Alright.
So I am finally conceding, sitting down, and writing my first entry for our
blog. Genevieve has been after me for weeks to put an entry or 2 in on the
site. After she realized that the regular “when are you gonna write a post?”
was proving to be ineffective she moved on to attempt to entice me with “how
bout we just make it Wednesdays With Eben”…. nothing. “we could always do
Technical Thursdays”…nothing. “Technical Tuesdays??”…“you know Fabrication
Fridays sounds better anyway”, “K how bout this… Spectacular Saturdays?” I
started to think she just thought that I had some sort of alliteration fetish.
See the
thing is that living on a sailboat is not at all that which we have been
persuaded to believe it is from Hollywood, or come to understand from that
beautiful song about sailing that has been sung by every band that has ever
made a hit album. No, in fact, that dream is really what all us sailors are in
search of and yet only get glimpses of every now and then. A superior section
of the sojourn simmers down to a lot of scary, stressful and strenuously situations.
(K maybe a small fetish.) And at the end of the each day I find it very
difficult to muster up the energy to want to write about all those things that
just took up all my energy. But it has been asked of me a few times now by more
than just my beautiful wife, that I share a few of the discoveries that I have
made or been taught along the way.
thing is that living on a sailboat is not at all that which we have been
persuaded to believe it is from Hollywood, or come to understand from that
beautiful song about sailing that has been sung by every band that has ever
made a hit album. No, in fact, that dream is really what all us sailors are in
search of and yet only get glimpses of every now and then. A superior section
of the sojourn simmers down to a lot of scary, stressful and strenuously situations.
(K maybe a small fetish.) And at the end of the each day I find it very
difficult to muster up the energy to want to write about all those things that
just took up all my energy. But it has been asked of me a few times now by more
than just my beautiful wife, that I share a few of the discoveries that I have
made or been taught along the way.
So here
it is! The first of many entries that will be devoted to ideas, knowledge, realities,
problem solving, teaching, and embarrassment (because believe you me I have
learnt the hard way many a time).
it is! The first of many entries that will be devoted to ideas, knowledge, realities,
problem solving, teaching, and embarrassment (because believe you me I have
learnt the hard way many a time).
Let the
first post be titled “The difference between “Live Aboard” and “Work Aboard”.
first post be titled “The difference between “Live Aboard” and “Work Aboard”.
Naturally
it can be guessed that we fall into the latter of the 2 categories. To make it
a little clearer:
it can be guessed that we fall into the latter of the 2 categories. To make it
a little clearer:
A “live
aboard” is a boat sailed to destinations with upwards of %80 of the boats systems
functioning at any given time.
aboard” is a boat sailed to destinations with upwards of %80 of the boats systems
functioning at any given time.
A “Work
aboard” is a boat sailed to destinations with upwards of %80 of the boats systems
still in the box, or in raw material format with plans to be installed or
created.
aboard” is a boat sailed to destinations with upwards of %80 of the boats systems
still in the box, or in raw material format with plans to be installed or
created.
Needless
to say there are less “work aboards” then “live aboards” in this neck of the
woods because once you leave to comfort of the northern Americas, you either
have to be an expert DIYer or become one real quick! And most people aren’t
foolish enough to leave western civilization without the majority of there boat
in working condition. Somehow I missed that memo. And that is what I want to
chat about in the upcoming blog entries. Different things that I have learnt or
made up along the way that may not be as beneficial to the veteran sailor but
sure as heck would be considered valuable for the project boaters, and the
financially impaired.
to say there are less “work aboards” then “live aboards” in this neck of the
woods because once you leave to comfort of the northern Americas, you either
have to be an expert DIYer or become one real quick! And most people aren’t
foolish enough to leave western civilization without the majority of there boat
in working condition. Somehow I missed that memo. And that is what I want to
chat about in the upcoming blog entries. Different things that I have learnt or
made up along the way that may not be as beneficial to the veteran sailor but
sure as heck would be considered valuable for the project boaters, and the
financially impaired.
I’m
going to write about projects and designs and so forth that may or may not be
“boat standard” but anything that gets put down will be something that I have
tried and tested myself. Feel free to comment or give ideas and please tell me
if you think my boat is going to blow up because I overlooked a critical
reality. It happens here and there.
going to write about projects and designs and so forth that may or may not be
“boat standard” but anything that gets put down will be something that I have
tried and tested myself. Feel free to comment or give ideas and please tell me
if you think my boat is going to blow up because I overlooked a critical
reality. It happens here and there.
Consider
that the intro for the once a weeks, or maybe biweeklies, with Eben and the
next blog is going to be “The Mandatory Tool Box”. If you’re a “work aboard” I can guarantee your gonna need
these if you don’t already have them.
that the intro for the once a weeks, or maybe biweeklies, with Eben and the
next blog is going to be “The Mandatory Tool Box”. If you’re a “work aboard” I can guarantee your gonna need
these if you don’t already have them.
Standing by on Dominican ch 68.
Over eezer and out
019
54.09 N
54.09 N
070
56.90 W
56.90 W
This is the type of honesty missing from most sailing blogs I've come across. Hope to see more of it in the future.
Thanks, who ever you are (you show up as anonymous). Eben is a great writer and will be telling our blogging world all about our trial and tribulations when it comes to refurbishing our boat
NICE! I like when the men do technical blogs because I have a real hard time explaining all the crap I have no idea about, I am sooo not technical;) Great job Eben!
