Lake Superior gave us quite the scare recently – and we weren’t even on the water! We were on a little road trip and stopped at a beach. At the very end, we saw a splash of color bobbing around. We realized it was a little boat. It didn’t look tied up, and I started to think the worst. Hubby and I ran as quickly as we could through the sand but, to our relief, the boat looked as though it had simply been stolen from a dock by the powerful waves. We reported it and hopefully it was reunited with its owner after being tossed around like a pop can by Lake Superior.
When I announced our plan to buy a sailboat in another city – and my desire sail it home over the Great Lakes, everyone thought I had lost my mind and I was inundated with intimidating – at times contradictory – Lake Superior facts. Did you know that Lake Superior is the largest of the Great Lakes and, if you’re considering surface area, is the largest freshwater lake in the world? By volume, it’s the third largest. The deepest point is 1300 feet and it holds enough water to flood all of North and South America with a foot of water. Waves taller than 40 feet have been recorded on Lake Superior – 51 feet is reportedly the highest! That’s incredibly scary! Perhaps the saddest fact: I’ve read that more than 10,000 lives have been lost, with more than 350 recorded shipwrecks.
Okay, okay, it’s probably a good thing we ended up buying a boat from a local, because I don’t think we were quite ready for that epic a journey. But I’m excited to get out on Lake Superior and explore it more! In our last sailboat, a small Fireball, we never ventured very far from shore but with this larger sailboat, who knows how far we’ll sail?
We’ve been working on the boat and we’re hoping to launch soon. The tired and torn cushions are already with a local upholster (I chose Loft Indigo by Sunbrella for the new cushions – I’m definitely going for a different look, design-wise!). I snapped some photos the day we purchased the boat and already it’s looking so much cleaner. While Hubby has been tinkering with the engine, I’ve been scrubbing, decluttering and oiling wood. For now, here’s a tour of the “before” of our sailboat – with better photos and a video tour coming once the sailboat is looking a little more…shipshape 😉
When you first enter the companionway, this is what you see:
Actually, this is what I saw first:
I can’t wait to polish up those beautiful wood floors! The steps are really gorgeous too (and they remove to reveal access to the engine – so clever!):
To the left when you first clamber down is the little galley. I’ve got my eyes peeled for a retro stove, but they can be super pricey!
Beside the galley is a seating area that slides out to form a double bed. Our new cushions will have a really high end mattress-grade foam and we’ll be able to sleep six people! On the wall is my favorite feature, a table that swings down. When I snapped these photos the cabin was full of sails and the former owner’s stuff so I couldn’t easily pop it into place (there were also three of us in here), but for the “after” tour I will – it’s gorgeous!
On the right is the quarter berth (with panels that slide out to reveal more engine access), navigation table, and more seating. I still need to read through a book, no fewer than a million pages long, and pass a test to get my operator’s certificate to operate the marine radio. Don’t they know I’m too busy thinking about how to decorate my boat?
Beyond where Hubby is standing in the first photo, toward the v-berth, is our toilet and shower on the left, with the tiniest bi-fold door you’ve ever seen. You may not refer to this as the washroom, it’s called the “head”. Don’t worry – the bucket does not serve a functional purpose in this space. Near as I can tell, it’s decorative.
To the right is hanging storage and teeny tiny drawers:
Beyond that is the v-berth, with bunk beds and drawers – and a hatch above, for staring at the night sky…
It looks a little rough in these photos – they’re just cellphone snaps and there was still a tarp covering the hatches and portholes, making it seem much more dim. It already looks so different because we removed bags and bags of stuff left behind, plus I’ve been scrubbing, cleaning, and teak oiling my heart out. But I love these photos because they show exactly what our sailboat looked like when we bought it and it will be exciting to see it transform with the new upholstery and a few decorative accents. I already bought some insanely gorgeous linen for some throw pillows.
If I had the budget and time, I’d be tempted to do a major reno on this sailboat but, for this year at least, the most important goal is to just get this beast on the water and sail it home!
Happy Canada Day to all of my Canadian friends, and an early Happy Fourth of July to my friends a little more South. I hope everyone has time to get out to explore these beautiful countries of ours this long weekend.
UPDATE: Tour our updated Sailboat interior right here! Check out the upgraded upholstery and the special ice dyed pillows I made just for the boat.
