May 3 - Home for the Summer

Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

“May your joys be as deep as the oceans, your troubles as light as its foam. And may you find, sweet peace of mind, wherever you may roam.” –Unknown

This will be our fifth season in Ithaca...it's really becoming our second home and we love it here. We are beginning our 11th season on The Pearl and we have this migration thing down to a science. Each spring we pack up our car, close up our house and boat in Texas and head north. This year we didn't have to close up the house...we sold that in January. Although we know exactly what needs to be done, it can be a lot of work, especially unpacking when we get back to The Pearl. 

Our last look at Texas Pearl as we left Rockport.

It's a bit cold here in the Finger Lakes...winter doesn't seem to want to go away...but this picture was taken months ago. No snow at the moment, but for us Texans it sure doesn't feel like spring. 

Our car was pretty full on our way up to the lake, luckily we keep some of it in our son's basement. Transitioning from one life to another takes a little work.

First job is to take the shrink wrap off...

then we have to unload and haul all the stuff up the ladder and on to the boat. It took us about 4 1/2 hours to complete our work and have the boat ready to live in again.

Early Monday morning we were launched. Stan checked the engine and headed south to Ithaca, while I moved the car.

Leaving Beacon Bay Marina...see you next fall.

The Pearl heading down the lake to Ithaca. 

May 26 - Back to The Pearl

Allan H. Treman State Marine Park

"Not every lake dreams to be an ocean. Blessed are the ones who are happy with whom they are." —Mehmet Murat ildan

Our trip east from Texas this year was our 41st trip since 2011. It was definitely the longest and the hardest...maybe because we're getting older, but in reality I think it was the traffic. From the looks of our highways, our economy should be booming. We've never seen so many 18-wheelers on the freeways before. Because of the Covid 19 virus we decided to drive straight through this year. Definitely not our favorite way to travel anymore, but we just didn't feel comfortable stopping anywhere. We even brought our own food. We only stopped for gas and to use the restroom. Each time we stopped we wore our masks and made sure we cleaned our hands when we got back in the car. Between construction, accidents and having to be rerouted we lost four hours...making our 25 hour trip over 29. Our reward for the long trip was spending three days with our PA family and filling up on love.

After a little rest and lots of hugs we headed back to New York to get The Pearl ready for the summer. We arrived Sunday afternoon, unloaded all our stuff, stored it and were ready to launch first thing Monday morning. Stan checked all the systems, we flushed the water tank and then Stan was on his way to Ithaca. It was our quickest spring launch ever, no bottom job, no waxing, no other projects...we took the shrink wrap off and she was ready. 

Our first look at The Pearl...patiently waiting for summer to begin.

First step in waking up the boat is taking off her winter coat.

On her way to the water. 

She's floating and ready to go.

Stan leaving Beacon Bay...on his way to our summer home.

I like painting rocks and some of the best rocks I've ever seen are along the shore of Lake Ontario at Chimney Bluff State Park. It takes Stan about 5 hours to move the boat down the lake so I had plenty of time to enjoy myself before meeting him at the marina.

Some of the rocks I've painted...some I give away, some I sell and some I hide for others to find.

I enjoyed my drive along Cayuga Lake...everything is very green and beautiful. We truly love spending our summers up here.

The Pearl at home at Allan H. Treman State Marine Park...we're ready for summer. 

Getting our Tiny Pearl ready for family fun this weekend. 

Our marina is a state park...so it's beautiful and very peaceful. We have a series of bike trails that take us anywhere we need to go.

Enjoying my happy place.

Updates to The Pearl (Part II)

"The big lesson in life is never be scared of anyone or anything." ―Frank Sinatra  

The Pearl is a Monk 36, hull #21, built in 1983...she's old, 36 years old. We've done a lot of work on her, but this summer we're giving her a facelift on the inside. Since the boat was built in the early 80s, it was built with ugly gold formica and gold vinyl in the shower. We painted the shower when we first bought the boat and it has held up very well. Our formica was so worn out the color was completely gone in some areas. We had several options for improving it...we could have new countertops installed, new Formica laid or paint what we have. The easiest and cheapest way to go was paint.

