We have been working hard getting Morning Dance's Engine hauled out! Harold came over and gave us a hand with the logistics and extra hands for lifting once we got it prepped and rigged up with a come-along and chains attached to the boom.

Transmission being lifted out of the Engine room.

It started with prepping the engine to get it small enough that it would fit through the walk-through hallway - removing the starter, injector pumps, etc to get it down to the engine 'block' itself.

Engine "before" everything was removed to the bare block

work in progress.....

working on removing the "extras" from the Engine block

The cause of the engine failure....

Next came removing the transmission to allow room for the new one and the old generator that no longer worked.

Engine being raised out

Transmission in the aft cabin until the boat gets hauled out.

Curious about everything...

Finished!!

Painting the accent wall

Refinishing all of the old furniture

Starting to come together

Painting an old rug I found rolled up in the attic

"Before"  aka 13 year old "the perfect horse - themed bedroom"

3d rendering of room schematic design

Old furniture repainted / stained

At the Annapolis Boat Show

This year going to the boat show was a family adventure....my parents came to explore the new boats and gear. The boat show helps to give us an opportunity to not only network with other ASA instructors / keep us informed on what ASA is working on but for us to also dream of which boat(s) we wish we owned! As one with a design background it is a lot of fun to collect brochures and see which features you'd like to mix and match to create your ideal dream vessel.

Scroll down to see more pictures from the show:

Aka...what have we been up to?

Lately we have been living the life on our recent, much enjoyed days off!!
Sleeping in (feels awesome waking up and making coffee around 9am/10am), doing projects til past noon, then going ashore (shopping, laundry, internet, running, rollerblading, you name it! til late).

We also love to cook, and try new foods on our days off. Yesterday for dinner, we found a new Buffalo wing sauce which we marinated over chicken breasts. Its not quite charter ready - still a little too hot for our tastes (and those who know us know we love our hot sauces!).But here is the link to the recipe we found: http://www.myrecipes.com/m/recipe/buffalo-chicken-50400000109609/

Picture taken a while back on our way back to the big boat, from the dinghy.

There is never a dull moment when you live on a boat! ....for us, its a week or two of charters, then a few days of boat maintenance to get us ready for our next wave of charters.

Some projects are small (just make living aboard nicer) and others are more important such as installing a new windlass or anchor light fitting on the top of the mast. We have been pretty excited on what we have accomplished in our five days off so far. We were able to install a new windlass, a new kitchen faucet, scrape the bottom of both our dinghy and small sailboat "Kermit," and even organize the tool closet!



Morning Dance, 41' Morgan Out Island, Ketch Rigged

Aft Cabin / Guests Quarters

Saloon / Galley

Forward Cabin / Captains' Quarters