Starting to organize and Clean

The galley has been a mess for 6 months now.  It has turned into a great place to store things and has been the most logical "workbench" in the boat.  I have cut, sanded, carved, planed, sanded, epoxied, hammered and cursed at the surface of the galley counters and the epoxied piece of wood that I keep over one side of the sink for additional "Workbench" space.

Today I had one of those reminders on how this project has really shown Deb and I how well we work together most of the time.  It is not uncommon that she anticipates what I am working on and if I need that 'extra hand' or the next tool, she is right there with it.  It is one of those things I didn't even realize at first.  The seed was planted by my Dad during one of his visits last April.  Deb and I were working on some project (I don't even recall what it was now) but we had it set-up in our storage shed.  As we were working on whatever it was, my my dad commented that we work well together and everything seems planned or synchronized.   At the time, I just took it as a passing comment and thought, "yep, we do" and went on about our project.

A few weeks later, I was working on something when Deb was not around and I realized how much "back and forth" I was doing to get some tool off he shelf and then put it back, when I was done with the jig saw, I rolled the cable up, put it away and dragged out the vacuum.  When Deb and I are working on the project, I set the tool down and move to the next task and it gets miraculously put away neatly.  When cutting wood by myself, I was using clamps and pushing the wood up against the lathe to keep it from sliding as I made cuts.  These are the little things I didn't notice at first.
Yes, We Do Make A Good Team.  More importantly, Deb makes a great team-mate.

With that supportive and intuitive notion, Deb has also realized that I am getting a bit worn out on this refit.  I am ready to have part of the boat back into a usable state.  Something I can go down to and feel proud and enjoy it when I am there.  It was getting to the point where every time I went down below decks on the boat, I came back with a list of things that needed to get done.  It was starting to get frustrating.  This week, Deb has been getting things "setup".  For example in the rear head, she brought towels, toothbrush, soap, shampoo, deodorant, shaving supplies and all of the things needed to shower and make it usable.

Today, she cleaned up my "work bench" and organized the galley.  It is not complete like it will be when we move aboard, but I can get to the cups, and there is some food in the cupboards and some cold drinks in the fridge.  

The navigation station has been the sorting table for screws and small parts (smaller than a quarter) for the last 2 weeks and finding half used boxes or bags of screws everywhere.  Most all of the screws have been sorted by size, stainless or non, put into compartmentalized storage bins and tucked away in some little nook or cranny.  When that is cleared off completely, it will be a wonderful feeling.

Ok, I must confess, I am typing this blog sitting in the salon on a folded old towel because all of the cushions are out of the room preparing for varnish.  I looked up at the nav station and started to giggle a bit.  It is a disaster, I had to take a picture and just give you some insight into what a mess it is right now.  I think this is going to be the thing that Deb and I will struggle most with when living aboard.  No room to leave "stuff" out.  If you need something, dig it out of it's hidey hole and when done, put it all back.  The put it all back part is going to take some getting used to. :)