Ship ahoy - We are moving "house"
Guys, we're moving to a ship!
In September 2021, one day after Thierry's birthday to be precise, we meet Ivan at Pontile San Gennaro in Castellammare di Stabia, Naples. Ivan has owned a 1994 Bénéteau Oceanis 440 to date and the Pontile San Gennaro will be our home port for the next few months. A final, thorough inspection inside and out, a quick handshake with everyone, and we are standing on our new home with two keys in our hands, as the new owners of the boat.
Look, I can stand upright!
After a good three months in the van, it's definitely a huge upgrade in terms of space here! 😁
It takes a few weeks before we start to get used to all the changes, big and small. The noises, for example, are in a league of their own👂 The hurdles of everyday life put us into a completely different rhythm than we are used to. Supposedly small tasks quickly fill the day. Scratching our heads, we open every hatch and lift every board - there's still a lot to understand here...
From Napoli to the Swiss flag
The boat, previously named "ARIISA", was registered in Italy with Ivan as the owner. In order to register our boat in Switzerland and sail under the Swiss flag, the Italian flag must be cancelled. Sounds simple? Ha - that was a good one. Nooot. 😫 Ivan sends us an agent to take care of the paperwork and formalities. Luckily, cause we only understand babedipupi 🤷♀️ It took no less than 4 months for us to get the final paperwork from the Agenzia delle Entrate! The registration in Switzerland was organised in two days. Why exactly did we want to leave...?⏲
Kite-Trip and camping time-out
Until then, we also had a visit from the Berger family and Mum & Dad Schaller! 🥰 One short kite trip with the Bergers with an Airbnb on the beach in Vieste, and one family time on the boat and campsite 🚐🏖 Hochi comes on board just in time for the Swiss flag and we set off on our first multi-day trip: we head for the island of Procida in the Gulf of Naples, intend to sleep at anchor there and sail back the next day. We haven't completely given up on being landlubbers either. We visit our good friends Zoé and Alessandro in Viterbo and later again in Rome. Over Christmas we fly to Switzerland as surprise guests and also spend the whole of February here to work.
And what about the boat?
Wow, lots of things. If this is getting too technical for you, you can scroll on to the pictures 😃 It started small, with swapping saloon lamps and understanding the wiring, or finding out why suddenly there's seawater in the fridge 😂 Every day we get to know our new companion a little better. We remove almost two kilos of limescale from the fresh water tanks and give them a citric acid bath. Small upgrades here and there that make life easier. For example, an electric toilet flush - amazing! The navigation electronics are pimped with a new radio station and new AIS transponder. This helps us to avoid collisions, especially at night or in poor visibility. See and be seen, so to speak.
In March, we'll take our big one out of the water and get the entire hull ready, including a new propeller shaft and bearings. All of the ship's thruhulls are changed to TrueDesign, and we replace all of the old bathroom and kitchen hoses. We continue with the installation of a black water tank in the right-hand head, including drilling through the hull twice. Ok, been there, done that 😎
Powerrr..... Soooolar powerrr!
Of course, we want to keep our batteries topped up somehow without having to be constantly plugged in at marinas🔌 The solution is solar energy! Not only green, but also practical! 😉 However, in order to mount solar panels, we need an arch at the stern of the boat. After a few weeks of searching for ideas, taking imprecise measurements and drawing and discarding sketches, we have a plan in our heads. As the little world would have it, one day we meet Antonio in the Marina di Stabia. He only speaks Italian and is now building our arch. He fulfils all our special requests, even cooks spaghetti vongole with his friend and leaves us with a great job! 🤩🤝 So then, we slap the panels on, pull in the cables for two days and put the solar charger into operation. Tadaaaa: we're now living off solar power. Nice.☀
The last major project
At least for the time being. We're talking about the autopilot. We want a new autopilot so that one of us doesn't have to be at the helm 24/7 to keep us on course. The existing one is pretty underpowered - it might be enough for coastal cruisers like Ivan, but it's a bit puny for us ocean cruisers. Sorry Ivan. Antonio makes us the necessary mounting brackets. We lay all the cables, install the new controls and finally the new autopilot arm. After a few initial difficulties, we have achieved a solid solution that will hopefully take us many nautical miles through the seas of this world🌎
So our baby is ready for her first season on the road - YEAH! Let's go on new adventures! 😎🥳