We did a little research, talked to a few people and decided we'd go with a product called Giani Marble Countertop Paint Kit. The only problem was we were ready to paint and we couldn't find this product anywhere in town...so we decided to try something else. Anything would be better than what we had.

While we were at Home Depot, looking for the product we wanted, we found another type of paint, Rust-oleum Countertop Coating. It was a quick, cheap way to make the formica look better and it definitely looks better than what we had. I don't think I can recommend the product, unless you want a quick fix. It was difficult to apply evenly (we may try wet sanding it to make it look a little smoother) and it doesn't look as modern as the marble paint, but hey...we're an 80s boat and it has brightened it up. We'll see how it holds up and how we like it. We can always use the marble kit at another time.

Here's the finished project.

Before and after photos

Here's the paint we used...we chose Light Ash

 This is the product we thought we'd like...maybe next year.

 Our other project for the week was to replace the window over the stove. Can you see the difference?

Updates to The Pearl (Part I)

"Learn to depend upon yourself by doing things in accordance with your own way of thinking." -Grenville Kleiser

Last year I did a post that took readers on a tour of The Pearl...today's post is an update to that tour. This summer we've been doing upgrades to the boat to refresh its look and make it feel a little more like home. When we bought the boat 9 1/2 years ago the saloon cushions were in good shape, so even though they weren't the color I would have chosen, we left them alone and decorated the boat to match. After spending over 1500 days on the boat the cushions have gotten pretty worn out and needed to be replaced, so now it was our chance to choose exactly what we wanted. It's amazing how wonderful the new cushions feel and look...we love them.

New shades, rug and a new quilt that I made this winter really make the stateroom look nice. We also added new lighting so we can see better. We definitely like the improvements. (all the following pictures show the before and after)

 The galley is pretty much the same...a new microwave and a few decorations. We're in the process of painting the formica, easier for now than replacing it. We've also replaced the galley window...pictures on these projects a little later.

The V-birth...a little more color.

This is the front head located in the V-birth. It's my private powder room. 

Pictures of the saloon (before and after) with the new cushions and rug.

A close up of our new rug in the saloon

A close up of our old cushions and the new cushions.

Our bimini and isinglass were in terrible condition so we had them replaced this spring...it's nice to be able to see through the windows again.

We use to have the name of our boat painted on the bottom of the dinghy, but we never replaced the name after we repainted the dinghy. This new sign will make keeping the dinghy bottom clean a lot easier.

Back on the Boat

Beacon Bay Marina

"Memories made at the lake, last a lifetime."

We've been back onboard for two weeks, so I guess it's time to update the blog. We spent the first three days “On the hard”. This is what boaters call it when we have the boat hauled out of the water and blocked up on land. It's the way we store our boat during the winter here in upstate New York. Staying on the boat when it's on the hard isn't fun, especially when the weather is hot or cold. Without water the heater/AC unit doesn't work. Maybe that's why it's called hard! 🤣Water and electricity is limited too, but at least we were able to use our heads (toilets). 

Unwrapping The Pearl...coming alive for the season

Our front door while on the hard

Just a few things to unpack and stow (all this stuff came up the ladder...plus more boxes that were in the stateroom and v-birth).

This year seemed especially hard since the weather has been so cold. We woke up our first three mornings to cabin temperatures ranging from 35º-41º...that's pretty darn cold. Plus it snowed all day Saturday, but despite the weather Stan finished the items on his to do list and we were launched on Monday morning. Meaning we could turn on the heater. 

The main reason we returned to the boat so early this year was to have a new enclosure made for the flybridge. The Mahaney brothers at Mahaney Canvas located at Beacon Bay Marina did a wonderful job. They were very professional and got the job done in four days. We couldn't have asked for a better job, and the price was very reasonable. 

The first step in getting our new enclosure was to install an extra support for the bimini top

Then the new bimini went up

and they made patterns for the new isinglass 

Our new enclosure looks very nice

On Friday (after being on the boat for a week) I went down to Pennsylvania to visit our little ones while they finished our enclosure...little did I know the Mahaneys would finish our top before I got to Kyle's house, so on Saturday while the weather was decent Stan moved the boat down the lake to our summer slip. Several friends met him on the dock to catch his lines...pretty nice my delivery captain had the boat all ready for me when I got home.