Furry Crew Update

For those wondering about our furry crew, Tia and Louie, I thought I’d post a quick update with a few photos.  As you may have gathered from some of our previous posts, both cats are adapting quite well to life on the boat.  Both seem to be very comfortable with the fact that their home is afloat and surrounded by water.  They love to sit in the gunnels and watch the water and various things float by.  Louie has taken to lying in the kayaks when they are strapped to the safety lines.  When the sun hits them, it makes for a nice cozy and soft place to catch a cat nap that’s out of the wind.  Smart boy!  Tia, on the other hand is much more conservative, spending most of her time in the safety of the cockpit.  She does venture out to the foredeck and rolls around on the warm sunny deck from time to time.

There are a few things, however, that have proven to be problematic.  First, Tia will climb into the hatch sun screens.  It seems a wonderful place for a nice comfy nap.  What she doesn’t realize is that there are only four small snaps holding the screen in place.  They certainly were not intended to support the weight of a 20 pound cat.  In fact, just tonight when I went to get her out of there, she fell through to the cabin floor below.  Fortunately she narrowly missed hitting the table edge below and as cats do, landed on her feet uninjured.  Louie loves to jump up on top of the solar panels.  The least concern is that he blocks the sun and reduces our solar output (just kidding), but of most concern is that they are slanted to the side of the boat and are somewhat slippery.  He doesn’t realize that he is taking a big risk of going overboard.  And just tonight, I went up to look for the boy and he was on the end of the boom which had been extended way out over the water to allow the solar panel to get a full view of the sun.  We have reached the conclusion that he can not be on deck without supervision.  We expect that the next stunt will be climbing the mast.

Tia finds comfort among the pile of stuff in the
quarter berth while underway and heeled.

Louie and Tia hanging out on deck while at anchor.

Louie dreaming of his next kayak adventure.

Tia dreaming of her next meal.