The Retirement Wake on S/V Imagine

Christmas on S/V Imagine is not much different than Christmas in a house. I get JOY no matter if it is on the boat or on land. Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation. I feel this everyday of my life, and am grateful for having it. I wonder how sometimes things have turned out so well at this point in my life.  Choice is what we all have, and by the grace of God we are able to fail and try again.  Even with all the bad or good choices we might have made.  It is only a blink of an eye of what is to come for all of us that believe. As I sit here riding out a storm that has blown into south Texas, winds blowing up to 40 mph with the boat rocking.  The wife is tucked in bed like a baby, and I am up enjoying my morning. We are a week away from flying back home to Arkansas to visit family, and see my first born John

Bon Voyage my Friends!   When we first bought the our boat, Diane was the first person I met on our pier.  She is a very sweet, kind and giving person. Paul, her husband is also a great guy filled with knowledge, and open to help others at a moments notice. We are sad to see them leave, but excited that they have started there dream! In the boating community you do not loose friends, but gain adventurers.    Paul and Diane  on Sea Casa     Last Time going out the Kemah Channel

Tis the Season to Cruise Update from S/V Imagine living on the Retirement Wake.  The Retirement Wake is the blog for Carol and Ken living on S/V Imagine.  We moved from Arkansas to Texas to live on THE BOAT!  We had looked long and hard and when she found us we knew it was time to make the jump.  Knowing we were still having to work a couple more years we did it.  When we moved, we had a lake house back in Arkansas, we rented it via VRBO which did pay for the expenses of that property and provided a small amount of income.  Then it sold and was a blessing for us, it pushed us one step closer to shoving off. We are now adding more to our savings and investments for another year and some critical boat projects I want to do. Boat Projects New jib. (the one we have when we bough the boat is about 7 ft short) Permanently mount AIS (however we use BOAT Beacon which is a APP works good but not the solution for long voyages) Fuel tank #2 (ours is only 26 gal, which gives us 24 hour

We have lived on our sailboat for almost a full year, and we made the pledge to keep her ready for sailing.  We sail often, but never have made a bigger trip to this date..  Most have been day sails, and a few overnight trips to Red Fish Island which is only a couple of hours away.  Our first planned and chartted trip came just a couple of weeks ago.  We left Kemah Tx. to Gaveston Tx. with only 28 NM, it is a big step for us.  A trip full of first for the botth of us. We get up early and set out by 8:00 AM so we can make the 5 hour journey and get there by early afternoon.  We took pictures to show our journey to Galveston, Tx. and to share with you. Pelicans on the first maker going out of our marina House on   Kemah Channel going out.   AKA The Flasher  Kemah Boardwalk just before going into the bay.  First time in the Houston Ship Channel.  Shrimp boat working in the bay.  "Bubba Gump"  First time in the ICW.  First time calling to raise a bridge.  First time going under a

What is it all about? After living on our boat for almost 9 months we still get questions. You live on a boat?  Yes. What do you do when it rains?  Uh, watch TV, take a nap, read a book, what do you do? You have a kitchen?  No, we do not, we have a galley. What about a bathroom?  No, but we do have a head. You really live on a boat?  Yep.   Even though we are still in the marina, with cruising in the future we do get to have a lot of the same benefits.  I look around our marina and I see lots of lonely boats. Both sail and power that just sit, never visited or taken out to do what boats do.  To paint the picture we have the boats that sit and never visited, some of these are taken care of extremley well.  A few are rotting away with no love or hope for the future.  We have some that are visited by weekenders and they return back to dirt dwellers.   Then we have the live aboards who live day to day on their boat.   They give them life, with hopes of cruising in remote islands one day fu

It has been a couple of months since we last posted, mainly because the weater has been less than fun.  It has been very busy otherwise, trips back to Arkansas, new grandchild, and work for BOTH of us.  Yes that is a big deal with Carol being off for over 6 months while she had her surgeries.  The Retirement Wake is back on course!   Boat Projects have included just routine maintenance to installing new achor chain and new anchor.   Imagine came with a 35# CQR which is a very popular anchor with a resonable good history of success. On a trip to Red Fish Island hit held in the Galveston Bay mud in 30 mph winds with Gust to 40 mph with only 3/4" 3 strand twist and 3 ft of chain.  (it is what came with the boat) From the beginning I new I wanted a new anchor based on the fact that the 35# CQR was on the bottom end for size in a storm of any size.   I wanted as my primary something that should get us up to a low grade Hurricane.  The choice needed to include one that will hold in chan

Before living on a sailboat I had read books, blogs, forums, etc., it did help gather information and prepare for the life. However, there is so much more that is "On the Job Training" so to speak of.  We have had to  battle with condensation around the portholes, and storage areas around the hull for the first time since living aboard.  It really is simple, if you remember back in science class while you were grade school. Remember that if it is warm on one side of moist air and it collides with cold air  you get a cloud which is suspended moisture.  So, with the boat nice and toasty and it colliding with the hull that has cold water against it,  you get moisture.  Ventilation is essential to keeping things dry.  In the bedroom I started smelling a very pundget smell, I swear I though the cat had done his business in the bed.  Washed the sheet, mattress pad etc. with not much change.  I lifted up the mattress and is was soaking wet on the boards which  cover the water tank a

We did move on board a bit early for a plan, however the boat came available so we did it.  Even having to work we still get to live aboard and experience the lifestyle.  Being connected at the dock is not our true dream we still love the beginning. The last couple of weeks it has been raining, cold, gray, cloudy and just not much fun.  Condensation battle and solutions were found.  Learning how good our heater worked and hoping that will never have to be used again once we cut the lines.  Kemah is like the 2nd or 3rd largest boating communites in the U.S. and it has good access to the bay and further.  One thing we have learned is that Galveston Bay is SHALLOW, being form Arkansas living on a lake were it was up to 100 ft deep on our lake this is odd to us.  We only daw 5'4" but what I did learn yesterday coming back in our channel is a high spot at low tide.  When my depth finder reads 3.9 we touch!  Good thing is is just soft nasty mud. One thing about Galveston Bay on a go

2014 was a very confusing year, and I will explain why.  I was looking at my Timehop pics this morning and it was a year ago this weekend that we had came down to actuallly set foot on some boats we thought we liked.  Then by April we found our boat here in Kemah, that following October we moved aboard fulltime.   Yea, most of you will say why is that a bad year, oh the story has just begun. My wifes youngest sister who had already kicked breast cancer's butt, found out she had a genetic issue called CDH1 gene mutation.  Well that has caused that entire side of my wifes family to get tested.  A lot have tested positive, and some have tested negative.  CDH1 is a nasty little booger that is not on the main front of cancer TV ads or testimonials.   However, I think it has  a broader reach than it is currently known to have.  It first causes stomach cancer, and it causes a stomach cancer that is very hard to detect.  For instance my wife had her genetic testing done and was positve.  S