The Start of the F39 Trimaran.

Well folks... we've officially started building the F39! (I say "we" because you know... I kind of help! Ha!) You might be wondering, "what the heck is an F39?!" I've mentioned it a few times on here, but here's a picture to jog your memory.

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It's called a trimaran because it has three parts... the main hull and two floats with two tramps connecting it all. They are awesome because of instead of a huge, 6,000 pound keel to give it support it has two very light weight floats. This boat will be significantly lighter than Viking and will go more than twice as fast!

we love you Viking... but monohulls are just SO dang slow and fat

We bought the plans in September 2012... So this has been a LLOONNGGG time coming and we are pretty dang excited over here!

Before we could start the boat we needed a place to BUILD it. Remember when we were trying to find a house with a big yard to build a shop? But then we measured our backyard and figured out we can make it work. So even though we don't have a "real" workshop with hard walls and a heating system, etc... we have a pretty great alternative!

The tent aka the workshop! 

It is HUGE and takes up well over half of the yard (sorry future kids!) Before we could set it up Landon had to tear up our concrete patio. Not going to lie, it was pretty cute watching him be all manly. I also couldn't stop singing, "so cut through the heart, cold and clear. Strike for love and strike for fear. See the beauty sharp and sheer. Split the ice apart and break the frozen heart..."

we call this The Great Wall of Landon. Look at all that concrete!!! 

Landon spent a few days setting the tent up, stringing lights, and we've already spent a few hours at Home Depot and Fiberlay (a fiberglass distributor). I just can't believe we have finally STARTED!!

it's hard to get an idea of how big it is from a picture, but take my word for it! The tent is 40 feet long!

Landon has already started tracing the forms! EEEEK! :D

We have some wood in our front room and we are loving the way it makes our house smells like a lumber yard. Wood smells SO good. Hey Scentsy... there's an idea for you...Lumber Yard :)

One of the questions everyone asks us is when the boat will be finished. If money wasn't an issue and we could just buy all the supplies upfront... maybe 5 years. But considering I won't be working for too much longer and we will be down to one income, it's going to be closer to 10+ years.

About a year ago we sat down and wrote out our life plan. I know that sounds silly... but we literally wrote down what we wanted to be doing in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 25 years, etc. It's weird but ever since writing it all out and giving ourselves a timeline, everything has started happening. Instead of just talking about our dreams... we are actually doing them. It's a really exciting feeling. Some of the things on "the plan" include: 

• Buy a boat to hold us over since the F39 is going to take a decade to build. (CHECK!)
• Sail in the ocean and build experience doing longer voyages. (CHECK!)
• Buy a house to build a workshop (CHECK!... except we decided to just work with what we have and stay in our current house instead!)
• Build a workshop (CHECK!)
• Start our family (not quite check... but don't you wish you know what our timeline is for this?! Ahh I love secrets! ;)
• There's a big gap here but basically raise our kids, build the boat, take our kids on long sailing trips, pay off all debt, sell Viking, etc.
• Retire as soon as our kids are out of the house and live on our F39! We are hoping to retire pretty young (around 50) and possibly just work odd jobs/part time to support our sailing lifestyle. It actually won't cost much to live on the boat and island hop in the Caribbean... and doesn't that sound like a dream? Oh man...

Obviously plans don't always, in fact they never, go according to plan... but that doesn't mean you should just give up on them! It's SO good to have a plan and a framework for your life. Otherwise you won't really move forward. Goals and plans help us to get going in the right direction and obviously there will be detours... but this is a good start! :)

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Building the F39 isn't just a hobby or something that is purely materialistic. It's pretty much our future. I hope our kids love sailing and love this adventure they're going to be born into! I can already picture them running outside to help dad in the shop or hoisting the sails on Viking... they're childhood is definitely going to be unique! 

plans.

So we are officially building the "big butt" (read all about it here) and couldn't be more excited! As soon as we got back from the cruise our plans had arrived in the mail. Landon was like a little boy on Christmas morning :)

This beauty is going to take five years to build... so until then we are making plans for where we want to go. We'll start by sailing up and down the coast, then probably start with bigger trips like to Hawaii, to Italy, to Japan, to wherever the heck we want! We are going to sail everywhere and anywhere and go around the whole world. I've always said I was meant to be a pirate...I just love boats and being on the water!

One of the coolest things about this boat is that most boats this size CANNOT be carried by a trailer... but we will be able to store this in our backyard (if we can figure out how to make it fit!) or in storage and then trailer it to the marina. This also means I will be getting a NEW CAR (yayyayaya!) so we can tow it.

I also love these nets. It'll be so fun cruising through warm water, laying on them!

Because of the design of this boat, it goes very very fast. I think it can cruise at around 20 knots, which is how fast our cruise ship went!

We are so dang excited for all of the adventures we will have because of this boat.

Big Butt

When I first met Landon my very very very first impression of him was, he is thee coolest person I have ever met. I knew life with him would be an adventure.

So want to know what his next project is? Not a little 11 foot sailboat. A 32 foot yatch yacth yacht. A sailboat that can literally sail around the world. 

F-32 Trimaran  (link to more info on the big butt here)

Now that's a big butt! If you haven't seen Finding Nemo... you're going to be horribly confused for the rest of this post, plus you are really missing out!

Who in the heck are we? Man, if you told me three years ago that I would be marrying a motorcycle riding, computer processor designer, pilot, boat maker/sailor I would have laughed in your face. Hysterically. 

I'm not making this stuff up. He's really just that cool :)

This boy has goals. Big goals. And most people, like me, would say, "that'd be nice but way too much work" or "I have no idea how to build a boat." He just says, "I've never done this before but I know I can do it!"

Dang, I want to harness some of that attitude! It took me SEVEN MONTHS to muster up enough self confidence to figure out how to take down a tiny strip of wallpaper across the top of our kitchen cabinets. Seven months of excuses, whinings, and I don't know how's. 

But because of Landon, one day I will own a yacht and sail around the world. Isn't that absolutely crazy?

In other less exciting, but still kind of exciting news, progress on our little butt is continuing. Her name is officially Thumbelina (most of you probably know why) and she will be gun metal gray, white, and black--a pretty classy looking butt if you ask me. 

Here are some recent pictures for your viewing pleasure:

covering the seats with fiberglass

on our grass drying. it was cool to see the butt off her stand and out in the open :)

almost all of the wood is covered by fiberglass now. It's a shame because the wood was so pretty!

By the way, I don't help much with the butt anymore. I sit on my own butt on a camping chair in the garage and read or blog while he works. 

We just like being in the same room :)