Yeah so happy he finally got around to writing some posts, because I tried doing some of the technical writing and was always asking him, "what was the name of that hose again"? This will be easier and way more efficient for our readers
This is wonderful. My husband and are are off to cruise in October. We just started a blog as well and he has been doing more technical posts too. This will surely inspire him and I am thankful to boys who blog 'cause searching through a forum is a pain in the neck! -Drena
I almost had to twist his arm to get him blogging but I am so glad he decided to start and is going to share his knowledge bank that is incredibly full of useful tidbits. Good luck with your endeavors and safe travels
Hi there! Thanks for blogging, both of you! This is Jessica, of Jessica, Adam, and Tallulah–we met last weekend. I'd love to know more about your non-boat travels sometime, too, it sounds like you both have had many amazing international experiences. Hope to see you again in person soon. (Btw, we're virtually at svseawolf.blogspot.com if you ever want to stop by!)
Congrats on your first blog post. Here's my favorite line: "…At the end of the each day I find it very difficult to muster up the energy to want to write about all those things that just took up all my energy." SO true! But I hope you'll find that you get as much out of your writing as you put into it. And you know, of course, that your readers will benefit greatly.
Eben is a great writter, but his only downtime after boat work and family time, is minimal and in the very late evening, he spends it distracting himself on the ipad. But now that he has the ball rolling and has begun writing I am going to encourage him to keep it up, on a regular basis. And also now that he sees that people are reading maybe that will give him another extra little push into the blogging direction.
from another workaboard, glad to have found your blog, and look forward to comparing notes, I think the lessons learned posts from a work-in-progress cruiser is always great to see, reminds me I'm not the only one!
Been following your blog for some time now, ever since reading about you guys on Scott and Brittany's blog, and Im curious about your boat. Its the same vessel Im considering and I wonder what your opinion is of it. Im one of those jack's of all trades, my thought is "anything that can be built can be rebuilt". So Im definitely not fearful of buying a boat that needs tlc. I've been trying to find as much info on the OI 41's as I can but all I can find is what critics have to say, but I'd love to hear from you guys since Ill be doing pretty much the same. I understand they're not the best performers under sail, Im not looking to win any races, I just need something comfortable and safe so I can take the family cruising.
Hey Ryan. Eben here. Well I can say, critics are very critical. It obviously depends on your use of the boat. If your racing then a Morgan is for sure the way to go cuz your handicap will likely entail that you need only finish the race and you will win. Haha. Kidding. However I think it is critical to say that our boat is a 1988 CATALINA/Morgan. You see somewhere around 1984 I believe, Catalina bought Charlie Morgan's name and design and then made a few alteration. One very specific was the keel shape. The Morgan we are on ( sloop rigged center cockpit) is a 3/4 keel and from what I have heard and now seen it sails a fair bit better than the older design. Inside and out (while it is in the water) there are very few design differences, but the joke we have all heard is that you have to start the engine to tack a Morgan and this is definitely not the case with ours. To put in perspective, on our maiden voyage with her back from Bahamas to Florida, there was no engine, period. Halfway to cat island, the mainsail blew out and our friend Joaquin and his brother who were sailing her at the time were able to bring her in to cat under nothing but the jib power. And tacking all over the place. So as for sailability she can hold her own. That being said, given that you are looking at Morgan's in the first place I can assume that you do not intend to race anywhere and on that note I give the Morgan 4 thumbs up for the comfort she provides. Our perspective on boating is that it is our floating home that we occasionally move from one beautiful spot to another under sail. So realistically the majority of our time is at anchor in paradise so we chose the Morgan to give us the max amount of comfort during the majority of our time aboard, which is not while under sail. Heck I would have bought a catamaran right of the hop for the same reasons if I hadn't been discouraged from it at the beginning when I didn't know any better, and when going downwind we would have been going 2wice as fast. Ha.
So, my advice, though ive never sailed a pre-Catalina Morgan, is look for post 1984 models if possible. The boat is strong and hearty, she puts along with force. We plan our trips considering moving at 4.5 knots but often get more than that depending on the families comfort zone. And when we are not moving along we enjoy the extra space immensely and wouldn't trade it for a boat that could have gone a little quicker.
We havent seen too many boats of the same size that we like the layout more than our own. It has an overall big open feel to it and as far as we have seen she handles the ocean just fine even though she has less bulkheads than others and ours has already had major damage from sinking in a hurricane and still feels strong. A boat that i felt was comparable at the same length was none other than Scott and Brittney's boat. Seemed a little tighter inside but likely a little stronger due to that. My philosophy in boats as well as life is everything is an exchange. Everything!!!. Want more space, exchange for some strength, want more speed, exchange for some space, or money, etc. But all in all we are super happy with her feel and performance all around. I can't say its too often that you hear either of us say, I just wish Necesse had… Except for things we could add. K maybe bigger heads but hey who wants to spend a lot of time in there anyway.
Hope that helps.
Feel free to ask if you got any more questions.
This is such an inspirational blog. I hit 41 three days ago and decided to get a "workaboard" sailboat. I have no sailing experience let alone a DIYer… So this blog helps me believe that all things are possible if you are open to change and listen to people who help you along the way!
Happy belated birthday! I am so glad that our blog is helping you find inspiration. Between people offering help and tutorials on YouTube (and manuals) you can get your boat into functional shape. Good luck with all of your endeavours and hopefully all the fixes go as smooth as possible.