an Agile approach to boat development
This morning, my first official day of unemployment, Brian and I woke up early for a quick project review in the salon. It turns out that boat projects and software/curriculum development work pretty much the same way, and I’ll be looking forward to daily scrum for some much-needed structure and teamwork as I deal with workplace withdrawal. We’ve got a lot to do before we leave at the end of the month, and that list will surely grow before it starts shrinking.
Not that it’s been all sailing and happy hours for the last three months. We’ve been pretty good about fitting in after-hours projects, all summer long. Here is a photo summary of our top seven projects from the past three months:
- Repaint aft cabin
mildew close-up from aft cabin walls and ceiling – growing UNDER the latest coat of paint
freshly painted aft cabin
2. Replace old throttle
old throttle, dismembered
new throttle
3. Replace old Ideal windlass with a new Lewmar windlass (the machinery that raises and lowers the anchor)
old windlass, dismembered
new windlass
4. New ground rigging (25 kg Rocna anchor and 250 ft of 3/8 inch steel chain)
getting ready to mark 250 feet of 3/8 inch steel anchor chain
5. Galley sink replacement
old galley sink that could barely contain one dish and inspired us to exercise the full extent of our expletive vocabularies on a nightly basis
NYC taxi loaded with new sink and plate for frigoboat marine refrigerator
new galley sink (new water filtration system not pictured)
6. Portlight shades project (still in progress)
Brian working out a prototype for our new portlight covers
7. Removing old name from the transom
peeling the old vinyl name from the transom
buffing to remove stains and adhesive
hand-polishing the transom
shadow still remains, more work to be done here
I should also mention that in addition to these top seven projects, we’ve also removed two outdated heads (toilets) and installed an Airhead composting toilet and a Jabsco air-lock toilet in their place, reconfigured the anchor locker to accommodate all that new chain, installed a new hose and handheld sprayer for the aft head shower, replaced 80% of the old lights with LEDs, updated the steering pedestal with new electric outlets with USB ports to power our iPad (which we use for navigation), updated the sound system, added digital monitors for the fridge temperature and battery levels, and successfully changed the oil in the injector pump (a big deal for two people who haven’t owned cars since college).
Don’t worry though, we’re still taking time to enjoy the simple pleasures of boat life…
Where are we now?
It still boggles my mind that you guys have two toilets. Most NYC apartments don’t have that.
It’s a first for us! We lived in a place smaller than the boat in the East Village.
You guys have been busy! Looks great!
@Allison Cordle Thanks lady! Looking forward to having you guys aboard.
You forgot to add celebratory drinks with us! Clearly the most important thing to discuss during scrum 😉
A thousand times, YES!
I’m impressed with all your skills!
@Clair Zarges Between Brian’s interest in pulling things apart and putting them back together, and my attention to detail with things like painting, varnishing, and waxing, we make a pretty good team.
Hi! What was the new sink you bought? I’m searching for a new sink for my boat as well…
Hi Taras,
We had the sink made by a stainless steel fabricator who makes sinks for restaurant kitchen. He has a shop in NYC Chinatown’s restaurant supply district. Are you close to the city? I’d be happy to give you the name.
Hi. I love your galley sink and would love to have one made for our galley. Would you mind sharing the contact info for the fabricator? Also, what are the dimensions of your sink? Thanks
Hi Tadji, We walked into a restaurant kitchen equipment fabrication place in Chinatown, NYC, gave them the dimensions and made a cash deal. It’s a company called Leader Trading USA. Email Simon at leadertradingusa [at] hotmail [dot] com . We’ve sent others this way in the past and learned that the cost has tripled since we did it. Not sure what happened there. Unfortunately, we’ve sold the boat and I do not have a record of the dimensions. Do you have a Whitby/Brewer?