Car Ride – Round Two

Suki and I faced off for Car Ride – Round Two on Saturday.  We were in a different car, but the result was the same.  Hopefully we’ll only have to do this a couple more times before we move permanently aboard.  Once she’s onboard she’s totally content to cruise around below and on deck.  She slept in the V-berth between our pillows just like at home.  She does have a hard time getting in and out of the V-berth.  I bought a step stool for her (and us) to use to climb in, but it’s not tall enough and she bailed pretty hard the first time she tried to jump down out of the V-berth.  We replaced the step stool with the dock steps at night and that worked a lot better for her.  Unfortunately the dock steps are too big and bulky to be a permanent solution so we’ll have to come up with something else.

The marina was busy this weekend.  Nearly every boat on our dock had somebody on it.  Jan and Walt next door had their family camping down the levee for the weekend.  One of the kids saw Suki on deck and told me she thought she was pretty with pretty white legs.  Not bad for a 15-year-old cat.  It was movie night at the marina and they showed Miracle and provided popcorn.  After the heat wave last week the chilly night was a welcome relief.  I even had to wear jeans, a fleece jacket, and we had to get a blanket!

I brought the mattress pad, sheets and blankets for the new bed.  What a pain making that bed is!  We’ve got to come up with a better way to do it or we’ll never change the sheets.  We also worked on a couple small projects.  We finished the pet net at the gate and the forepeak, made screens for the salon and V-berth hatches, and hung another tarp; this one on the forward deck where it gets blazing hot.  We’re only going to leave it up when it’s really hot and we’ll take it down at night.  I finally cut Prodex for the V-berth ceiling as well.  We’re hoping now the deck won’t get so hot that we cook in the V-berth.  Rich worked on his table saw so he can start work on the teak trim pieces for the refrigerator door.

We also used the BBQ on the boat for the first time.  We’ve had the BBQ for about a year and have used it at the condo.  It looks so much better hanging off the back rail.  Originally Suki and I were only going to stay one night, but the weather was so nice and Suki was content so we decided to stay until Monday.  The only down side is I didn’t bring enough food for two full days; off to Rio Vista to find food.  Luckily they have a Pizza Factory.  I imagine we’ll be stopping there often.  We took a take-out menu just in case.

On Sunday night Dave and Jean from Exit Strategy on G Dock came over in their Port-a-Boat.  They wanted to check out our boat and see all the projects we’re working on.  Exit Strategy is a 1979 46′ Amel.  We met them a couple of weeks ago when they decided to park it at our marina.  They’re from the Bay Area and were planning to spend the summer here with their grandkids.  They’ve now changed their plans due to a business opportunity in Reno.  They put their boat up for sale and got two offers within a week.  They’re very nice and had a lot of advice for cruising.  Dave has a sail making business and had a lot of good advice about sails and rigging for our boat.  We also liked their Porta-Boat.  We were looking at them a couple of months ago and read great reviews, but it was nice to hear the first-hand experience with it.  We went over to G Dock to see their boat.  It’s a center cockpit, had a ton of storage room, and was quite nice, but I still like Ramble On best.