Refit Round-Up Part 2: Why Wait for the Lottery? How DJ & Morgan Are Fast-Tracking a Living-Aboard Dream

For years, DJ and Morgan Moreau shared a comforting, familiar joke to cope with the daily stress of the corporate grind: “One day, we’ll win the lottery, buy a sailboat, and just sail away.”

Then, just four months after their wedding, Morgan asked the terrifyingly logical question that changes every future cruiser's life: “Well, why do we need to win the lottery?”

When DJ pointed out the very real hurdles- they didn’t have the money, and their jobs weren't remote, Morgan countered with a truth every DIYer eventually embraces: those are things you can change. After two and a half years of disciplined saving, returning to school, and binge-watching every single Sail Life video to study boat mechanics, they found Theamata.

Meeting Theamata

Theamata is a 1986 Whitby 42, built in Ontario, Canada. Her name carries a beautiful legacy, it’s the word ancient Greeks used to describe the original seven wonders of the world, translating to "places to go or things to see." And she has certainly seen things, having made roughly 30 trips up and down the US East Coast.

While Thea was structurally sound, she suffered from decades of "previous owner" fixes. Her old inverter, for example, was discovered literally held up by a single zip tie and a scrap piece of wood.

Over the last eight months, DJ and Morgan have maintained a relentless weekend pace while balancing full-time jobs. DJ is also a full-time student graduating this August with a degree in IT: Web and Mobile Programming. Together, they have completely overhauled the house bank with lithium batteries, installed a clean Victron MultiPlus 2 system, replaced the engine room floor with new epoxied wood, painted the cabinetry, upgraded the galley sink, and tiled the backsplash.

Conquering the First Epoxy Project

One of the most intimidating milestones for any new boat restorer is working with resin for the first time. For DJ, that trial by fire came in the form of a rotting aft companionway sliding hatch cover.

Tapping into the collective wisdom of the Whitby 42 Owners' Facebook Group to validate his design, DJ carefully dismantled the old hatch, preserving only the side rails. He spent three full days just getting the rails perfectly square and aligned.

"I was incredibly nervous about working with epoxy for the first time," DJ admits. "I'd watched every video, read every book, and gone through all the tech sheets." Using the aligned rails as a custom jig, he glued the top sheets together with thickened epoxy. It cured into a single, flawlessly curved piece that matched the boat's original lines perfectly. To finish it off, Morgan stepped in to tackle gel coat matching and polished the new hatch to a brilliant shine.

Driving Toward the Horizon

With their apartment lease ending this coming October, DJ and Morgan are facing the ultimate "boat life" reality: they are moving aboard and casting off whether the project list is zeroed out or not.

Though the job market is tough, DJ is ready to freelance and build websites from the nav station as they migrate. Their planned route will take them south from Annapolis, down through Norfolk, into the historic Dismal Swamp Canal, out into the Outer Banks, and down through the cruising hubs of North Carolina like Oriental, before making a break for the Bahamas and Caribbean.

On our scale, they are rating their current status a 2 out of 5 hammers. Though the peak of rewiring and fiberglassing hit a stressful 3, they have officially crossed the threshold into the reward phase. Last Saturday, they took Theamata out for her first official 3-hour shakedown sail in 15 knots of wind, and she performed flawlessly.

What's your project rating?

The Refit Round-Up is all about reminding each other that the hard work pays off and that you are not in this alone.

Have you ever had to face a hard deadline, like a lease ending, that finally pushed you out of the slip? Drop a comment below, check out DJ and Morgan's journey on Instagram (@sv.theamata) and YouTube (SVTheamata).