The smell of salt in in the air

As Ashley has mentioned, we did it, we finally freakin' did it!! The ol' girl is back in the Salt Water and life is good. It seemed not all that long ago when we said to ourselves, in two-three years, maybe, just maybe we will be able to move the boat to the coast, and now here it is.  I just hope the next few years go by just as fast to when we can finally cast off the lines and head South for good. Go explore all the islands, anchorages and sights that we read about so often in other blogs.  I suppose, that this is all just part of the Journey and as any sailor knows, it isn't about the destination, but the adventure getting to the destination.  The next few years will be exciting and we will be able to explore the coast of Florida and eventually the Bahamas.   I have slowly grown to really appreciate the fact that we have been able to do this so far at such a relatively young age.  At our new home, we are by far the youngest of the 120 some liveaboards and not just by a few years, but at least 20. Most all are retired and finally living out their dreams so for us to do so in our early thirties is truly a gift I appreciate.  It hasn't been easy, but we set our minds to it and never looked back

Getting prepared for our move took vast amounts of planning and the help of a lot of good friends.  I traded a car hauler trailer I had for an enclosed trailer.  The plan was to use the trailer to haul all of our goodies we stripped off the boat for shipping and then it could be used as a portable storage unit in Florida. It is packed full of tools and boat parts as well as our bicycles. So far it was worked out great and when needed, we will just sell it.

On Lake Murray, our sail club is the only place that has a Gin pole for raising / lowering masts.  This Gin pole consists of a telephone pole approximately 50 feet high with blocks on top to winch up or down a mast.  This works great as long as you have an army of very willing people to help lower the mast then carry it to a good resting spot. It's a very precarious operation and usually several cold beverages are needed to calm the boat owner's nerves and to bribe the people helping.  As many like to brag, hundreds of masts have been raised and lowered (Typically while drinking) and no limbs or boats have been lost yet.   The great People of Windward Point Yacht Club were very helpful in lowering our huge mast and I cannot thank them enough.  The kindness of fellow sailors never ceases to amaze me.

I took the time while the mast was down to do some work to it. I ran new wires for the lights, installed new spreader lights. Replaced the blocks and ran new halyards and did a few other small projects.  Our cockpit enclosure was finally finished the day before we left and we packed up the whole show into the trailer.  We spent the last week in town saying goodbye to many dear friends many of whom I've known for most of my life. All were glad to see us off on this adventure, but they will certainly be missed.

On Monday morning, Ashley and I cast off the lines for the last time at WPYC. It was a beautiful crisp morning as we motored our way an hour up the lake to the marina where the truck was meeting us.  A few of our friends and my father drove up to see the operation. It took about 3 hours to finally load the boat onto the trailer, but it went smooth and Paul from Tritan Yachts was fantastic as usual.  From there we had lunch with my father and we left to head south for 7 hours to our hotel in Cocoa Beach.  A flat tire at the very start slowed the show, but we quickly got it changed and got on the road.  It was  a hurried time and busy, but we were finally off, it was really happening.

The trailer loaded up and ready to go.

Mom and Dad coming to see us off.

Alex and Drew, friends from WPYC seeing the boat get loaded.

All ready to go.

The mast coming down. Scary.

A New Adventure Begins!!

So many big and exciting things happened the month of November!! Our wonderful boat was finally operational again and Ashley and I were able to take her out on a beautiful sail.  November also marks three years that we have been together and almost three years of owning "Wild Swan".   Ashley walked into a whole different world when she met me and the Sailing lifestyle and she has not missed a beat. Spending every last dollar we have on the boat and every spare minute as well. Dealing with furniture slowly disappearing from the house and countless surprises as we find major items needing repaired on the boat. She has been right there willing to help and changing her way of life to adjust and all so that we can be together and share our lives. 

Ashley has been a wonderful change in my life and I couldn't do any of it without her, So I wanted to make sure she stuck around! After our first sail in so long I proposed to her in the boat that has brought us so close and so now it's official! We're Engaged!! WOOO!!! Happy Dances all around!!  Not sure what she is thinking but I sure am glad she is thinking it!!  So November has been a good month for sure! 

After saying Yes!

Looks Pretty Good on her I'd Say!

