Hi everyone,
Almost a year and a half ago, we bought our 1984 Sabre 34 in Connecticut. In May 2009, we sailed her home to Maryland. Although we worked hard on the boat that first winter, our goal was really centered around getting her ready for the trip home. So this past winter, at the end of our first year of ownership, we had a lot to do.
As most of you know (or experienced yourselves), we had a pretty rough winter around here. So therefore most of our projects started much later than expected. The result was that we splashed our boat just last week, way over a month later than planned. After a tough winter and spring working on the boat, we had our first sail of 2010 this past weekend. And a lovely two days of sailing it was. Even though we had some rain, it held off at all the right times, and we our sailing was mostly reaching at 6-7 knots. Friends on board, great conversation, and food. A fine weekend for sure to kick off the season.
But if you don't mind, I want to write about what my wife and I accomplished this winter, if for no other reason than to list it out for ourselves, and post it for other sailors who understand the experience of novice owners learning to do our own work on our boat. I hope you don't mind! We learned a lot, which was most gratifying. We also worked very hard, which was tiring. At times, it seemed like we'd never finish.
Below is a list of what we did in no particular order, which we did alone, except where noted:
- Completely stripped, sanded, and refinished all exterior teak (handrails, toerails, cockpit coamings, anchor platform, drop boards, and cockpit trim)
- Removed handrails, sealed core leak with epoxy, and reinstalled (included 52 teak bungs removed and replaced)
- Rebuilt the mast step and improved water drainage (had help with this)
- Installed halyard restrainer on mast to prevent halyard wrap
- Installed Windex (boat didn't have one)
- Removed and rebuilt Datamarine masthead wind unit (DMI did the rebuild)
- Removed and inspected masthead assembly
- Inspected rig (had pro rigger do this, but followed along and learned a lot)
- Sanded and prepped bottom
- Painted bottom
- Cleaned, prepped, and painted prop/shaft
- Replaced centerboard pendant
- Sanded and painted centerboard
- Removed and repaired hour meter (had a shop do repair to the meter)
- Replaced clinometer
- Removed Loran at nav station and antenna and all associated wiring
- Removed nav station chartplotter (no chart chip available anymore) and associated wiring and antenna
- Built teak enclosure at nav station and installed new stereo/CD player, new VHF, and two 12V jacks (boat didn't have any jacks before, and stereo and VHF were all exposed with wiring showing)
- Replaced emergency tiller cover, including sealing core and beveling holes
- Installed Hella fans in cabin
- Removed and rebedded spinnaker pole mounts (including sealing core where possible and beveling all holes)
- Replaced furling line bullseye fairleads with blocks
- Replaced reefing lines (still need to be spliced)
- Installed mast cheek blocks for lazy jacks (still need to build out the lazy jacks)
- Polished cleats and other hardware that was removed for other work, replaced bolts, nylock nuts, as necessary
- Removed and inspected 6 shroud chainplates, ended up replacing them (of course had these made), installed, and rebedded
- All sails inspected and cleaned, and batten pockets on main reworked to prevent snagging on topping lift (sail maker did this)
Of course, I would be remiss without thanking Sailnet members, other sailors at our local yard, family, friends etc. for advice and input when problems popped up. Thank you!
I realize that some owners do and have done so much more than we did this year. For us, it's just nice seeing it all in one place, though I'm guessing I left a lot of little things out. Thanks for "listening", and thanks again for your help!
Cheers,
J
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