Category: Uncategorized

“A Southerly 38 ticks many of the boxes you listed.”

“A Frers-designed Swan 36 that I raced from SF to Tahiti impressed.”

“This sounds an awful lot like the musings of a future catamaran owner.” 

These were just a few of the many, varied comments we received in response to our “Is It Time for a New Boat?” blog.  Other guesses were an Oyster 495, the new Island Packets (an IP349 or 439) with the Solent rig, a Pacific Seacraft 40, a Valiant 42, even (jokingly) a Lord Nelson.  All very capable, comfortable boats.  But, the ideal boat we eventually landed on—the one Phillip and I consider a premiere ocean-crossing, comfortable, capable cruising boat—was …

the Outbound 46.

So, how did we get there?  As with our first boat, our 1985 Niagara 35—which was the perfect boat to fulfill our needs at the time—it all started with Kevin Barber, an exceptional friend and an even better boat broker.  We often joke that “Kevin doesn’t sell boats, he sells friendships,” because he often becomes very good friends with clients.  Likely because the process of finding the right boat for people starts with getting to know them very well.  Once Phillip and I had reached the conclusion that a newer, probably slightly bigger, boat with a few more complex systems would be the better choice than an upgrade of our Niagara for our next full-time live-aboards chapter, we brought Kevin on board to have him help us find and vet our options, poor guy.  I say that because we (well, honestly more Phillip) put him through the ringer.  If you haven’t guessed this already, Phillip is a very (very) picky man.  For good reason.  He wants what he likes and he knows very well what he wants (and does not want).  I’m incredibly lucky that he picked me!  But, when it came time to pick our next boat, it was simply a tough call to make. 

Having cruised rather comfortably for years on our 35-foot Niagara, Phillip and I initially believed any boat over 40-feet would be too big, so we had Kevin start shopping in the 35- to 40-foot range and the 3- to 5-year-old range, or newly built if that appeared the better option.  Kevin dialed in.  He began sending us listings for slightly used Tartans, Island Packets, even an Ovni.  Unfortunately, each one had something we didn’t like.  The saloon location not right by the companionway, a cockpit that did not look comfortable (or that it was clear you could not lay down comfortably in), no better tankage than our Niagara.  None were checking all of the boxes, and we did not want to compromise.  This was a huge, “next chapter in our lives,” decision and we were all in.  This would be the boat we would live on and sail the world in.  It simply had to be the right one.  Honestly, the “best boat” in the 30- to 40-foot range, in our opinion, was our boat upgraded, but we had already made the decision to adjust our tolerance for systems and finances in deciding to get a newer boat.  But, it seemed, our aggressive hunt had come to a bit of a lurch. 

Insert Kevin again.  Fortuitously, we ran into Kevin (and his awesome wife, Laura) one evening in downtown Pensacola and sat down to have a pretty fun, but frank, conversation about how many “nos” we had given him.  Kevin joked that Phillip had proven to be his most difficult client of the year!  But, in so doing, Kevin also gave us (I suspect) just the right nudge we needed.  He reminded us of the other list he had sent us.  You see, Kevin, wisely, had also sent us a “dream list.”  Initially, Phillip and I had dismissed it because the “dream” boats had all been in the 44- to 46-foot range, if not bigger (which just seemed massive for two people), and more than we thought we were willing to pay for our next boat.  But, it seemed in order to meet our high demands, we would have to let our tolerance for size, systems, and sticker shock “grow.”   The next morning over coffee, Phillip decided to take another look at the other list.

On the dream list was a Passport, a Hylas, and an Outbound, all in the 45- to 46-foot range, all pricier than we had wanted.  And, the Outbound 46 listing Kevin had sent was a much older model than we wanted.  A 2007, which was why we hadn’t given the Outbound a thorough review initially.  But, after talking with Kevin the night before and re-reviewing the dream list, Phillip decided to launch his own search on YachtWorld the following morning for any Outbound 46s on the market.  “Oh sh*% honey!” his voice bellowed through the living room, startling a splash of coffee out of my cup.  It seemed my picky man had found the type of boat he wanted, and it was an Outbound 46.  Once we finally dialed into this boat and began to learn about the construction, performance, the overall thoughtfulness of the design of the Outbound 46, it was a sealed deal for these sailors.  Plus, everything Phillip and I were prepared to devote to, invest in, and give to our next boat simply called for it.  The Outbound 46 is (pardon my French) a damn fine vessel.  But, Phillip and I are damn fine boat owners, too, fully aware of the time and money it takes to maintain a boat the right way and ready to pour our blood, sweat, dollars, and time into the newest member of our family.  We knew whatever Outbound 46 we did acquire would be one lucky boat, and she would also make us two incredibly lucky, live-aboard sailors.  And, money is something we can make, or borrow.  Time and a boat this beautiful, we cannot.  The Outbound would definitely require us to strrreettcch our budget and our brains to fit 46-foot boat into our lives.  But, with the beauty of hindsight, I’m so glad we did.  Sometimes you just have to take a bit of a terrifying leap, to land in paradise.  So, why the Outbound 46?  Just look at this thing!