In other news, we finally moved out of the house completely! So far so good with things on the boat. It was not a good week for moving aboard as a cold front moved through and it got down into the teens at night!! That just doesn't happen in SC! It made for a cold walk up to the shore to walk the dog every couple of hours, but we made it! It was a little chilly in the mornings on the boat, but the Propane heater warmed it up pretty quickly.

The last load of furniture out of the house! Only Lawn-chairs now!

We had a new custom mattress made at a local mattress factory that has greatly improved our comfort. I recently replaced the entire pressurized water system. The boat had all copper lines  and the original fixtures which I believe were designed to empty your water tanks as quickly as possible. The copper was replaced with all new PEX and shut off valves were installed at every fixture. With help from my brother who works in plumbing, we were able to get very nice high end fixtures that will greatly reduce our water consumption.  I also got tired of using a stupid little drinking water spigot and I installed a three stage water filtration system with UV light into the main water supply. Now we can drink the water right out of our tanks at all faucets!! It even gets rid of that funky boat tank taste! Definitely  a worthwhile investment. 

New Brass Fixture in Galley

Three Stage Filtration just after pressure tank. All New PEX Lines. 

New Bronze Fixture in the head.

We are now working on getting a new Dodger, Bimini, Stack Pack all made for the boat. All new frames and totally enclosing the cockpit if needed. We hope to have the boat ready for a trip back to the Florida Coast at the beginning of the year. Yikes!! I have some work to do!

Engine struggles and the march forward.

The ever ongoing troubles of preparing a boat for long term ocean cruising have continued as expected.  I like to think that the more love and attention I give to the boat the more love and respect she will have for us. Hopefully this relationship will allow her to provide for us and protect us on our journey. I buy her the best there is and I hope she will keep us safe in storms and far off lands. I tell myself that the more things I find broken or in poor condition is just a chance for me to better learn the inner workings of all the systems and allow me to have a greater understanding when things actually do go wrong. We will see years from now how true this holds!

It has a been a sad and long eleven months of "Wild Swan" sitting stationary in her slip not feeling the wind fill her beautiful dark sails. This period of rest is not due to a lack of love or attention from us but due to the lack of said things from previous care takers. Slowly she grew tentacles into the bottom below her and if given the chance, Mother Earth would have taken her back.

 Last January while doing an oil change on the engine I found myself standing on my head to look at things as we all typically do. It was to my great dismay I noticed an engine mount completely broken in half! Upon further inspection I found another one broken as well!! How could this be?! I paid a surveyor!! I'll wait while you finish chuckling...... So apparently those low idle vibrations were not due to it being a Yanmar, but being a Yanmar with no feet. At this point I tightened her lines and settled in for a long repair.

The initial discovery of the Broken Mount. YIKES!

Not completely broken in half, but delaminated! There was a second one that was broken in half.

With the help of my good friend Greg, I got a good deal on some R&D engine mounts. Friends at the Hans Christian Forum gave advice on how to change out the mounts in the boat and my friend Alex loaned his time and strength. Of course the "direct replacement" mounts did not fit and I found myself on the phone with tech help at R&D and ended up at a machine shop for the alterations to be made. Three removals of the engine later the mounts were in, but this was only the beginning.  I found the flex coupling was bad as well which required a fourth removal of the engine to get out. More help from Greg and a new coupling was bought and now for the alignment.

The lifting device from the boom to lift the engine up.

Engine alignment in  my mind is perfectly logical and I understand how to do it, but when my hands are on the wrench and the feeler gauges were out, I was at a lost. I finally caved and paid good money to have it professionally done. This was a costly decision but one I'm glad I made.  Now why did this take 11 months you ask? Well with me being gone at work every other month and with the numerous other problems we found with the engine, it took a while. A complete rebuild of the exhaust system was needed and so was a lot of money!! This I will probably discuss later.

Eleven months later after much patience, Ashely and I took her our for a beautiful sail on a cold windy day and what a great day it was. 

First Time Sailing in 11 Months!!! WoHoo!

From the beginning

I was thinking that maybe this blog could use a little back information. Ashley started this blog to document and share our journey of moving form our very comfortable house to life aboard a boat and eventually cruising on our boat in the Islands.  Why we didn't think to start this blog at the beginning I'm not sure, but better late than never! 

