Maintenance – Sailing Vessel Serenity

Sailing Serenity: “I have a dream..”

It’s a new year and during MLK Day I pondered the I Have a Dream speech. He is a vety influencual inspiration in my life seconded only to The Savior Jesus. I thought about my long struggles in my life virtually alone. Then I found a church home and gained my life and hope back. I picked myself up finally paid off some debts that were an overwhelming burden. The lord blessed me with good council from a leader named President Russel Nelson. So far, I survived the covid 19 plagued 2020, so thankful. Unlike a worldly selfish president my president teaches me service to- my community as a healing force. In service, I release the pressure to be selfish and give way to selfless-ness. You can always judge a true christian by his service or lack there of. Jesus served us and still serves us. We must prepare a place for Him in our hearts. In this spirit I am helping a friend prepare her boat for bottom painting. It’s hard work and I am volunteering 4 hours every other day grinding old bottom paint off her boat! I’m so excited! I have a dream!

Last months of 2020 we put this sailboat on the hard to repaint the bottom. Also plan to replace the prop, cutlass bearings and inspect thru hulls for leakages. After my second day of work I’m starting to get all the old bottom paint loose starting at the stern on the sailing cruiser. Below is a picture of the work so far.

SV Serenity: Dinghys

Dinghys are things you need to get from your monohull sailboat to the secluded beach or shore. Keelboats need 4 to 6 feet of water draft so its not like you can sail right up to the shore. Dinghys are important ferries from boat to shore unless you dock at a marina dock all the time. I bought an inflatable dingy in 2016 right after I bought Serenity. I chose an inflatable because of limited space on a 30 foot yacht. With an inflatable, I can deflate and roll it up when not in use. It only cost $600 at a time I was spending my disability backpay made it seem economical at the time. Unfortunately, inflatables develop leaks and mine has slow leaks I simply can not find. This makes for scary rides as you wonder will this thing hold air while I got it loaded with things I dont want getting wet. Inflatables only last about 3 years before you get tired of leaks and trash it. This one is 3 years old this year.

So dingy shopping is yet another item on my shopping list before I go on my wild journey. It will have to wait until until 2021 when I get a bit more money in my monthly budget. So that is where I am at: needing a trouble-free dingy. So funny this week when I took my dingy out to exercise my gimpy shoulder by rowing it out of the marina. The front chamber leaked I knew but when I got out in the bay I noticed the back half was leaking too. I wanted to row more but I could only row back toward the boat and pull it out of the water.

I injured my shoulder somehow back in June so I have not been able to do much. My shoulder was wrecked in an automobile accident I was in 1988. Now it bothers me when the slightest fall can pull the ligaments apart making it hurt just like it did after that near fatal accident long ago. Even playing guitar hurts when I make an E major chord. I still practise and I took some video. Eventually I will get enough to play the whole Sailing Serenity song all the way through. But the sore shoulder and depression are getting the best of me this month. Sorry I have not posted in a while.

Options for my next dinghy are $150 used wooden pram at 8 feet. I’m not sure if that is going to be light enough for me to lift out of the water by myself. Second option is a new polyethylene dinghy which is going for about $500 at West Marine. I would have to wait until next year to have the buying power to make that sort of purchase. This dingy is over 9 feet and over 100 pounds. Not sure if I can lift that on a bad day with all my aches and pains. There are more things to think about when you are disabled. I will have to rig some way to crank pulley to recover such a craft. And where to store it on my boat securely? This is why I started with an inflatable. Inflatables are light and convenient to store away. They just are not durable enough.

Sailboat Creativity!

The best thing I like about owning my own sailboat is that it stretches the mind and expands your horizons. This expansion is ever present for the creative beast in you. The ability to sit and listen to nothing but waves, sea birds, and the wind surging through your limbs invigorates and energizes creative joy in my heart. It is a sharp contrast with so much sadness in the world today. There is a great disparity between those that have and have not. Sequestered inside the cabin of my boat, I am better able to reflect and thank my Heavenly Father for all my blessings. I have a testimony that if your take time out of your busy day to be mindful and thankful of your many blessings, more blessings will come into your life. A new blessing in my life is working on a 12 string electric guitar and beginning learning to play! More on this towards the end of the blog with a sneak peak video for subscribers to my free blog. First lets give thanks.