Happy Canada Day, Tanya! (Belated, but heartfelt) The second pic (Katherine Cove) is AMAZING. The colurs! The glitteriness! Canada has been one of my fantasy travel destinations for years, and this picture reminds me of why I always wanted to visit Canada. So beautiful.
I hope you get the chance to visit one day! There is still SO much of this country I have yet to see myself.I love stopping at Katherine's Cove when we're traveling by car to Toronto – it's such a great place to stretch our legs a little on the long drive 🙂
Not too shabby, can't wait to see what you do with it.
I am very excited to see that awful upholstery replaced. The colour wasn't too offensive, but the fabric and foam was literally disintegrating. It will be a huge change just to see that freshened up!
Thanks for the sneak peek inside your sailboat! All that wood is going to come up a treat with some elbow grease and love! x
Thanks for the vote of confidence, Michelle! I can't complain about caring for the wood because so many boats we toured were faux wood and I just love the look of real teak so much.
That boat look fantastic, wood needs bit of sanding, varnishing and polishing to be good as new. Almost all things you can do it on your own. But if you ask me I would leave it as it is because I love that impression of years boat have sailed on lake.
I agree – there's something so great about seeing the wear. I'm just going to do enough to preserve it and keep it from drying out this year. We'll see down the road if I do any major restoration work. Frankly, just a clean and some oiling have done wonders to perk it up!
Thanks for sharing pics of the boat! I hear ya' re endless oiling – we spent a weekend a couple of weeks ago doing the same on my BF's CS30. Worth the effort. Still have to finish waxing and polishing the top deck, though And as for the motion sickness, I've been prone to quite bad motion nausea all my life. I was worried when my BF bought his boat, that that would be the end of the relationship if my cookies couldn't stay settled! I LOVE being by, on, in water, so I had to find a solution. I discovered Sea Band – a miracle, they work so well!!! http://www.sea-band.com/caCan't wait to see the updated upholstery!
I love that you can relate! We haven't even tackled anything up top, yet – it's still under a tarp, oy. It wasn't sailed in a few years, so it's been a bit more work than we anticipated but nothing major has popped up (whew). Have you been out on the water a lot this year? I feel summer slipping away…Thanks for the tip about Sea Band. I don't know yet if I will have sea sickness. I haven't on our Fireball, but we'll be heading out in choppier water! I'll keep Sea Band in mind. I appreciate any and all tips/info you're willing to share!
We've been out a few times, once with little wind so bobbed around. Another with strong, variable winds so I was glad for the Sea Bands. Time spent at the dock in the lovely weather is also most enjoyable! Don't worry, there's still a lot of summer left. 🙂
Boats are like little mini cottages – fun even where you're not going anywhere! Our fireball was designed for racing, so it wasn't fun to just hang out on. We HAD to be sailing/moving! So happy to hear you've had fun so far this summer. Why do I feel like it's just going by so fast?
It will be fun to watch this come together! And those first/third pictures of that flooded little boat, are just beautiful. I'd hang one on my walls (seriously… would you sell/share a copy of the digital file?).
I'm excited to transform this boat! The upholstery alone will be a huge change, for sure.I will happily share the photo with you – I'm so thrilled you like it! Once we confirmed it was just a lost boat, I had a lot of fun photographing it. I can email you larger copies, if you like. I re-size them for the blog so they don't take forever to load, but I can send a larger copy of both pictures. Feel free to email me: [email protected] 🙂
I love boats but I ma scared of sailing. What scares me most is fact that wind and waves can rip of boat so easy and bring it so far away from deck. Congratulations on new boat but I could not sale ever.
I completely understand! Before buying our boat, I watched dozens of videos of huge lakers getting tossed around by Lake Superior like toy boats! We will do our best to stay safe and have plans to hug the shore a lot – which is why we looked for a shallow keel. But, yeah, I totally get your fear – waves can be super scary…
Tanya…we just purchased a 1983 Ticon 30′ yours look just the same except you have a door to the vberth!!! Ours also need some TLC although most major stuff work well….we used to boat Georgian Bay but are in Lake Ontario at the moment. Love to keep in touch. Is there a Ticon owners group that you know of? Liz
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Hi Liz, so nice to e-meet you! Congrats on your Ticon 30!! I’d love to see photos! ([email protected]). I don’t know of a group. If we can’t find one, we should start one – that would be so fun.