Wingssail Home Wingssail Images LogBookPages Map of our travels Index Email Fred & Judy

Thursday, October 18, 2012

October 18, 2012-Completing a Project List

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Sailing.

Taking a break from boat projects and going sailing last Sunday seemed like a good idea.

The “Fun Race” scheduled for that day, which consisted of a noon start and three laps around an island, held little appeal for us. Instead we waited until late afternoon and then, when the day had cooled off a little, and went out for a nice sunset sail with a bunch of friends on board. Anchoring afterwards in Scotland Bay we watched the full moon rise and cooked burgers and boerewors on the grill. We didn’t stay out late however; by 21:00 everyone was ready to motor back to their own boats get tucked into their own snug bunks.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
Cabin Full Of Guests.

This week we completed our canvas project by sewing the new dodger, a large awning and rain catcher, and a small sailing awning. With this we have reached the bottom of a long list of significant refit projects which started in Thailand three years ago and against which we have been steadily chipping as we worked our way around the world from Asia to the Caribbean.

wingssail images-fredrick roswold
New Canvas.

We’ve now completed exterior refinish including new Awlgrip topsides, deck paint, hatches, repainting and rebuilding of all the spars, and of course finished the canvas. We’ve redone the interior including new upholstery, cabin sole refinish, bulkhead painting and total re-varnishing. We completed major structure renewals including rudder, rudder tube, stern tube, keel bolts, mast step, and chain plates. We’ve done major engine work, replaced the dingy, life raft, solar panels, autopilot, and rebuilt the windvane. We’ve rebuilt much of the sailing instrumentation and wiring, bought new computers and navigation computers, installed AIS, bought batteries, alternator, radio and tuner, inverter/charger, watermaker membrane, hot water heater, and propane system, and purchased LED interior and exterior lighting. We completed a stove rebuild (twice), installed new fixtures, and bought new running rigging and sails.

And we’ve sailed 15,000 miles. We’ve done a refit on the go; so to speak.

Of course the boat list never ends, new items are constantly being added, so we’ll be able to keep busy. But perhaps, for the next year or so, we can focus on the small items which come up from time to time, before going back to the beginning of the major project list and starting over.

So now the days take on a familiar cadence. We swim in the mornings for exercise, find some way to be productive on the boat, interact with the other cruisers here in Trinidad, and we think about our next move. In November we will head out to explore the rest of the Caribbean. We don’t know exactly where we’ll go nor what we will have to fix along the way, but we’ll find interesting new places to explore and, for sure, we’ll be fixing something.

That part never ends.

Fred & Judy, SV Wings, Trinidad

Click here for more photos of the sunset sailing trip.

Click here for more shots of the new canvas.

Click here for a sampling of photos of all the projects on this big list.

Labels: , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home

NEXT Page (More) , or... GO BACK to Previous Page
#