Our home on the water

This is a photo from the original brochure to sell our boat, a Beneteau 38 First built in France in 1983. It was purchased by a VP at Ford who shipped it in a container to Detroit, where she stayed with just one other owner until we purchased her in 2006. So Messenger (formerly named Tempest) has only ever been in fresh water - a big bonus.

A lot of people have asked if we're actually staying on the boat. Yes. It's our home. We have a three-cabin layout - not a popular choice for most as most don't sail with their families. We need separate spaces with doors to close to keep sane. So, Scott and I have claimed the V-berth at the front. It has a separate hanging locker, shelves and almost enough foot space at the V for the two of us. Note the almost. Elizabeth has a double aft cabin which can be used as a guest cabin and she can move out to the salon. Reg has the other double aft cabin. Aidan takes the pilot berth above the main settee - kind of a bunk bed. Scott's mom made cool crew bags designed by our friends Art and Linda Alyea on AirFair that snap on to the teak walls at the foot of his pilot berth, giving him space for his things. We can sleep nine on board and have done so more than once. In fact, we've had more than nine, but that's another story.

We don't have a shower per se - we have one head with a hand-held shower. See earlier post about retrofitting that for our trip. (There's another roughed in a tiny cabin between the two aft cabins but no one seems to use it for that - it's storage).

We have a two burner propane stove and oven, a deep fridge with small freezer, hot and cold pressure water and an inverter (to plug in applicances). We need to improve water capacity, hopefully with a new larger water tank and our electrical system, hopefully with new golf cart-type batteries, and at least a wind or solar power generator or both.

It's comfy, with a deep stainless steel double sink. We have a large table in the main salon - note the pic, but we also have a large cockpit table our friend Marc Fournier just repaired and made to look nearly new. We tend to entertain and live a great deal in the cockpit and are currently also debating whether or not to add a fixed bimini (awning) over the wheel in addition to the dodger.

It's surprising actually when we've been cruising for a week or two when you come back you realize how big your house really is and how little you really need to live comfortably.

If we can only find a way to fit a bathtub in, it would be perfect.