Living aboard The Pig has offered
an array of opportunities, as well as some unexpected difficulties that are not
normally thought of as difficulties in our home back on the beach. The positives
are we have the capability to awake to a different back yard each morning, and
see a different angle of the sunset each night. If our neighbors are too loud it
shouldn’t be a problem, we’ll move. If it’s not warm enough that’s not a
problem either. All we have to do is castoff our bow lines and cruise somewhere
else more suitable.
After Anna and I decided to
do the Great Loop the boat was moved to Kentucky. Upon our arrival in Kentucky
we found our oversized weekend boat with plenty of storage had shrunk! Cabinets and storage lockers that had been
more than ample suddenly seemed smaller, and we had a lot more gear to
store. Being a wise captain I
delegated to my crew to make a plan. The crew, (Anna) got right to work on that.
This is how we started.
Personal Clothing Items
In the perfect world my
plan is to always cruise someplace where shorts and tee shirts are
the uniform of the day. At least a locale that never see’s temperatures lower
than 65° could become acceptable. Maybe it’s a pipe dream. We had to asked ourselves what
we really need aboard to enjoy life as we had ashore. The answer was a little
different for each of us. In my case, did
I really need six sweatshirts and why does one woman really need all those shoes? Our
solution was to divvy up the drawers and lockers space equally. It was then
agreed each of us could use the space as we wished. Organization is good. I
found that I didn’t have six sweatshirts on board. It was nine. Most have gone on
to good homes. Our organization was successful. We now have organized drawers
and hanging lockers in a way more serviceable to us as live aboards. We even found
storage for that old upright Hoover in some of Anna’s space.
Computer and Internet
Service
In the past just being weekenders,
our laptops were used on any flat surface found. This was OK for a day or two, but this computer
clutter wasn’t going to work for the long haul. As captain I again made another
command decision that went to the crew, a spot for our computers was needed, and
it shall be the Vee Berth! However as I was told later by my mutinous crew, the
Vee Berth needed organizing anyway. Either way its great being captain, now my crew
and I sit at the desk in our new ships office, each manning his/her own
computer.
For Wi-Fi we’ll start off
using the hotspot on my sprint phone, for a dollar a day it’s a good value.
Although it can be slow, over time I suspect it will speed up when we don’t have
anything to compair it to. The Admiral has decided for now to retain her ATT plan
feeling that two separate phone plans may be the best for our total connectivity,
I told you she work good with a plan. We also have looked into a booster
antenna for our cell phones but for now the additional expense just isn’t worth
it.
Paying Bills
This plan shall remain the
same as at home using our bank’s internet bill paying option. We use it at home
with success, so being on the boat should be no different; with the one exception.
We may have to queue up our payments earlier in the month since the internet
can always be elusive at times. We still have not resolved the amount of cash
we need aboard and when we do, you still won’t know what was decided, there has
to be some secrets.
Medications Prescription,
First Aid Kit, and OTC
We both take a few
prescriptions so Express Scripts is our choice since we can get several months
at a time. We have two first aid kits on the boat. One is up on the sun deck
and ones in the master. It’s the OTC meds that have fallen between the cracks.
We hadn’t given the OTC meds a single thought. It took Anna getting sick while
at home to highlight this short coming. So yes, we will have full complement of
OTC meds. And sinus pills will be at the top of the page.
Mail
This is still up in the air.
Presently it looks as though Brooke one of Anna’s
daughters will forward her mail, and Alicia my oldest will forward mine, but to where? We will let you know how this works
out.
Boat Jobs
Being retired we still have
to use the “job” word, but never alarm clock! Aboard the Pig our daily work
activities are divided up into three specialties, there are Captain Jobs, Crew
Jobs, and Admiral Jobs. You notice I didn’t say divided evenly.
Captain Jobs: Ultimately
all jobs falls onto the captain's shoulders since he is responsible for the well
being of the boat. But there are some essential duties that require his
personal attention daily.
· Navigation, the captain should at all times
have a vague idea where we are, and some sort of idea about getting where we want
to go, and finally when we maybe might drop anchor. Once the captain has a plan
he will pass this tentative plan to the crew. Doing this it will eliminate the
crew’s stress level by kind of knowing the captain’s plan before the
departure. The captain shall always consult with the electronic Genius on all
navigations before any departure. All crew shall cheerfully assist the captain
in his duties upon request.
· Boat Maintenance: The best description of
this duty is if it is mechanical or, if it ticks, pumps, or sucks, or in any other
fashion has moving parts, it becomes the captain’s job. Being able to weld
using 2 AA batteries, a paper clip and a quarter shall not be a requirement of
the captain. Although he shall have MacGyver listed in his cell phone for such an
emergency.
·
Driving the boat: you would think this would
be at the top of the list, but any crew member may drive the boat. But it will
be the captains responsibility should they have a brain fart and something bad
happens i.e., running aground, being swamped by a barge, finding and hitting
another boat, off-course, all docking mishaps, running out of limes,…or
anything else deemed by the Admiral or crew.
·
Bartender: This is the captain’s most
important job of the day and shall be performed before sunset each day. The
captain shall make and deliver to the Admiral her first evening libation on the
sun deck, after that there shall be no other duties of the captain.
Crew Jobs: can be numerous if
it’s not specifically listed it must be a crew job, listed are the most obvious.
·
Cleaning the boat exterior, will be done
daily with an attempt to remove all spider dots. Cleaning shall not take more
than 30 minutes at any time.
·
Interior cleaning ongoing daily
·
Line handling, docking and locking
·
Trash removal daily if we are at a marina
·
Provisions: shall be done jointly between
the captain and crew. At no time shall the admiral be involved in boat
provisioning
·
Cooking will be the responsibility of one
crew member at a time, due to galley size. If you didn’t cook, you clean
dishes. All cooking outside the galley area shall be done by the captain and
shall not be considered cooking under the cooking/cleaning rule.
Admiral Jobs:
·
The only duty of the admiral is to be on the
sun deck before sunset to receive her evening libation from the captain. Before
and after that she reverts to crew status. It was brought to my attention last week that the admiral has been doing the evening libations. I must admit this is a trueism, but she makes such a good rum & coke. However she is only doing this chore because I'm doing some boating chores.
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