You know, some times it might seem that I’m not doing much on a specific day. I might write something about me planning, maybe doing some minor things and then add “and some cleaning” or something in that neighborhood.

I thought that I should show you a little bit what that means.

I bought a former charter boat, as you might have picked up earlier, and with that comes some very specific conditions. One is neglect, in most ways possible really. I was aware of this of course, even if I could have been more meticulous when I surveyed, but the price did mirror this fact at some degree. Had I known then what I know today, maybe more so. Or I might even have walked away from the deal. Who knows?

Neglect comes in many forms, like a leaking companionway hatch that weren’t attended properly, battery monitor not connected correctly or, as the topic is this time, dirt and grime.

You see, when someone owns a boat and have paid good money for it it usually also means that they take care of it. If its on the other hand is a calculated write off and in the end something you just want get rid of when you are done with it there is not much care. And if you charter a boat, your focus naturally is to get the most out of this investment that you have done, which means that you don’t care of the boat as long as it meets your expectations.

So if you, as a charter company, owns a boat for thirteen years and hardly cares for it, doing minimum maintenance and probably very little preventive maintenance, chartering it to people that definitely doesn’t care about the boat you eventually get a boat in a sub-par state.

So, if I knew this when I bought her why am I even mentioning this? Well, some people ask if they should get a charter boat or not and my answer to that is to be aware of what they are buying. Realize that the boat is at its end as a charter boat, which doesn’t mean that it is a bad boat, just that it has had its share of neglect and abuse and that the charter company doesn’t want it in their fleet any more. So get a survey, but even they can’t see everything, but also make sure that you see the boat for several days. Alone preferably. So that you can dig through all the systems, all the nooks and crannies that needs to be investigated. Build up a list with things that is broken, badly worn, leaking and so on. Any costs that you know you will have to take if you buy the boat. Find out how the electrical system looks, it is a dead giveaway if the boat has been maintained or not. Also take a deep look at the motor and the sump under it. Clean? Not clean? Oily? Not oily?

Then make the deal, if you still like what you see.

So, back to the topic of the day: cleaning.

The neglect is also cleaning. Aways bilge is d.i.r.t.y. for sure. They have done some half-assed attempts to clean it out sometimes, but that’s about it. It is getting better though, and eventually it will be great! The storage areas has been kind of cleaned up every now and then, but then you look a bit closer, in hard to reach or in more secluded areas and you can see the neglect that an owner most likely wouldn’t accept (sure, there are those that doesn’t care about their boats, but don’t buy a privately owned boat that looks as if it has been chartered, you know).

So, today I didn’t do much. Apart from cleaning the forward cabins storage. Hair. Yeah, hair. I’m not sure how many people that have donated some of their bodily hair to my boat, but I still have some kind of aversion feeling hairs entangled around my fingers as I squeeze the sponge in the water. It just… no. Not a nice feeling. But otherwise I’m not that grossed out really. I can’t be. Because I have to get it done.

And here is where I get a little philosophical, because I want to share a life lesson that I have had through the years. I have already mentioned it earlier, but let’s phrase it in practical terms. When I clean now I try to make it perfect. Not perfect as in it can’t get any better, but perfect as in getting it done. At the same time, doing something is worth doing it well. So I’m not trying to “do” it just to check it off my list of never ending to-dos, but I’m trying to make it after my best ability at the moment. I might be tired, I might be distracted or whatnot, but when I do it I try to make it as good as I can. It is perfect? Yes! But not as in “you can operate in this room” or “you can eat off this surface” kind of perfect.

It is perfect in the moment when it is done. Just because of that very specific reason – that it is done. Because striving for perfection can make you end up never doing it. Afraid to fail, knowing that you can’t achieve perfection or just not seeing the goal because it is too far away. Perfection is a mentality, not a state.

That is how I try to live my life, in small things and large. Just as I clean Away. Perfect for now. When I get better the things that what was perfect yesterday might not be it today. And that is perfect in itself. We all learn and constantly improve, by challenging ourselves and each other.

Enough of this zen stuff! Let me gross you out by showing you how a charter company attends to details and how an owner does it, in particular the owner of Away – me.

This is one of those hard to reach, hard to see places in the boat. It is actually like a hidden compartment in the forward storage areas that I cleaned today. This is pretty much how I found it.

After some time, sweating and legs going numb due to sitting in an awkward position to reach, it looked more like this.

I hope that you can spot the difference. This is pretty much how she looks in every hidden compartment. So cleaning is a good bit of my preparations to go sailing. I did find some “trashures” this time.

Looks like a chewing gum of unknown flavor there, in the bottom of the pile. A black string of some sort. Hair. Lots of hair. Yeach! Gross!

So, yeah. That’s what behind me “doing some cleaning” when I write that.

I knew I wrote yesterday that I would give you something special today, this wasn’t it. I’m still learning how to do it, but as soon as I’m done you will be the first to know! It will be perfect, I promise.