LAHOWIND » Just you, me, + the dog.

09.24.13

So Long Crappy Hoses! Replumbing Project Update

I’ve had quite the potty mouth lately. 😉  But, only because this replumbing project is the pits. …Ever tried catching yellowish-brown sewage water in a plastic force flex garbage bag before it leaks all over your boat? Just sayin.

We (as in mostly Jereme) spent the better part of the weekend tirelessly working on removing the existing 30-year-old plumbing hoses on our boat. You would never in a million years believe how insanely difficult metal-reinforced hoses are to dismantle and remove from their tight little nooks and crannys.

A few of the god awful hoses (off the boat at least). They’re the worst!

It literally took us an entire weekend to remove the hoses. They may look all flexible and bendable, but don’t let the photos fool you. They’re NOT!!!  These suckers were so perfectly wedged around varying degrees of angles, and in some rather unaccessable areas of the boat, that we Jereme spent hours upon hours working on getting them out.

I am thrilled to report that by Sunday night, he had officially freed the last of the hoses!!! Yeah!!! No more stinky old hoses (or holding tank) on our boat. …Let’s move on to brand-spanking-new plumbing, new tank, and a new toilet (oh! and an unplanned new shower drain — which we broke in the process)! 😉

#triumph #headlampsarecool

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09.24.13

Grip It & Rip It! Adding Traction to Our Companionway Stairs

You may remember this post about teaching Oliver to use the companionway stairs in our boat. And how it went “oh so seamlessly.”

Well, Oliver’s willingness to use the stairs lasted about two point five seconds after that post. 🙁  …SO, we decided we would need to modify our stairs so they’d be a little more Oliver-friendly.

We Jereme researched a few different options for adding traction to these stairs…including various adhesive-type materials (tape, pads, etc.) and even more DIY-solutions, like adding sand to varnish and revarnishing those bad boys.

Eventually, we opted to take the easy route and purchased these rubber/PVC Treadmaster gripper pads.

At $25 for a set of two, these were a bit more expensive than we would have liked (since we needed 3 sets). BUT, the fact that they are waterproof, peel & stick, the right dimensions, and probably a little nicer than the typical gripper tape, we decided to go for it.

I gladly volunteered to take on the “install” portion of this boat project. 😉  Wasn’t that nice of me?  It took another two point five seconds to install these new gripper pads (after cleaning each stair so as to make sure there wasn’t any loose dirt or sand).

Oliver was very interested in following me up the stairs after I installed the pads.

However, leave it to Mr. Smartypants to try and climb the stairs while stepping AROUND the new pads. Awesome. 🙁

Eventually, he didn’t seem to mind the pads (thank god since we added them for him!) and doesn’t seem to have much of a problem climbing up the stairs.

But climbing DOWN is another big issue.

I spent about 30 minutes working with him to convince him to come down the stairs, but he didn’t budge. 🙁  I guess that’s going to take a little more training. Only time will tell. In the meantime, we will continue to carry him down like the little baby he is. 🙂

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Kelley - Sailing ChanceSeptember 24, 2013 - 11:48 am

Our little dog is the same way about a lot of things on board. The only way we’ve been able to get her to do them on her own is to stop carrying her. Otherwise she just got used to us picking her up. Oddly enough she has no problem getting up AND down if we’re not around 😉

LahoWindSeptember 24, 2013 - 1:14 pm

I think we are going to have to take a tough love approach. 😉 Oliver had no problem at first and then chickened out on us. Hoping he gets the hang of it again, bc carrying him down is no fun.

09.20.13

It’s a shit show around here.

Quite literally. 🙁

As in, a total gut job of our head (aka the bathroom — for those non-sailing blog readers) to completely replace ALL of the plumbing — the hoses, the toilet, and the holding tank. Fun fun.

Just when we’ve wrapped up the (rather extensive) water tank project, along comes the next fun project on our never-ending boat project list.

So far this project = LOTS of work for Jereme.  Poor guy.

AND…

Smelly sewage throughout the boat for both of us to enjoy. …I’m talking rusted and leaking poop pipes. Yes, poop. (I’m not going to sugar coat anything around here folks.)

Here’s a little “before” and “after” demolition to give you an idea of how extensive this project is going to be…

#inoverourhead #crappyphotos #punsintended

What happened to “actual” sailing on our sailboat? And gorgeous sunsets and boat drinks??? 🙁

I can’t wait to put this one behind us. And finally go sailing move on to the next fun project.  One day all of our hard work will pay off for sure! 🙂

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Look what we built! | LAHOWIND | Sailing BlogNovember 13, 2013 - 1:34 pm

[…] built me and Oliver a new wall/cabinet for the head.  …As part of our fun head re-plumbing project.  Which is just about finished. […]

09.16.13

This Weekend = Productivity Fail.

We totally earned ourselves a BIG FAT “F” in the productivity department this weekend. 🙁 Total slacker mode at its finest… and didn’t even manage to cross one item off of our never-ending boat project list.  We DID, however, attend one super-cute 2-year-old’s birthday party!  😉

How cute is Jereme’s niece Olivia?!

Oh, AND!…

Our new gripper pads for the companionway stairs arrived and look awesome!  So that’s a bonus.  We’re hoping to get these babies installed and Oliver-tested (and approved) later in the week! Stay tuned!

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09.12.13

boat life lately. according to my iPhone.

Join the party and follow us on instagram!!! @lahowind

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FrancoisMay 23, 2014 - 8:11 pm

Hi guys! Having grown up near the ocean since i was (….) – never thought id get into sailing.. however since going out with a friend in a 35ft’r something has def bitten me and im starting to shift into a whole new world of sailing and looking at it – erm quite seriously. Your blog and pics and experiences (and dry humor) make for a gr8 read. Awesome pics and stories! Ill def be checking back regularly – very cool! Wishing u all the best and safety!

Fran (a Capetonian in Seattle 🙂