Ever since college, it has always been my dream to live on a sailboat and go sailing around the islands of the Caribbean.  I was planning on working on commercial ships for a few months a year and sailing on my own for the rest. Well, as life often goes, events happened, plans got altered and eight years after getting out of college I was nowhere closer to that dream than I was when I was in school.  I therefore made a decision to set in place a goal to be where I wanted to be, on a boat in the islands.  It was also at this time that I met Ashley. We met when a friend asked if she could come sailing with us, something she had never even thought of trying before. It was then that she found her love of sailing and we found the start of our lives together.  At the time, I had a great little lake boat, a Helms 24. It was a fantastic weekend boat. Comfortable and fun to sail, but by no means an offshore boat.  I told Ashley of my plans and she hopped right on board with them and our search started for the perfect boat. And we never looked back

One of our first times out sailing together! She was a natural.

Anyone that knows me or any of my immediate family knows and often makes fun of the extent we plan and research everything we do.   For 6 months I spent hours and hours reading blogs and boat listings about cruising sailboats looking for the perfect boat. Then a friend of mine told me about Hans Christians. I had never heard of them before, but I checked them out. The second I hit "Enter" on that Google search set in motion my long delayed plans. I fell in love with these boats immediately. From the double end design, the classic lines and the Old Ship feel from the beautiful teak joinery down below. I knew we needed one of these boats.  Unfortunately, they are hard to find and quite expensive. 

I was sure we needed a 38 to fit our needs and in fact looked at one. There was a 33T for sale not too far from us, but really, a 33 ft boat?? That surely is too small!  While on a camping trip down in Edisto, SC, we decided last minute to call up the broker and ask if we could look at the 33 anyways, just to see what it looked like. So we met the broker and went to look at the boat. Now up to this point we had looked at many, many boats. Most were all very nice, but we just didn't think they felt right for us. When we stepped aboard "Wild Swan" that day, we looked at each other and knew right there that this boat would soon become our home. Four months later, "Wild Swan" was loaded up on a truck and probably for the first time ever, moved from salt water to fresh water to our home on Lake Murray, in SC. Our plan was for the next two years, refit her for comfortable cruising and meanwhile, clearing out the house to prepare to move out. 

New Boat Owners! Just after signing the papers.

Loaded up to head to her new home on Lake Murray

Now we are two years in, our house is almost empty, the boat has undergone a major refit that is still ongoing and we are starting our lives living on a boat. Our plan is a four year plan. We hope to have her back in the Salt in a year and by 2016, be on our way to wherever the wind blows.  Hopefully, this blog will help document our experience and so we can share with family, friends and anyone else who might have similar aspirations.   We still have some catching up to do with the blog, so for a while, things might be out of order, like this post! 

Home in her new slip for the next two years. Let the Refit Begin!

I have learned that sometimes, the best things in life take time and you must have patience. Though I wanted to start this dream after college, I see now that I'm better off.  We have a boat we love, a steady foundation to start off from and we found each other along the way.  I am excited to see where this takes us. 

Stove and Propane System

When we bought the boat, it had a kerosene Stove and heater.  When we looked at the boat, we fired up one burner and it all worked fine, but once we got the boat in our possession, we learned that was about all that worked.  Only one burner worked and it smoked to high heaven, even with store bought clean kerosene. The heater we found worked well as in indoor campfire, but we figured that it wasn't the best option.  We therefore decided that it would all be replaced and propane was the way to go. The boat came with a built in Propane locker under the cockpit, though it is very oddly shaped and proved to be a hurdle.  After much research, we decided to go with the Mediterranean made by Dickinson out of Vancouver, Can.  Our heater was a Force 10 which is now owned by Sig marine. They no longer support the Kerosene model, but sell a Propane burner unit that can be attached to the old upper body. 

 Original Kerosene Stove and oven. Made a better smoker than a stove and pressurizing the pressure tank required gymnastic maneuvering under the cockpit. 

Original Kerosene Stove and oven. Made a better smoker than a stove and pressurizing the pressure tank required gymnastic maneuvering under the cockpit. 

Stove Gone!! 

Fitting the system together. Had to go with a 5lb tank as it is the only size that will fit in the locker. 

 Fit test of the tank, regulator, gauge, solenoid and shut off valves. 

