Hello all
I haven’t posted in quite a while however I thought I’d give an update on the Little Harbor 50.
Cara Mia has provided us with many joyful sailing days over the past 5 years and during that time we have had the opportunity to go through her in detail.
With our growing
marine business we have found ourselves in the fortunate position to be able to allocate one of our shipwrights to Cara Mia this year to attend to some of the cosmetic items which need attention....we are essentially resetting the clock for the next 20 years.
We’ve had her out of the
water several times for surveys and upgrades, especially below the waterline. The
blisters which any yacht of this age will acquire have all been treated with
epoxy as they appear....surprisingly none of them went past the filler into the fibreglass....another testament to how well the Little Harbors were built and justification once again for our purchase of her. There was some discussion of hull damage from a previous grounding and as such we were keen to investigate this prior to our purchase. As it turned out, there was minor cosmetic damage to the
keel area which was repaired by shipwrights prior to arriving in Australia.
With the upgrade of
plumbing systems (new heads, holding
tanks etc) and new fixtures and fittings we are bringing her back as close to ‘as new’ condition as possible.
Standing
rigging is all rod
rigging and undergoes regular
inspection....essentially it’s bulletproof...new running rigging is on the list for this year...I like clean new
sheets but that’s just me.
Our shipwrights are refurbishing the hatches and portholes which brightens up the external appearance.....they are all beautifully made from stainless and come up ‘as new’ with new
acrylic and
seals which are all still available commercially. New
acrylic is cut in-house on our CNC router.
The brightwork, both internal and external is being refinished....who doesn’t like freshly finished brightwork. New
canvas for the spray
dodger and
bimini is being made in-house by our trimmers in order to enclose the
cockpit against the
winter weather.
The
Hood in-mast
furler is perfect for short handed sailing as are the
electric winches....kick on the
autopilot and set your
sails as you desire....this year will see a review of the
furler gearbox/control board and all the winches.
The
electronics suite had been upgraded before our purchase and is more than complete. As an
electronics engineer by profession I always want to see neat, well thought out and implemented electrical/communications systems. I’ve had the opportunity to upgrade some of Cara Mia’s systems but only insofar as upgrading the bow thruster
electrical system to the design recommended by the manufacturers...bow thrusters operating on 12 volt systems always need to be designed and implemented with great care to make sure they operate efficiently.
We see ourselves as custodians of Cara Mia and eventually she will pass on from us for new adventures.....our aim is to ensure she is in better condition than we received her....again that’s just us. We’ve taken great pleasure in recording the various jobs and are in the process of putting them up on our Youtube channel or website.
Re: Little Harbor 50
Linear Mode
Recent Discussions