Boat Enclosures–Extend the Life of Your Outdoor Room

Exterior Projects, Projects, , , ,
The Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) 2014 Gam has come and gone.  It marked the end of our first year of cruising on Magnolia full time.  This was our fourth SSCA gathering at Camp Letts on the Rhode River in Maryland.  We love the Rhode River so this gathering feels like home for us.  Good folks and good information sharing.  Some new info, some info that confirms my understanding of different things and some that I already knew (that experience itself is new as I used to feel that I knew zip!) This year there was a session on caring for boat enclosures.  Our enclosed cockpit is our outdoor “great room” where we spend a good bit of our time. I previously wrote about it here.  There were two speakers during this session.  Read more [...]

Fabrics Along the Way – Androsia Fabric

Fav things, Interior Projects, , , , ,
I enjoy finding new and unique fabrics during our travels and first wrote a post about "fabrics along the way" here. When we were in the Bahamas last winter I fell in love with the iconic Androsia hand-crafted batik fabrics designed and made exclusively in the Bahamas on the island of Andros.  These cotton fabrics just speak to me saying, "You're in the Bahamas, mon!" and instantly transport you there.  You can buy the fabric by the yard and find many items of clothing and household items made of these colorful fabrics at stores throughout the islands.  I knew I had to have some of this fabric.  I had passed it up on a previous Bahamas cruise.  Now how to choose which fabric and what to make?  Why not pillows to perk up the saloon. Read more [...]

Flexible Solar Panels – You Light Up My Life – Part II

Exterior Projects, Projects, , , ,
  Update October 2014:  We did find some rubbing on the Sunbrella canvas top at the bows of the enclosure.  That wasn't going to work for us.  The enclosure is relatively new so we didn't want to add any unnecessary wear.  The Captain came up with a new installation still using the canvas backings.  Aluminum poles with line and snap shackles at each end are inserted into the canvas side casings.  The panels are taken up to the bow of the boat and attached to the lifelines.  Now the panels have even better sun and we get the benefit of some shade for the v berth! While we have a solid  8.5 kw Westerbeke generator aboard Magnolia, after our first year of cruising we decided that it would be an improvement not to have to run Read more [...]

Stand Up Paddle Board Cover

Exterior Projects, Projects, Seamless Sailors, , ,
Seamless Sailor is pleased to present a guest post by Carolyn Shearlock of The Boat Galley and co-author of The Boat Galley Cookbook.   Carolyn and her husband, Dave, recently bought a catamaran, Barefoot Girl.  In her travels she takes her iSUP stand up paddle board with her.  In true Seamless Sailor style she jumped in to solve the problem of how to store and transport the board in a workable cover.  With some creativity and sewing know how she tackled this cover.  Love the solution and so will you if you have a SUP!  Thanks, Carolyn. I got a request for how I made the bag to take my Tower Xplorer SUP on a plane. The board is just barely inside the limits for not having to pay oversize fees on most airlines, so a bag that Read more [...]

What’s In Your…Ditch Bag?

Sailing Related Posts, , , , ,
We put together Magnolia's abandon ship ditch bag before we left last fall.  It all started when we had taken our Switlik life raft in to be re-certified by Vane Brothers in Baltimore, Maryland last summer  They confirmed that while it was an older, well made life raft, it should be “condemned” because the glue on the seams was deteriorating among other things.  We inherited this life raft with the boat  so it was time and we weren’t really surprised.   (It was interesting to see the life raft deployed in their work space. ) We ended up buying a new Revere 4 person life raft.  We consider it an insurance policy type of expense.  It came with some basic necessities so we set up a ditch bag with additional items. I recently Read more [...]

Practical Patterning

Resources, Tools, ,
I haven't found any patterns for sale for projects I'm sewing for the boat.  There's no Vogue or Simplicity book of patterns to select from offering patterns with instructions.  That's how I learned to sew - using a pattern - along with a variety of sewing classes and friends and mentors.  There are some great books out there with ideas and directions - some better than others.  Maybe you are lucky to have the old item to take apart to make a  pattern.  Even then fabric stretches out and may not fit right anymore.  This is different, this sewing for the boat.  There is a bit of engineering involved.  Maybe even a bit of McGyver involved.  So I'm getting better at patterning, with much help from my engineer husband of course.  Read more [...]