How’s it going all —
I purchased and have been living on a
Pearson 30, for several months now. While I’m new to
living aboard, I’ve had close friends who are liveaboards and sailors for some years, and finally decided to join their ranks. I’ve done some sailing, though not extensively, and am using some of the free time I have this summer while things are chaotic in the world to sail as much as possible with my experienced friends, with an eye toward taking the coastal trip down to
Florida (and eventually beyond) from
New York. I have plenty to learn, and figured this is a great resource and community to help facilitate that. I probably won’t be participating a whole lot, given that at this stage much of what I need to know can be gleaned from reading sailing
books and simple online searches, but I wanted to make an account all the same.
My
boat is in fairly good condition, with no major issues immediately, but I do have some projects to tackle this summer. Luckily the experience I do have from staying and sailing on friends
boats has given me a reasonable base of knowledge so I am not completely in the dark. For anyone curious, here are my projects as of right now:
- replacing
battery bank (currently 2x starter
batteries that came with the boat) with 2-300ah of
AGM batts
- properly
wiring panels/charge controller/inverter (currently just routed through cockpit) when the new
batteries and a couple more
panels are installed (currently 1x100 and 2x50, looking to go with 3/4x100w) and getting the
panels permanently situated and mounted for cruising
- Re-bedding
salon windows (currently some very light
water intrusion in heavy rain
- re bedding pulpit legs
- pursuing a low-cost gps/plotter solution
- installing fresh
water cooling from Moyer
Marine for my A4
- inspecting and tuning standing
rigging before undertaking any real passages
- repairing a small tear in my
jib
- replacing some cracked blocks on
deck
- fabricating new
companionway doors
- eBay hunting for a deal on a replacement forward
hatch
- setting up a sheet-to-wheel
self steering arrangement
- fitting a small
holding tank to the boat’s original direct-discharge
head
-
cleaning out freshwater tank and installing filtered rainwater catchment
- reading the entirety of the Moyer A4
service manual,
Annapolis Book of Seamanship,
Boats and
Electrical systems by Nigel Calder
Glad to be a part of the forum, seems this place might be a better fit for me than some of the more racing-oriented
forums. I’m young, relatively handy, and on what could charitably be described as a ‘shoestring’
budget, especially now that I am out of
work for the foreseeable future due to the
current health crisis, but I am stoked to learn. Eventually, after making my way south and possibly doing some cruising in the
carribean, I’d like to sell the
Pearson and get myself a diesel-powered
bluewater cruiser, but for the time being I’m happy with my
boat and figure she will be plenty hearty to take me where I want to go in all my inexperience.
Cheers