Outbound 46

First, the Outbounds are not mass-production boats.  They generally only build between one to two Outbounds a year, because they build them right.  Phil Lambert commissioned the design from Carl Schumacher, with the idea that every feature be designed to be capable while comfortable.  One word sold us.  MODERATION.  Lambert wanted a boat that was exceptionally strong, with a fully-glassed hull and encased keel, that did not sail like a tank.  Schumacher fulfilled with a moderate draft, beam, and mast height that proved a fun day sailer, a capable ocean-crosser, and a spacious, luxurious liveaboard home simultaneously.  Sailing in brisk winds and choppy seas, Lambert described the experience below as “being in a library.”  In addition to the immensely impressive tankage and power/water generation systems that would allow us to go comfortably off-grid at any time, a thousand other little commendable features sold us: clear visibility from the helm, no ducking down the three, wide companionway stairs, locking floorboards, a crash bulkhead in the bow, fuel vents located high on the stanchion posts, curved counter edges, an island queen vberth bed.  All of this in a boat with a beam of only 13’6” and a draft of 5’6.”  Every element spoke to a commitment to moderation, which I feel speaks to so many elements of life: work, play, food, wine.  Enjoy, imbibe, thrive, but do them all in moderation. 

Now, the water maker, generator, AC, heater, hot water heater were all systems we would have to learn, troubleshoot, and maintain, but Pandora’s box had been opened at that point.  Phillip and I knew we had found our ideal boat.  While 46 feet did sound a bit large, I did have a sage follower advise it is the actual length on deck that is the true measure of a boat and its accommodation potential, and the Outbound 46 is really a 44-foot boat with a 2-foot swim platform, so it was really just a skosh out of our comfort length.  In addition, after we began exploring the Outbound option and talking with other owners, Phillip and I learned Phil Lambert is truly hands-on during the entire build and post-purchase process, addressing issues, helping with repairs and getting parts, welcoming feedback, even adapting later models to include owner ideas and upgrades.  Manufacturer support was key for us, and it seemed the Outbound offered this in droves.  Plus, she is just a gorgeous boat.  Do not miss the exceptional design details in these videos Phil Lambert filmed showcasing this amazing boat.    

Exterior Video Tour:

Interior Video Tour:

Now.  The next tough decision.  New or used?  While we knew commissioning a new Outbound would likely take a year, perhaps longer, and cost a heck of a lot more, we knew that might have to be an option if we could not find a slightly used one on the market that ticked all of our boxes.  But, the moment we pulled up listings for a used Outbound 46 on YachtWorld, our fates were joyously sealed.  We didn’t know it at the time, but the hunt was already over.

You might say we didn’t really find our “next chapter” boat.  She found us.  Stay tuned!

A repower, new auto, more solar, lithium?, a water maker, more tankage.  Oh my!  Mine and Phillip’s heads were swimming.  It felt like we were on the spinny tea-cup ride at the Magic Kingdom.  But, we were committed.  Although we had not envisioned tackling such an extensive overhaul to Plaintiff’s Rest until it was time to really, really go, Covid taught us the “time to go” shouldn’t be some amorphous mirage on the horizon.  Now that we know the world can change in an instant, we knew we had to pursue our goal of full-time cruising with immediacy and far more tenacity.  “Now is the time,” became our motto.  And, with Plaintiff’s Rest already on the hard undergoing Hurricane Sally repairs, it seemed a prime time for us to finally get her cruise-the-world ready. 

