2009 Update

OK, I know it’s been a year and I apologize for being negligent in updating the blog. Much happened in 2009 and it wasn’t all to do with the boat. Nevertheless, we spent a lot of time installing upgrades so that the ile de Grace is ready for extended ocean passages.

One of the first upgrades Jon and I did was to replace all the through hulls, which were plastic, with bronze ones. A through hull is a hole in your hull where sea water may enter. Yes, you sometimes want this so that you can flush your toilets, drain your showers and use your sea water pumps to wash down the decks. It's just very important that the valves work well and bronze is much better than plastic.

We added a Spectra water maker, which can produce 14 gallons of fresh water from seawater in one hour. Our water tanks carry 140 gallons, which is nice, but the water maker will ensure that on long passages we not only will have plenty of water for drinking and cooking, but also for bathing and laundry.

Speaking of which, yes, we put a washing machine on the boat. I am sure that if this journey were being conducted by only men, then a bucket would have sufficed nicely. But clothes damp with salty water never dry and soon stink. And, as I learned on the Atlantic crossing, laundromats on islands can be very expensive and can take all day given the high demand around marinas. Next to the washer, we installed a freezer. It looks like an ice chest, but was designed for ambulances and is 12 volt. This is a benefit of having a daughter who is a paramedic. She took me to an EMS convention to help me outfit our medic kit, and we discovered the perfect freezer for the boat. Now, when we catch fish at sea we can store it and we can provision for the long sea passages ahead.

We also added a hatch in the starboard bow. Truth be told, this was the only way we could get the washing machine inside, but it also gives us access to the top from our primary storage area, and, most importantly it adds a lot of natural light to what is also our work area. We are quite happy with how it turned out.

Moving to the back of the boat, we added a stern arch to hold 4 solar panels and a wind generator. Since they were installed last July, our batteries have have stayed fully charged and we are extremely pleased with their performance. The solar panels can generate 28 amps. We added a stronger motor mount for the outboard engine for our dinghy, which is braced to the stern arch. The arch also allows us to elevate our GPS antennas and to troll for fish.

After our stanchion broke in the Atlantic, I was never happy with the weight distribution for the cockpit roof (which supports our boom traveler). We decided to add a fourth stanchion behind the inside of the helm station for added stability. It also will be a nice handhold in rough weather.

We added six more hand rails along the boat. For ocean sailing these were a must. The new hand hold at the helm station looks as if it was original to the boat, and it should have been. On the Atlantic crossing, there was nothing to hold on to when steering. I also added an extra rope bag at the helm station to make storing the lines easier. Although after I changed the reefing system so that it could all be done from the helm (which meant I added three more lines to the mix), the second line bag became a necessity, not just a convenience.

Other upgrades included adding an auto pilot repeater at the navigation table which allows us to make adjustments from inside the boat in nasty weather, installing a ham radio (Jon passed both of his FCC licensing tests and we hope to get over our radio shyness on the journey), replacing the hand pump toilet in our cabin with a fresh water electric toilet (a big deal to boaters), seriously upgrading our mattress, and installing curtains in the main salon. We also repainted the bottom hulls with a paint that will hopefully see us to Australia.

The boat certainly feels more like our home, and the process of customizing it has also made it more our own. I must of all give a lot of credit to Georgetown Yacht Basin, of Georgetown, Maryland for doing all this amazing work. David Ellison coordinated all the projects and Mike, Zinger, Matthew, Rick and others contributed extraordinary skill and talent to make all these upgrades look like there were original from the factory.

Finally, I must thank Fountaine Pajot and our broker, Gregor Tarjan, for following through on the warranty repairs. The helm station was reattached and the leaks were repaired in excellent manner by the folks at Georgetown Yacht Basin, but FP stood by their product and reimbursed us for the repairs. A big thanks to all.

Up next.....our journey down the east coast this fall to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.