If Only They Could All Look Like This

It's official. Today marks the LEAST amount of money we've spent at West Marine to date. That's right, the decimal is in the right place ... we spend a whopping $0.39 on 4 fasteners for the shower install.

Sailors Like To Be Clean Too

We spent the weekend getting a few new parts installed for liveaboard necessities. For some reason the former owner removed the shower system, but no worries Matt was able to install a more space and water efficient design that works perfectly for us.

Electric head install complete

This weekend's refitting included Matt running wire from the breaker panel to the flush pump to power our new electric head.

Productive & Fun Labor Day Wknd

Deciding where to mount the manual back-up pump.
Installing the waste hose.Helping our marina neighbor load up his dinghy to be repaired.
Family stopped by for a fun visit and brought BBQ lunch for the crew.

Labor of Love

We spent this Labor Day weekend with one of our 1st major refit projects aboard Kaleo. September is dedicated to all things plumbing so we started with upgrading our manual-only toilet to an electric / manual back-up, Lavac. The 1st step was to have the holding tanks pumped out and rinsed followed by removing the old toilet. The greatest challenge was engineering a hose run that involved an electric pump, a manual back-up pump and a downhill run to the tank - all within the confines of the space below the v-berth.

We're happy to report that with the help of Christie's dad, Craig, the install was a success within "plan a" and without any sacrifices. We now have the convenience of an electric head with a manual back-up in case of power failure.

Visiting the Fam

Our Seattle weekend continued as we started Saturday with a visit to Pike Place for breakfast at The Crumpet Shop and to pick up some flowers to bring to Matt's mom.
We then hit the road for a 5-hour road trip to Coeur d’ Alene to visit the family and celebrate Ken’s birthday.
Before heading out for Ken’s birthday dinner, he and Matt reviewed the test companionway doors and talked through their final design. We’ll leave the materials and plans in his good hands to be built. He even offered to build us an overlay for the bathroom countertop from some scrap granite he’s collected. It means a lot to us to have his craftsmanship aboard.
The boys taking a break while dad takes Jeff’s new bike out for a spin.