This started a conversation that Phillip and I would have over and again—end over end, end at the beginning and start again at the end—over the course of two dizzying weeks.  Not only would this be a huge lifestyle change, i.e. switching from commuter cruisers who lived and worked aboard only part of the year to full-time liveaboards, full-time cruisers, the necessary overhaul to the boat, we knew, was also going to be a large financial investment.  And, we know all boats are depreciating assets.  Well, that’s putting it lightly, they are holes that we throw money into (because they throw adventure, pleasure, thrills, and mysteries right back).  Generally speaking, you’re always going to lose money on a boat.  Knowing that, and knowing we were about to throw a lot of money into our own hole, mine and Phillip’s motivation and reasoning became laser-focused on one goal: minimize our loss.  We also knew the decision had to be void of emotion.  While it pained us both to even think about parting with our 1985 Niagara 35, this was our future, our money, and the way in which we were about to spend the remainder of our most valuable commodity: our time.  We simply could not let a decision of this magnitude hinge on “aww … poor girl, we just can’t do that to her.”  If the wiser decision called for it, we were going to have to do that to her.

Phillip and I were approaching this as calculating professionals, focusing on the economic basics: minimizing our losses and maximizing our gains (the non-economic kind that is, all that a boat can offer, because the hole never really “fills”).  Once we considered everything in tandem, with hyper-focus on our losses and gains in trying to decide whether to invest in our Niagara or prepare to tack, it soon became undeniably clear …

It’s time to buy a new boat.

Here’s how we got there.

MINIMIZING OUR LOSSES

Unfortunately, no matter how capable, clean, simple (and how incredibly wonderful!) our Niagara is, she comes with an undeniable truth.  She’s 36-years old.  She has already depreciated significantly and will only continue to depreciate every day.  And, she will never sell for an amount equal to or greater than what we paid for her, no matter how many fancy systems we install.  And, while I’ll readily admit I am no economist, I would imagine, after the initial large knock in depreciation (the “minute you drive off the lot” dive), that it’s a graduated scale thereafter, depreciating more slowly in the early years and more rapidly each year after she’s hit her third decade.  Again, just a guess.  But, I’ll bet I’m not wrong.  Any boat that is only 5-10 years is going to hold its value better than our Niagara who will soon approach 40 years in age. 

Resale

This meant every dollar we put into her to “make her” the cruising boat we felt we needed to do the kind of full-time liveaboard cruising abroad we had decided to do now, Phillip and I would never get back.  That was simply a fact.  Whereas, if we put those dollars into a new, or slightly used, boat that already had all of those systems and upgrades, we would likely be able to re-sale a newer boat and recover a much larger percentage of the amount we purchased her for.  Hence, by buying a newer boat, we would undoubtedly minimize our loss if, for whatever reason, we had to sell her.  The reality of it pained us, but it could not be ignored or denied.  If we overhauled, all of that money would simply be embedded into Plaintiff’s Rest.  Six zeros forever fiber-glassed into her hull, come what may.  Would we enjoy the hell out of her with all of her new systems and the new places she would take us?  Absolutely.  But she would never be able to give us any portion of our overhaul money back.  So, under the minimizing our loss category it was Niagara 00, New Boat 01.  But, I mentioned “come what may.”  That was our next quandary: insurance.

Insurance

Another sad truth that struck us in wrestling with this decision: a large financial sum dumped into Plaintiff’s Rest would not change her insurable hull value.  There would be no way to insure her for any amount that could guarantee we could recoup any portion of the cost of the overhaul if the worse happened.  The upgrade itself was not insurable.  This was a major concern.  Having just (barely) survived Hurricane Sally in September of 2020, Phillip and I (and every sailor in Pensacola) are all too aware of how possible it is for a hurricane to sneak up on you in the Gulf and devastate your community, and most of the boats in it.  If the worst happened, and another hurricane walloped us next year and, sadly, sunk our Niagara, our insurance company would only pay up to her hull value, which is a mere fraction of what it would cost to overhaul her. 

