When we started talking about living on a boat, I started downsizing. I took carloads of stuff to Goodwill. It went in waves, starting with interview outfits and Halloween costumes. It kept going. After a year, I fit on a boat with room to spare.
There was a brief period when we were maintaining two households, two sets of cookware. We lived on Ceres 2-4 nights a week, at home 3-5 nights a week. I learned the importance of bags for bringing stuff to and from the boat, like laundry and lunch, and so on.
Then we finally had the opportunity to rent out our house and kick ourselves out of it, in June 2019.
Except we kept a lot of crap in our bedroom and we had laundry access, and a garage. And Elixir's first mast in the yard.
Ceres was not ready to live in. The previous owner had neglected her. Here are things Jarred and sometimes Megan did:
Engine
About half of the photos on my phone the last two years are Ceres photos, but they represent less than 5% of our awake hours during that time. Due to work mostly. We have taken her to Whidbey Island Race Week, where she served as home base when we raced Elixir. We just very recently developed a habit for Manzanita Bay, about 1.5 hours from our marina, where we anchor easily and watch sunset, and take the dinghy to shore where there is a winery a mile down the road, and there is a good winding slough for paddleboarding at high tide. We also anchored off Marrowstone Island for a couple of nights, although on the way back we suffered from a clogged fuel filter and drifted awkwardly but conveniently, in settled sunny weather, for two hours as Jarred learned how to change the filters and we primed the fuel system. I guess if I could say two things: one, it is great to leave the dock and only pack groceries for an overnight. And two, it is great to walk away from land lately. Also, birdwatching.
