The topic of our living situation naturally comes up in conversion with a host of people at work, church, the playground etc. A surprised "Oh" is their typical response, especially when they discover that we have two small children. Typically, the conversion progresses to something like "I could never do that", or "My wife would never let me do that" or "what a great experience this will be for your kids" or "How do you manage in such close quarters?"

Well, much easier than living in an Army tank with three other grown men.

In a tank, the driver lays reclined down in the front of the hull while the gunner, loader, and commander are in the turret behind two feet of armor in a cavity about the size of a space capsule. On a boat, you're not competing with a 120mm smooth bore cannon for space. The back deck of a tank is nice and cozy to sleep on at night, if sleeping on top of a running 1500 horsepower turbine is your thing. So we usually slept inside, upright in our seats. For pillows, we just kept our helmets on and rested our heads up against the cold steel. When you're sleep deprived, you can sleep in just about any position.

As with a tank, I think it must take time for boat and crew to get acquainted. At first, you're always forgetting where you put your flashlight, electric razor, leatherman, map, etc but with time, things have a way of finding their ideal location to where you can grab them even in the dark. It's imperative to know where everything is so that you're not fumbling around in the heat of the moment; simple little things like tying your map to the machine gun mount so that it doesn't blow away and having it situated in such a way to be able to read the GPS and efficiently plot coordinates on the map while moving at 30 MPH over undulating terrain, at night. In that respect, I think sailing and tanks have a lot in common, especially in rough seas. It makes me want to stow every last bit of our earthly possessions, down to the tea and spices that decorate the walls in the salon. We're obviously just starting out, but I'm already looking forward to one day sailing at night. I like the idea of being outside in the cold, piloting our boat up the Sound, while my family is down below comfortable, warm, and safe.

We actually sailed for the first time today, with just the main sail. The wind was barely blowing but just the simple act of hoisting the sail and watching it fill with wind, felt like a major step. After an hour, we anchored and the kids and I explored a small inlet in our kayak while V napped.

Pictures of inside the boat

Everyone keeps asking for pictures.  So here we go, not too many though.

Here is the kitchen, otherwise known as the galley.  In this picture you can see the ice box that we use for our dirty clothes hamper.  You can also see my three hardest working appliances.  The crockpot (with dinner in it), the water heater, and the lovely new coffee pot.  On the far left of the picture you can see our cup holder, yep, everyone get's ONE cup.  You can see that we have one empty space, because Outdoor Girl is drinking tea while she does her school work with her cup.

Here is the other side of the kitchen.  If you notice the pink play silk hanging on the right side, that is the covering to Outdoor Girl's room, otherwise known officially as a quarter berth.  You can see my convection oven sitting above the fridge here as well as the sink.  I have several windows just out of view of the camera on both of these.

Here is a shot from the front of our room forward.  Yes, we have a door, it is not in this picture.  This is the very front of the boat.  The anchor is on the other side of what looks like a white stripe in the middle top of the photo. the angle of this photo is really bad.

Here is from the front of the boat looking toward the back on the inside.  Through the door on the other side, you are looking through the bathroom (we removed the toilet and added a dresser and 2nd row on hanging closet space) and then through the kitchen/living area.  Just past the kitchen you can make out Outdoor Girl's berth, and what you can't see is the living area or the door to the inside.

Here is the bathroom sink all cleaned off.

And here it is in reality.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.