This month I have a lot to be thankful about. Although my tack rudder cable still remains a problem. I got my main outboard in my barn shop in Chehalis for much needed 2 year maintenance. I have to thank Kelly a fine harbor worker at Westbay Marina for lifting the motor into my truck for transport. The best news is the oil seals are holding pressure so I only replaced the gear oil and now after some sanding and repainting, the motor will be ready for the 2020 season. I’m super excited about that. It cost me about $400 Dollars to get those seals professionally pressed into the outboard’s transmission. That is quite an expense on my puny budget so I was thankful that the work was top notch quality and I would recommend Tom’s Outboard in Olympia for fine outboard work. So this years maintenance costs less than $10 for new gear oil. Nice! I do have to repaint the motor however as I left it in the down position when I was sick. So salt water attacks aluminum. Salt got in between the paint and the metal and started pealing off last year after two years of use. I cleaned the pits and oxidation with vinegar. This stopped the corrosion wiping away the salt. Now its time to sand and get new paint on it. I might could have avoided this by rinsing my outboard with fresh water after each use. When I return after a day out in the fresh air with all the activity it takes to pilot a 30 foot sailboat- I am just too exhausted to care. I cant afford to replace an outboard so I better get this repainted and take care of it!

Draining the old gear oil out of my outboard

Now back to the guitar, I have really put a lot of time and energy repairing and learning this 12 string electric Deam Bocca guitar. It sounds dreamy with all the strings and I even enjoy playing it without the amplifier. I am posting a short clip of my theme song that I am working on for the video blog. I want a song that I write myself as a sort of introduction to every sailing video I make. I will make the actual video with an amplifier and more reverberations. Keep in mind I have only started learning to play and this video is only intended for view for my closest friends and family so that they know I am still alive and kicking. Later, I will produce another track with me singing the words and show them together side by side on Youtube. If you are subscribed to my blog, you will be able to view this video. If you are not a subscriber, please subscribe to my free blog and like my videos when posted. All subscribers will have a secret link to the video in their email! Thank you family and friends for all your support! This is a way for me to give back to you all and entertain you albeit for just a few moments! And do not forget to be thankful of all your many blessings.

https://youtu.be/RNjdVR7x0To

SV Serenity: Projects in the Works

Although my friends have been asking me what’s new on the boat, I have not written anything officially on the blog. This is a quick post to catch my readers up on the boat and I. First I have been making a video of working on different parts of the boat that need attention. There is a whole list of things that needed to be fixed. In addition, I got a 12 string guitar and I have been trying to compose a short intro tune for the video blog. More on this later. For now, I am working on the following:

1.) Wench maintenance
2.) Outboard motor Maintenance
3.) Fix Motor mount and lift
4.) Shop for an inexpensive electrical main panel
5.) Paint the galley
6.) Troubleshoot the tack rudder cable.

I have video of some of this effort. My last video I was not happy at all with all the static. Seems there was someone working on their boat at the marina and their electrical motor interference degraded the sound quality of the video. I did not notice the static until I posted it on YouTube and listened to it there. I was appalled and now I’m shy about releasing any other video before its ready. So that is why I have paused in posting anything in April. I am struggling to do better.

I think the Serenity theme song which is currently in development will be both sweet and a good laugh. Mainly because I have never played a guitar before in my life. I picked up an acoustic guitar and tried to learn chords, however mostly I got frustrated and gave up. It was not until a friend gave me a 12 string guitar to refurbish along with some amplifiers where suddenly creative energies from being at peace on my boat that chords began to flow into music to my ears. I found the electric guitar easier to handle the fret positions than on the acoustic. So wow I have a chorus written for an intro song I hope will be ready for publishing my next video. I have to practice because again, I have never played guitar before April of 2019. I am amazed at how easy it is to play and how great it sounds on my yacht. I wonder if my neighbors mind? So far, no complaints.

Sailing Serenity: How Much Does It Cost?

I had a friend ask me how much does my fantasy of owning a boat cost me? Normally I do not like telling what I have. I was raised to be humble. So this is not to brag its to inform my readers on the affordable living aboard a boat. Hopefully, this will help you understand the costs of purchasing and maintaining a boat in live-aboard and sail-aboard conditions.

