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.

PA Covered Bridges & Cute Towns (Part II)

"Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly, leave the rest to God." –Ronald Reagan

When Kyle and Brytanie moved to Pennsylvania in 2016 we enjoyed finding covered bridges in their county. We haven't visited them all, but we've found seven just doing a little exploring. Pennsylvania is one of the leading states with the largest number of remaining covered bridges. 

We really enjoyed driving the back roads through Lancaster county. We had the chance to see some beautiful farms, cute little towns, lots of horse and buggies and we found six magnificent old covered bridges. There are 27 covered bridges in Lancaster County...so finding a few bridges was pretty easy. 

The Leaman's Place Covered Bridge spans the Pequea Creek and was built in 1845.

The Hunsecker's Mill Covered Bridge spans the Conestoga River, it was built in 1843 and is the longest single span covered bridge in Lancaster County. 

The Pinetown Bushong's Mill Covered Bridge spans the Conestoga River and was built in 1867. 

The Zook's Mill Covered Bridge, also known as Log Cabin Bridge, spans Cocalico Creek and was built in 1849. 

The Keller's Mill Covered Bridge was built in 1873. This bridge once spanned the Cocalico Creek at Rettew Mill Road, but due to increasing traffic, it was dismantled in 2006 and reassembled at Middle Creek Road in 2010. It's the only white covered bridge in Lancaster County. 

The Erb's Covered Bridge spans Hammer Creek and was built in 1849. 

I've never seen tobacco growing in a field before, but in Lancaster County it's one of the leading cash crops. There are 964 tobacco operations in the county and it ranks in the top 10 in the country in tobacco production.  

One of the little towns we discovered was Lititz...it's advertised as the 'Coolest Small Town in America'. The town is known for picturesque, tree-lined streets, unique shops, cafés, architecture and it's friendly atmosphere. We found all that to be true. The town was established in 1749 when the Moravian Church established a church settlement there. In 1784, a small bakery was started along Main Street that became the first pretzel bakery in America.

This building was built in 1877 and served as home to the Lititz Record Express newspaper until 2005. It's now home to the Zum Anker Alley Shoppes. The shop has a lot of cute stuff, but the store itself was the interesting part for Stan and me. 

See other Pennsylvania Covered Bridges at the following sites.

PA Covered Bridges (Part I)

PA Cover Bridges (Part III)

PA Covered Bridges (Part IV)