Old Newbie Trying Hard

[PatriciaSailing]

Hi everyone, Like all of you I love sailing and dream of one day casting off to somewhere.... My husband and I purchased a 1973 Balboa 26 in 2006 without much sailing experience except with my little 13' Sunfish which I sailed whenever I could visit the family vacation home. I would even venture out from the river and into the Gulf a few times.

We have only sailed the Balboa 26 seven or 8 times since we live in Mexico and keep the boat and visit the US for only a few days or weeks 3 or 4 times a year. The original plan was to take the boat down to Mexico, but for many reasons we have postponed taking it. We both took the ASA 101, 103 & 104 courses.

Though I have very little experience maintaining a sailboat, I have been working on my Balboa 26, and thanks to groups & forums like this one and the helpful advise from everyone, I am learning quite a bit. I have also read and purchased every book I could get, from Buying your first sailboat, to Don Casey´s Sailboat Maintenance Manual, and many in between, as well as several DVDs on sailing, magazines, and the like. We had new rigging installed in 2007.

I am currently re-bedding the deck hardware because I had a couple of small leaks. After scraping out the small wet core area and epoxying the area with Six-10, I am using N-Butyl tape which is supposed to be great, but more time consuming. I also had stainless steel backing plates made as well as new chainplates. It has taken longer than I expected due to all the rain we´ve had for the past months and the extreme heat. I have no cover on my sailboat except for tarps that keep tearing due to the heavy winds.

Last weekend we got desperate to go sailing but the Balboa 26 is not ready yet. It needs new keel cable (already ordered), keel maintenance & bottom paint, plus finishing the re-bedding. I had a new keel winch installed in 2014. So we went and bought an old 17' O'Day DaySailor II. I though I had checked it thoroughly, but after we got i home I noticed a couple of small cracks on the hull. I already posted a thread in this forum asking for your great advise! So, sometimes it seems we are back to square one... My husband cannot help me with the boats because he has to work in Mexico while I am in the US. I am partly retired, working from home, so I am more able to work on the boats. So, here I am, still trying hard to get out there!

Thanks again for all your great advise and happy sailings!

[captain58sailin]

Welcome to the forum PatriciaSailing. Lots of advice here, some of it even good.

[Celestialsailor]

Welcome to the forum....you're doing everything right.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Patricia.

[Steadman Uhlich]

Howdy Patricia and Welcome Aboard CF!

I applaud your attitude in wanting to sail!

And it sounds like you are getting your hands "dirty" (or "sticky" if resealing) in the tasks of maintenance.

Those two things should take you far.
______________

Here is a social group on CF you might enjoy:

Mermaids Group
It is for women sailors and boat owners. It has 206 members. http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...oup%7E%7E.html

Pacific Coast Sailors Group (74 members)
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...t+sailors.html

Fair winds and may you get more time sailing rather than fixing.

Steady

[PatriciaSailing]

Thanks all of you for the welcome, advise and encourgement!