Hey Lightfin,
Thanks for asking.
The
boat is fantastic. When I bought it, I was only
buying it based on cold, hard logic, rather than emotion (explains how she's a bit ugly outside! ha ha)
I had very few problems with the
boat because I went through the boat with a self-survey that was well above the level of a regular pre-purchase
survey. It's got 2005 Yanmars, a new
battery bank (old one was dead) and now a new
Lofrans Royal
Manual windlass, to replace the old Seatiger that froze up.
We sailed the Keys for a week or two, and as of now, I'm in
Miami awaiting some crew to help me with the sail back up North to start
charter work in June. We'll be taking the boat "outside" the
ICW as much as possible because I can't stand motoring through little canals. The Erie
Canal taught me that.
The boat
sails very nicely, and has more bridge
deck clearance that I had originally thought when compared to other older cruising cats out here. Whiles she's no speed demon for a cat, she does make about the speed my old 45' mono did. Of course she doesn't sail as close to
weather as that Hirsh did, but eh... I don't care. I'm lazy. I go *with* the
wind, not against it.
Some of the most major things I've had to fix were:
1) Had to move temp
sensor from
freezer to fridge to allow me to keep the box colder
2) Had to ground the Yanmars so the alternators would
work on the house bank
3) Installed a "blown up" Link 10, which wasn't blown up at all. The PO took it out for some reason and I think wansn't able to re-wire it. It's not reading voltage correclty, but the Amps work, and that's really what you're after.
4) The
plumbing is "hosed" (big pun).
There were some odd shortcuts taken where someone didn't want to do the job properly. One tank works for the
galley with its own
pump, and another works for the
head with its own
pump. The boat wasn't set up like this before. It was a PO modification. I have to tear out the
plumbing and re-do... also because the
water tastes like moldy pond scum.
5) Put in a sound system for the day charters
6) Bought a set of towels for the very leaky
ports. I need to rebed them this summer in my spare time (if any).
7) Had to get OP Valves put on the
aluminum LPG
tanks. Went to the place Dag suggested and they were great! Did it while I went
provisioning and they were ready to go when I got back.
8) Also, I had dry
wood termites in the
head. Drilled out holes to fill their galleries with poison and they seem to be gone.
9) Don't mess with South Beach cockroaches!!! Went to Publix one day and one hitched a ride back on the
dinghy with me. I was using the computer in the dark, when I heard an animal scuttle across the
deck outside - so I thought. Until the thing touched my arm. I turned the lights on and saw a cockroach about 2" long! The head was approaching the size of a dime!! I lived in Manhattan and NEVER saw one that big. I used the termite poison on it, once I cornered it.
Been getting attacked by no-see-ums at
anchor here... red welts everywhere! These FL fauna are BRUTAL.
Other than that, there really (thankfully) isn't much to update on. Just waiting for the
weather to change so I can proceed north. Trying *NOT* to sail over to the
Bahamas and skip out on work this summer!! ha ha
Oh yeah, my mind is changed on
solar and
wind. When you have a hugely windy day and bright sunshine on this boat, you can make 15amps per hour of electricity, which is not bad. It's been pretty windy and sunny, so I have only had to run my little portable
generator twice. I've only run the Yanmars to get in and out of
anchorages. used not even 1/4 tank(s) of
fuel yet in all these weeks. It's been all sailing because this rig is so much easier to handle than the big
Gulfstar. The boat will be a good cruising boat once I'm done paying for her. The wife likes the boat a lot too.
One other thing about wind generators: I think they put out the same amount of
noise as regular
diesel gensets do. They just put it out over 24 hrs instead of 45 mins. Cumulative
noise is the same though.
The new business is nearly complete. Due to the extra super secret nature of the
charter business, I won't be revealing the
marketing on here, as I did with BnB On The
Water. I have to keep it under wraps as long as possible to milk it...
Hope all is well with you. Hope this little update wasn't too boring. It was "off the cuff"
I'd be glad to answer anyone's questions about
Catalac 10M's...
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