New member/boat in Yankeetown, FL

[DreaminFred]

Hi all-
I've been reading your adventures/wisdom for six months.  It was your enthusiasms for the 365 that reassured me on my purchase in March of SV Istanta, Hull # 259 if I read it right (1979), homeport- Yankeetown, FL.  That and my mate's enthusiasm for the separate shower and generous tankage!

The homeport presents something of a challenge as I am berthed in Phoenix.  Have been to the boat twice in four months with surveys, some repairs and a shakedown cruise accomplished.  The deck has some wet spots, but no soft spots, there are multiple leaks (duh), but the systems are in working condition (if you have a modest expectation of "systems."  My last "big boat" was an ODay 25 in Puget Sound, so pressure water and a water heater are upgrades for me!  I've painted the bottom, changed the stuffing gland (thanks, PeteW), new halyards, cleaned the bilges, learned a bit about V drives and how to change their oil, had fun with plumbing and pumps, and come to marvel at heat shrink connectors!  The critical pre-cruise task was to replace the V-berth 38 year old foam with a wonderful memory foam mattress cut to fit to cushion my sweetie (worked like a charm).  My electronics are limited to handheld VHFs, tablet implementation of nav software (amazing), a laptop with OpenCPN for back-up and a working old Radar.  The depth finder is a fishfinder.  I'm thrilled with the ketch rig, although I haven't rigged the mizzen staysail yet.

The shakedown cruise was 6 days on the FL west coast from Yankeetown to Tarpon Springs.  The critical lesson learned was the water's thin in the Gulf!  Ran aground several times, stuck twice, towed once.  I guess TowBoat US is another critical positive lesson.  She sailed wonderfully, engine ran reliably, an above-the-waterline through-hull (Starboard aft deck drain) broke to provide some excitement.  Tarpon Springs is a wonderful spot to spend a couple days for fun and boat parts and repairs.  Crystal River has degraded incredibly since I scuba'd there in the 70s, truly loved to near-death.  Still a nice anchorage that gave us the opportunity to test the hard dinghy and 4 hp motor (passed).  Met some very nice people- particularly grateful to Peke at Adriatic Lux Canvas- a fellow sailboater with sympathys for my beautiful dodger and bimini stitching.  Also very impressed with Sail Technologies in St. Pete who did some post-cruise repairs/fixes on my roller furling jib/genoa.  The end of the cruise entailed stripping windage and running double shorelines in preparation for hurricane season.  Have all the mildewables in climate controlled storage for the summer.  Plan to be back after hurricane season to continue the adventure!  If you are curious you can laugh and cry with me at my blog (aboyagirlandaboat.blogspot.com).

Projects to come include autopilot/windvane, deal with leaks/rebed deck hardware and commence to beauty treatments- deck paint, wet-sanding and more.  Mast-head needs some attention as my new Stayset-X all-rope main halyard is fraying on the old sheave (or something).  Also sketching a swim platform to ease dinghy ingress/egress issues for the Admiral.

My wonderful mate, Kathleen, handled the new adventure with aplomb to my great relief. 

Fair winds and following seas!

DreaminFred
SV Istana, Pearson 365
aboyagirlandaboat.blogspot.com

[Dale Tanski]

The first thing you should realize is that all good old boat owners go through the same drill.  It sounds that in your case that you are ambitious and handy enough to realize what needs to be done and have the ability to do much of it.  All this is good. 

What else is good is it sounds like you love the boat.  If that is indeed the case, everything else is just a mere distraction and/or delay along the way.  If you love the boat, it boils down to time, money and priorities.  Everyone has the same amount of hours in the day, everyone lacks the money they really want and both are regulated and determined by ones priorities. 

Take your time and enjoy the process as well as the journey.  Look at every boat you can, become a marina troll and scout every detail that you could incorporate in your own boat. Talk to owners regarding the pros and the cons of gear and equipment. Many people will be more than glad to tell you what's bad about a product often overlooking what's good about it and why they bought it in the first place.

Good sailing...

Dale Tanski
Maruska
Hull 40