Some improvements we've made to the boat this weekend:
1. An adjustable laptop stand from Twelve South called the HiRise turns the aft galley counter into a perfect standing desk for me. (This might also work in the Airstream on top of the cutting board in the kitchen.)
Kevin can put his laptop on top of the chart table in the pilot house and it's already the perfect height for him to work standing when he wants to.
2. I've been wanting these Schmidt Bros. knives forever, but when I found them, I already had good knives at home and good knives in the Airstream. While working out the organization of the kitchen drawers and cutlery on Airship, I realized there wasn't a good solution to deal with the knives that came with the boat (nothing special, but surprisingly sharp for "knives that came with the boat"). I didn't want them just hanging out together in one of the slots in the drawer organizer (and the protective sheaths I have on the knives in the Airstream are kind of annoying).
Some of the other boats we looked at had a cool drop in/slot system right behind the stove, but we don't have that. However, as I was thinking about that drop-in slot system, I remembered the knife block that Schmidt Bros. makes (called the "Downtown" block). It's about a foot wide and only a few inches deep, has a magnetic system that holds your knives between a pretty teak block with a piece of acrylic on either side, so I looked it up and measured, and what do you know? This would fit PERFECTLY in that unused space behind the stove. Oh and also…the bonded teak starter set was on sale. (I added this 7 inch Mofotoku knife to the set, far left.)
3. Kevin installed a subwoofer, which has greatly improved the sound quality of the entertainment system. We attached it onto the back wall of the cupboard behind the settee/dinette, so it's out of the way and takes up very little of the cupboard space.
This is the subwoofer we chose. It's super slim, 8 inches wide by 3 inches deep, 600 watts, marine/waterproof (so we could have installed it outside, I guess).
At the moment that cupboard is also the cupboard where the bourbon, Aperol, vodka and vermouth are…so if the bass starts rattling the bottles, we'll need to come up with a different spot for those. 🙂
If it stops raining here in a bit I think I'm going to go out and work on cleaning the dinghy. The fun never ends!
Yesterday we took a trip over to Black Rock Seafood where we picked up a couple Dungeness crabs, super fresh just-fileted halibut, a couple pounds of Manila clams, some salmon pâté, and a jar of pickled herring. Reviews online said this pickled herring was some of the best, and in my limited pickled herring experience, I have to agree now that I've tried it. Yum!
This is Black Rock Seafood…basically a little building behind a house:
Last night I made this (original recipe shown below – Linquine with Clams and Chorizo) but I used zucchini "noodles" instead of pasta and it was delicious!
I cracked one of the crabs and we had crab salad for lunch yesterday (and will probably do the same today). Tonight: grilled halibut and roasted broccoli.
I think tomorrow the solar panel installation will be finished and then all we'll be waiting for is the decktop freezer. Can't wait to get out of the marina again! (And the marina here in Anacortes is pretty nice!)