New stove installed. The trickery involved in lowering this 100 lb unit down through the hatch and into place was a marvel of human maneuvering and lots of luck. Thanks to my friend Alex for risking his back and fingers to help. 

 Old kerosene heater. Made a great fire with lots of heat, but we were concerned for the wood panels surrounding it within 10 ft. 

New Cozy Cabin Propane attachment on old Force 10 heater. 

We also installed a propane detection system that monitors the bilges and the low point under the stove. We love the new set up and it was worth all the frustration and costs. 

Water systems and Travelers

Well, as Ashley has said, there have been some delays in our move from House life to boat life. As any boat owner knows, there it seems there is no way to do a project on a boat without eventually tearing apart the whole boat! The plumbing issue was resolved, though not exactly sure what the issue was.  Air was getting into the pump and causing it to lose prime, but I could not trace the air. I finally replaced every bit of plumbing from the water tanks to the pump and rebuilt the pump. I also added a pressure tanks which helps lessen the load on the pump. 

I built a new manifold for the fresh water system. Above is the old one and below is the new one. I'm sure there are better designs and ideas, but I went with this and I feel it helps. From what I can determine, the old one was original to the boat, so I am sure the brass was stressed and possibly cracked. The new valves most likely seal much better than the old as well. After replacing all the hose and fittings, water system works fine. The next step is to replace the pressure side which is all copper tubing. The faucets also are all original. Although very nice looking being all solid brass, they are not very functional and are also not low-flow. Hate to get rid of the brass, but the amount of water they put out is not acceptable for water conservation.

Old Faucet to be Replaced. 

                                                   Old Manifold and the new one. I went with the same design.

Water Pump with New Pressure Tank

I was able to fall upon some good luck for once in the refit of the boat. The Fico Traveler Cart was on it's last legs. The brass pin-block on top was paper thin from years of friction, the wheels were barely functional and there was a lot of corrosion. A search online showed that a re-built one cost upwards of 600 dollars! Garhauer would build me a new one for that much with new track!! I decided the new set up was the way to go.  Problem..... Aluminum track, Bronze Arch, stainless screws and 30 years of corrosion. The trio was inseparable.  To my luck I found out that Catalina 30's from the early 80s have the same traveler!! AND I just happened to come upon a guy parting out an old Catalina that had sunk! 50 dollars later I had a practically brand new condition cart for the boat! A 45 dollar bill from a friend's machine shop covered removal of the black at the end of the track allowing the old cart to be removed and the new once installed. Heck of a deal! 

Said arch with Fico cart and X-type track. Removal of track would prove expensive and possibly damaging. 

Boat Units

As usual, nothing goes quite how you would like it. Due to a traveler cart on it's last legs and multiple broken engine mounts Wild Swan is officially dockside for the extended future. Add to that preparing for a crazy month of May, it appears our move out of the house project will be extended. The traveler cart makes sailing dangerous and soon to be impossible and the broken engine mounts make motoring not possible. We also can't really live on the boat AND repair the engine. So in the house we stay, for now. Those are top priority to get fixed. Only a few boat units, right?
We also have had a trip planned for about 6 months to charter a boat in the BVI . We weren't sure if we would even be able to go, but went ahead and reserved the boat. Now it's looking like we will be able to go! So begin the mad dash to be sure we have everything planned! How do you put together a grocery list for 10 days?? I'm not a meal planner by any means. I've looked over what other people have stocked for their charters and gotten a few ideas, but still overwhelming. In addition I am a vegetarian, so the hot dogs and hamburgers every night doesn't work. Need to buy a floppy hat, sun shirt and oodles of sunscreen. How many bathing suits do you need? Some say 4-5 others say 2. I am picturing us living in bathing suits mostly every day.
That is half of our travel plans for May. My brother's wedding in NYC is another. Well 2 weddings! His fiance is Chinese so one Americanized version and one Chinese version. Which means I need two dresses. And neither can have black of white on them (bad luck). Let the shopping begin! I hate shopping and I hate spending money on clothes, but I am determined to do my best, for my brothers sake!
Boat Unit= $1,000
We have been saving for all of these things (well not the cart and engine mounts), knowing that they were coming. Now that small chunk sitting in savings seems pretty well drained.