Her surviving would be our only protection and that’s simply not guaranteed.  Particularly where her extensive repairs, and the time they would require, would likely leave her, yet again, in Pensacola—well within the hurricane box—for hurricane season next year.  Our plan, if we did keep her, was to haul out at the first sign of a storm and keep her hauled the entire hurricane season 2021, but that’s still no guarantee she’d survive inside the box.  What was worse, at the time (December of 2021) our insurance on the Niagara was set to cancel in April with no other insurers writing policies at the time, due to the massive hurricane damage on the coast.  So, there was a chance we would not be able to insure her at all, even for just a fraction of the money we were about to put into her.  If we did overhaul our boat and she suffered some devastating damage in the coming years, our loss would be total.  With a new(er) boat, however, we could easily insure not only the boat but all of her bells and whistles, too, and, at the very least, recoup our purchase price if something were to happen to her.  Considering the insurance, over and above the inability to recoup any of our overhaul dollars in a resale, put the Niagara at another disadvantage: Niagara 00; New Boat 02.

MAXIMIZING OUR (NON-ECONOMIC GAINS) – LIFE ABOARD A COMPLEX BOAT

This realization got Phillip and I seriously thinking about going an entirely different direction.  Should we get a … we banished the thought the minute it struck our minds.  But maybe it’s time to … Scandalous!  After enough toying around with it—a back and forth, end over end conversation that unraveled and rewired us—and considering the gravity of the cost, the repercussions, and the life we wanted to live going forward, we finally started to allow ourselves to at least entertain the thought of … (don’t say it … okay say it!) … getting a new boat.  The minute this little door unlocked in our minds it instantly flooded our brains.  It was a Pandora’s Box of wonders, fears, and emotions.  A new boat?  More systems?  More water?  Hot water?  We could have hot water?  Copious amounts of it?  Fuel, too?  A generator?  AC, could it be?  Don’t say it!  Say it.  But, Jesus, the complexity of those systems?!  I’ll be honest, lithium kind of blows my mind.  I don’t understand its voodoo magic.  I also don’t know how to pickle a water maker.  I’ve never worked on a hot water heater.  I don’t want more thru-hulls.  And, a boat with all of those extra systems will undoubtedly have to be bigger.  Phillip and I were fully aware that in adding all of the things we were talking about adding to our Niagara, it would cramp what little extra stow space we felt blessed to have.  But, we didn’t really want anything too much bigger, or heavier, as our Niagara had proven over the years to be just the right size for Phillip and I to single-hand as needed and easily jointly maneuver her or (when needed) man-handle her, even, if the occasion called for it. 

Complexity

Honestly, toying with the idea of a newer, bigger, more complicated, more costly boat wasn’t an instant “Yes!” for us, as we have always (always!) stuck to our mantra to K.I.S.S: Keep It Simple Sailor.  Phillip and I adore the simplicity of Plaintiff’s Rest and relish in the fact that we know her.  Every nut, every bolt.  We know how to troubleshoot and repair every system.  There is a lot of value in reaching that status, and we would simply be giving all of that up in switching to a new boat.  Sure, much of our knowledge base—the mechanics of the diesel engine, the physics of plumbing and pressure, how pumps work, how to change the impeller, how to wire gizmos up, running batteries in parallel versus series, all things that function marginally the same on all boats—would translate, but not all of it.  Purchasing a newer boat, with all the bells and whistles, would require a considerable amount of new time devoted to research and learning all of the new, far more complex systems as well as maintaining, troubleshooting, and repairing them.  However, if we wanted to work aboard, which would be a heck of lot easier in a comfortable, spacious, quiet, climate-controlled interior cabin, Phillip and I had to take that lifestyle with all of the fancy systems it would require.  As with just about everything when it comes to boats, it was a tradeoff.  For that reason, this consideration—going from simple to complex—was a bit tougher than the first and resulted in only a slight win for New Boat: Niagara 00.4; New Boat 02.6.

Quality (of Life Aboard)

With New Boat in the lead, however, I think this final factor became our real tipping point.  Our goal was to maximize our quality of life aboard by finding a boat that would not only allow us to minimize our loss (if the world flipped itself on its head again, or our health or financial circumstances changed) either through insurance or resale but one that would also let us live and work comfortably aboard full-time, that would carry us safely and quickly everywhere but was also fun to day-sail (think, not an 8-foot draft tank), that was practical but exceptionally well-built, beautiful but as simple as comfort would allow.  Simply put, we wanted to find a premiere ocean cruiser.  This sent us skittering down approximately 43.29 different paths (two more tickets for the tea cups please), considering boat after boat, slightly used, newly built, ones on back-order, others that were turn-key.  We looked at Tartans, Hylases, Hallberg Rassies, for a brief crazy minute, the twin-keeled Sirius 40 deck saloon, even the aluminum-hulled Ovni 40.  We were all over the place!  But, we let our quest to maximize what we wanted to get out of the boat guide us in asking the important questions.  What systems and design features were truly the most important to the life we wanted to live aboard?

