to tighten and hold the sheet it would forever slip off. Just forward beyond the pillows is access to the anchor locker where the anchor chain and rode are stored. The mattress is hinged in the middle and the lower half of the bed lifts to access a large compartment we use for linens. There are also drawers under the bed and cabinets on both sides, hidden in this camera angle. There are shelves on both sides and additional lights and fans above the pillows. There is one opening hatch overhead and two portlights with shades.

October 6 - 8

This past weekend we began preparations to put Ariel away for the winter. The weather was perfect and it was a harvest moon which created extra high tides Many of our neighbors at the marina were also doing the same for their boats. It is a someone a depressing time as we all know the many months before we will be back on the water. It is actually a lot of work but we spread it over three days. We had removed the sails the previous weekend and taken them home to store. They are bulky so they were a car load in themselves. This weekend we gave it a good cleaning, and removed the dodger and bimini. These also go home with us for a good cleaning. We also removed anything that could freeze. Invariably something will get missed. Last season it was a can of diet coke which burst leaving a nice mess in a locker to clean up. We also winterized the air conditioning and engine. These systems use sea water for cooling so this has to be replaced with antifreeze. Weather permitting we will put the cover on this coming weekend and winterize the fresh water system, head and generator. We always hope the birds do not make too much of a mess before we get the cover on. Last year was particularly bad.

Exercise

Thomas asked his gramma about exercise while cruising. This is a great question and one we have wrestled with. Right now, before cruising we both walk frequently. Even while at the boat in the marina we take time to walk for exercise. We also both like Palates.
While cruising we expect walking to be a mainstay for exercise. Since we will not have a car, walking will be our main way to get around once we get to shore with our dinghy. We will walk for exercise and to explore, but we will also walk to the laundry, to the grocery store, or to a restaurant. We will also be lugging around that laundry and those groceries.
Some cruising areas actually organize some activities, such as volleyball and so we will check that out. Palates will be difficult as there barely enough open space on Ariel to do this. At best we will be able to do this one at a time being careful to keep within the defined space. We do have some resistance bands on board which we may try. So far neither of us has had much luck with them. Overall we expect this to be a more active lifestyle.