Come Aboard for a Short Tour

It occurred to me that perhaps you might like to see where Bill and I will be spending most of our time in the very near future. I calculate that we'll have approximately 500 square feet of interior living space -- close quarters, yes, but will take all of 15 minutes to clean! So, how about a house tour?

This is the pilot house, the first room you enter when you board the Pure Grace on her starboard side (that's right to landlubbers). Rather than accept the typical factory-installed captain's chair, which took up nearly half the floor space, we put in a nice gameroom bar chair. Swivel to your left and you'll see a leather L-shaped sofa which pulls out to a queen size bed. Since boaters try to utilize every surface as much as possible, Bill has an idea to put a nice wood clothing chest on top of the shelf behind the sofa.

Next, let's make our way down three steps into the companionway (aka hallway). There's a tiny coat closet and a narrow-shelved cabinet -- a good place for Bill's cigars!

The river yacht has two heads (bathrooms), both with showers. The forward head shower is so tiny it's claustrophic, but when we have overnight guests we sacrifice the stateroom and larger head for their comfort. The second stateroom is on the lower level, actually under the pilot house and has one double and one twin bed and more storage space. There's also a closet that's fitted with electrical and plumbing should we ever feel the need to install a washer-dryer unit, which does both the washing and drying in one drum.

Just around the corner to the right is the master stateroom. The queen-size bed lifts up from the foot to reveal more storage space. There's another small closet so we'll have to store off-season clothes somewhere else. The vanity isn't much good for putting on make-up as sitting on the bed is too far for close-up work!

Beyond the master stateroom is the galley (kitchen) and salon (living room). We have a full-size refrigerator, three burner stove (the oven is not large enough to roast a turkey), microwave and wonderful deep sink. Bill even built a 5-bottle wine rack to fit under the stereo/VCR equipment below the television.

The dining alcove is a tight squeeze for four adults. We passed up the builder's idea of a dinette set and went to Room Concepts in Wexford for a custom pedestal table, with upholstered chairs and a matching bench that doubles as the coffee table. I purchased extra fabric and had a seamstress make three matching pillows for the sofa. The salon sofa also opens to another queen-size bed so we can comfortably sleep nine on board. The section of sofa closest to the television has a foot rest that pops up.

Although it will be close quarters for what weather forecasters predict will be one of our area's wettest, coolest summers, Pure Grace is home sweet home.