OUR LIST

This was our short, shifting list: 

• Exceptional build quality with well thought-out design throughout
• Designed and equipped for crossing oceans
• Comfortable and intuitive design features for real world use
• Flexible sail plan that just the two of us would feel comfortable handling
• Proven design 
• A draft under seven feet
• A mast height less than 65 feet
• Ideally no more than 40 feet in length
• Self-sufficiency built into the design (i.e., adequate diesel and water tanks)
• Alternative energy sources and impressive battery bank (ideally solar and lithium batteries)
• Space to potentially install a water maker or generator
• Comfortable and moderate cockpit (not too big but not too small) with the ability to brace and lay down while offshore and lounge and live-in when on anchor
• Minimal freeboard 
• We liked the deck saloon or at least a close feel to it that offered an easy transition, and a connection, from cockpit to saloon
• Just one helm with the ability to walk around it comfortably getting in/out of the water
• Great visibility of the waterline 360-degrees
• Once I saw newer boats have “workshops” that became an Annie must
• A performance sailor
• An interior layout that we liked
• Exceptional space for stowage
• In other words, a Unicorn!

All of these things offered a completely different—not easier—but a more opportunistic, comfortable, safer cruising lifestyle.  She would be more costly, sure, bigger to handle and dock, sure, more maintenance, sure, but …

Can you feel it?  You’re starting to tip!  Stay tuned next time.  Now that we have shared our thought process on whether to overhaul our 1985 Niagara 35 versus buying a new or slightly used boat, we’re excited to share our boat hunt with you.  Boy was it dizzying!  If you were shopping for a new or slightly used boat right now, tell us, what boats would you consider to be at the top of your list?

Any guesses as to what boat we decided to go with are welcome!

Errrnnt … Errrnnnt. We interrupt your regular programming to bring you a special feature! Shipyard Annie talks rot in the May issue of SAIL Magazine. This was a pretty fun project (that I was able to take on myself) when we were hauled out, doing some engine repairs and upgrades back in 2018. We found the starboard stringer under the engine (that sits right beneath the raw water pump, so it was not surprising) had rotted away a good bit from all of those prior raw water leaks. But, never fear! Annie with her oscillating multi-tool was sent to the rescue! I cut the rot out into an open square section (’twas not easy in that tight spot), then fit two pieces of Coosa board, glassed in and glassed over, to reinforce and repair the stringer and *voila*! Westie was back in action! Many thanks to the folks at SAIL Magazine for sharing this fun project. If you pick up a copy of the May issue and see the article, let them know! We’ll get back to our BIG DECISION on overhauling the boat next time. Stay tuned! : )

Time.  It’s slipping.  No, it’s skittering, skyrocketing away.  Whatever new warp speed we have found ourselves in—be it a product of COVID, today’s information-overload era, the rapidity of global change, or just age (I’m almost forty)—it has told Phillip and I one thing: If the world can change entirely tomorrow, it matters more than ever how you spend today.  Meaning, whatever serious cruising Phillip and I had been merely planning to do in our lives, the planning period is over.  Now is the time.  That brought us immediately to our next question: What all do we need to do to the boat to make her truly ready to carry us safely and comfortably across oceans.  I share this with you all to see if you would consider or make the same upgrades and/or what different projects you would take on if you were preparing an older, solid boat for live-aboard, faraway cruising. 

Note, our Niagara, as is, is certainly capable of crossing oceans.  She’s strong as hell, reinforced everywhere it really matters. 

And, she is comfortable, not luxurious, but comfortable.  But, she does not have heat or AC, no hot water heater, generator, water maker, or bow thruster, which means we don’t have to absorb the cost and time required to maintain all of those complicated systems.  Her simplicity also allowed us to learn her every nut, bolt, and quirk so we can fix any problem ourselves, a status that takes years to earn and not an asset we dismissed lightly because adding new, foreign (to us) systems would also mean we would have to learn them and get used to troubleshooting and repairing them.  “Research time!” we say aboard Plaintiff’s Rest.  But, it’s a task that is usually accompanied with a cocktail, so it’s entirely bearable.  There were simply some additional systems and upgrades our boat definitely needed to start truly traversing the world.  So, grab your cocktail and let’s dig in to our Plaintiff’s Rest Overhaul (the short list):

