s/v YOLO Swab's Log Blog Day 267 Entry 0057 Housekeeping aboard s/v YOLO Part 1

s/v YOLO You Only Live Once Swab’s Log Blog

Posting Date:  Friday, February 6, 2014   
Day 267  Entry 0057

Boot Key Harbor and Marina Mooring #W10  http://www.ci.marathon.fl.us/government/departments/marina-and-ports/

Actual Date:  January 25, 2014 Saturday   
Weather:   Cold. Cold. Cold.  But no snow!   Temperature dropped to 52 degrees and the wind gusted to 30 mph.  But it is warmer here than most places in the country!

Subject:  Housekeeping aboard s/v YOLO.

Performing basic housekeeping chores on a boat is pretty much just like home but with a few exceptions.  I don’t have a dish washer so I wash the dishes by hand – no biggie!  (Yes some sailboats have dishwashers.)   Cleaning the heads (bathrooms) are the same except for flushing the toilet.  On the sailboat, you just press the red button!

Dusting and sweeping is the same.  But vacuuming is a little different though.  I have a small hand held vacuum, so instead of standing up while vacuuming the rug and floor, I vacuum on my hands and knees!  Not great , but do-able.  I must admit that I do tend to ‘postpone vacuuming’, as much as possible!   But when trying to figure out how perform more involved housekeeping chores, such as laundry, I read multitude of magazine articles and spoke with women (crew) who were ‘live aboards’.  All said, “if you have room for a clothes washer, get one!”   I never really paid any attention to clothes washers; I’ve only bought 4 or 5 over the years.  So, I basically bought the one that was the least expensive and handled the biggest load of wash.  I really didn’t understand exactly what an ‘automatic washer,’ I thought all washers were automatic.  Well now I know that they are not!!  After looking at so many, over 20 types – really no kidding I had no Idea!  Actually I think I am an expert now!!!  There are so many different types from the manual stick type that looks more like a toilet plunger than a clothes washer;  

to a manual hand crank tumbler; 

to an electric ‘egg’ thing; 

to a washer agitated by bicycle power, just like the one on Gilligan’s Island

to built in apartment size automatic washer – dryer combos designed specifically for sailboats.  

The clothes washers ranged in price from $20. to $3,000.

We really didn’t want to go through the trouble of having the plumbing, and electricity reconfigured in order to accommodate a built in clothes washer.  These clothes washers were the most expensive and most expensive to install: so we ruled them out.  

Sea u later.  House keeping chores on YOLO.  Part 2.