Our dinghy was slowly turning into a submarine… It clearly leaked. It also looked battered, lacked oarlocks, missed lines along the handles, and had no bench. Max spent a couple hours on it yesterday and it has made such a difference! It looks great now and most importantly, it looks like it will stay dry! We are still waiting for the glue to harden completely but will hopefully be able to go on a test ride soon…

The art of DIY

We have both learned new skills since moving aboard. I finally got my sewing machine out of the box (after getting it in 2012…) and have finished a couple of small projects so far, like mosquito netting for the hatches and companionway, and canvas winch covers and hatch covers.

When we lived in the Middle East and something broke down, we would either get someone else to fix it for us, or buy a new (bigger, better, faster) one. It sounds terribly spoilt to me now, but that is just the way life is there. Living on a boat, and on a budget, it just make sense to do stuff yourself. So maintenance jobs are part of our daily life afloat in a big way.

Putting the kids to work

We even put the kids to work 🙂 They love cleaning the windows and the deck with buckets of soapy water and then rinsing everything off with a hose. It’s fun for them and very helpful for us!

Bianca Kindler