DIY CHARGING STATION AND AVA BUILDS A SHELF- 11/28/21

It's beginning to feel like things are chugging along, winter project-wise, aboard Athena. In this week's video, one of the jobs Mads tackles is building a storage and charging box for all the camera gear. We needed a box to cover the wires and tubing coming out of the kitchen island for a while. However, we wanted to make the box functional for the saloon area. Since leaving Denmark, we brainstormed ideas, but nothing seemed quite right. Until one day, both of us grew tired of digging through the miniature mountain of wires and batteries that made up our camera gear. Bam, problem solved. We could make storage for the camera gear in the box. There was still a lot to contemplate on how to design the storage area exactly, but we are delighted with how it turned out. There are more than enough charging spots, the gear is all safely in one place, and we know exactly where everything is. Plus, it's helping to make the saloon come together nicely.

We will always enjoy making YouTube videos because of all the incredible and interesting people we meet from posting. This week, by chance, we were lucky enough to meet Malcolm, the designer of the Fender Two-step by Dan-fender.

Since we are moored on a finger berth for the winter, we needed a solution for getting on and off the boat's port side without damaging the newly painted hull. When we got to the U.K., we kept seeing fender steps on other boats, which seemed like a good solution. As soon as we got into Gosport, the very first thing we did was head to the chandlery to get a Fender Two-step. The step was a game-changer. It makes getting on and off the boat easy, especially with arms full of grocery bags or boxes full of boat materials. I showed the Two-Step in a video, and the following week we got an email from Malcolm, who created the original design. He came by to see us and brought us all new fender's to match our other grey Dan-fenders. Matching fender's very much pleased Mads and my OCD :) We spent the afternoon with Malcolm's and his lovely wife, sharing their sailing stories and how the fender-step came to be. Malcolm's mother was having difficulty getting on and off his boat as she got older. As she was determined to continue sailing and he was determined to take her, he flipped a fender on its side and tied it to the toe rail. Thus, the invention of the Fender-step. It took a few years to find a company that shared his vision for the fender-step. Then, he collaborated with Dan-fender, a brand that Mads has used and trusted for years. What an incredible collaboration it is. We can not recommend our Fender-two step or Dan-fender's more.

Also, in this video, I attempt to build a shelf. I may have to call in Mads for backup, but all the shelves turn out great in the end. The shelves are another step toward making Athena more organized for our needs. We still can not move things into their permanent spots because we are waiting on insulation for all the lockers, but any step forward is a step in the right direction to make Athena feel more like home.