Boat Costs

The boat is the biggest expense of this endeavor and many people have different varying expectations out of boat ownership. I wanted an older boat with rugged construction, but affordable. I wanted a boat about 30 feet because I knew over 40 feet the marina fees can go up astronomically. Also, I was expecting to sail single-handed and I thought 40 feet would be too big to handle by myself. Finally, the price had to be low because my budget was under $10,000. When I found Serenity there was another boat a 27 foot Catalina. It was listed about $2500 higher than Serenity and fully loaded with all the amenities. But when I took a tour aboard, the boat rocked side to side very quickly compared to Serenity. The boat I bought is heavier and one foot more beam (wider) so is more stable. Also, the 3 fewer feet lengthwise seemed cramped. Having owned my boat two years I think I should have found a 32 foot to 38-foot boat. Because I think the head is a little cramped and my v-berth is a bit short for a six-foot man. Anyways, I got this boat for less than $5,500 USD. Similar boats are going for between $7500 – $12,000. Maybe I got it cheap, maybe not. No electronics came with the boat I will have to re-wire everything.

Boat Maintenance

Everything on a boat is in a constant state of broken. Its either brand new or in the process of breaking. Wind, salt, water damage, and constant flexing cause damage to everything that isn’t plastic. For plastic, there is getting baked in the sun until it too unexpectedly breaks as well. Two years after buying my boat now and the mainsail needs to be re-hemmed as the leach is fraying. The leach is the trailing edge of the sail. I have a tack rudder that needs to be hooked up. The cable and attachment to the rudder have rusted away. And I need to pull out the outboard, which needs inspecting and re-greasing the drive gears. All maintenance has to be done by myself or with friends. I simply can not afford boat repairs. The hull has to be scrapped anytime you want to sail and that costs about $100 to 120 at the marina. If you are a certified diver, you can sail away from the marina and do it yourself on anchor.
Hauling out a boat to be bottom painted costs around $1200. One sailing vlog lists their maintenance costs about $300 monthly. That sounds roughly correct for my boat. I have to tell you owning a boat is not an investment, its a liability!

Boat Insurance

Speaking of liability if you register a boat in the State of Washington, you are required to have $30,000 of liability insurance for each instance. This is just liability yet – that is all I have. My costs $100 per year for this insurance. When I am ready to sail offshore I will need more insurance than that. For now, while I am making Serenity my dream cruising starter boat I will stick with liability.

Dock Fees

Dock fees are levied when you spend the night tied up to a marina dock. When you are at sea there are no dock fees to pay unless you have reserved space at a marina. Every cruisers dream is to go cruising and not pay a dock fee. Use your hook (anchor) and save money. Right now I do not have a budget for cruising and I need navigation and radar installed before I take it on a long cruise. Cruising up and down the South Puget Sound is fine. I stay at a nice marina with reasonable rates. My boat costs about $260 per month. Marinas quote a price per foot length of your boat. Every marina charges slightly different.

Live-aboard Fees

Most marinas do not let you live aboard. I have looked into this on South Sound and less than half allow live-aboard. Some marinas up in the northern part of the state do not have live-aboard fees. I like living aboard but currently, I am saving this money for maintenance. West Bay Marina charges just over $100 for the first person and then $25 for each additional person.

Electricity

Every marina charges for electricity differently. Some charge per kilowatt hour used some have flat rates. West Bay Marina charges $42 per month flat rate.

Hopefully, this gives you an idea of what it costs to buy and keep afloat an older boat. If you have questions, please comment below. I would be happy to answer questions about my boat to people also wanting to experience the love of sailing. Remember when buying your dream yacht you may not want an outdated heavy beam boat. Newer yachts are lighter and have less draft and sail more efficiently than Serenity.

My next blog post will be the maintenance of my boat for the coming season. If you are interested in getting an email the next time I post my next issue please subscribe on my home page. This is free to subscribe and you will not get any junk mail nor do I sell your address to third parties. You will just get the link to my latest post. If you want to support my efforts, there is also a link to my Patreon page where you may donate as little as 1 dollar per month and up. Subscribers to my Patreon page currently get additional photography to download. When I get more subscribers, I will make Serenity caps and t-shirts for my Patreon supporters.