Propulsion

There’s no denying it.  Our Westerbeke 27A diesel engine is original to the boat.  She’s 36 years old.  Just a couple of years shy of my age.  While we have heard diesel engines can go a good 5,000 – 7,000 hours (on a good run), Phillip and I were already approaching 4,000 and have already had several travel setbacks and delays due to engine failure.  If we were going to get our boat ready to travel the world, the smart decision would be to just go ahead, bite the bullet, and re-power.  With the additional glass work this would likely require in the engine room to modify the stringers and gussets to allow the boat to properly accept and operate under new engine power, this would likely be a fairly substantial and costly project, but necessary for peace of mind in our opinion.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Auto-Pilot

While we do have a very strong hydraulic, below-decks Simrad auto-pilot, it is a model so old that they don’t make the same drive anymore.  We joke that when we call Simrad for help troubleshooting it, they have to patch us over to some old guy in a hut in Alaska who worked for Simrad when they used to produce our model.  Because Phillip and I have also had several, rather impactful travel setbacks due to auto-pilot failure, we had already vowed (well before Covid or Hurricane Sally, or any other factor that influenced this list) that whenever we truly shoved off to go worldwide cruising, we would change our auto-pilot (all three components: drive, computer, and interface) to a newer model that would allow us to carry an immediate, snap-in spare.  Our days of hand-steering are through!  Because adaptation to a new, different-sized ram would likely also require more glass work in the engine room (to modify our current auto-pilot shelf in the port lazarette), this would also be a pretty substantial and costly job as well, but, again, vital in our minds.  On our boat, we view our auto-pilot as the most capable crew member of the trip.  He gets a name, repeated encouragement and flattery, and any snacks he wants on his midnight shifts. 

• 

• 

• 

Solar Power

When Hurricane Sally ripped through Pensacola in September 2020, she not only claimed many beautiful vessels, she also destroyed a majority of docks in Pensacola.  By the time we hauled out after the storm, any vessel that had survived the hurricane but that did not need to be immediately hauled out, had already limped over to any available dock that was left.  Dockage in Pensacola in the fall and winter of 2020 was seemingly non-existent.  Knowing this, Phillip and I decided soon after the storm (before we made this list) that we would add more solar to the boat—likely an additional large panel on the dodger, and perhaps more panels on deck—so that the boat could keep herself sufficiently powered up to activate and run the bilge pumps in case she had to stay on the hook for a while awaiting an available dock in Pensacola.  So, more solar.  Check.  Thankfully, advances in solar technology have made the panels themselves ridiculously affordable and the install is really so simple I can (and did!) it virtually on my own.  Well, with the help of the immensely cheerful Lyall at www.sunpoweredyachts.com, whom I highly recommend for solar upgrades.  We ended up going from 200 watts before Hurricane Sally (a 100 watt panel and two (2) 50 watt panels on the dodger), to replacing the hurricane-ravaged dodger panels with two (2) 50 watt panels and a 110 watt panel, and adding a larger 170-watt panel on the dodger.  This increased our solar intake to an impressive 430 watts, plenty for the hook and the ocean. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Lithium Batteries

With our four wet-cell battery bank (which consisted of essentially four golf cart batteries), Phillip and I could go roughly 3-4 days on the hook without having to crank, but we would often turn off the fridge for passage to make sure we had enough power to run the auto-pilot and instruments.  We definitely had enough power to comfortably cruise locally and shove off on a 5-10 day passage, but more power would certainly make an ocean crossing safer and more comfortable.  For this reason, we welcomed the idea of replacing our wet-cell batteries with a new lithium bank as they are becoming more and more popular and accessible.  Our buddy Brandon with www.perdidosailor.com had installed a new bank on a catamaran a couple of years back and he was impressed with their size, weight, and performance.  He also felt the safety factor of fire was slight and worth the risk in light of the overwhelming added benefits.  For this reason, and with more solar power going in that we would want to harness and preserve, Phillip and I were planning to change our wet cell bank on the Niagara to a lithium bank.  This would be a pretty substantial project requiring structural work to safely house the new bank, as well as a new battery management system and perhaps battery charger, etc. (or perhaps the addition of a duo-charger) to make this transition. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Drinking Water

Aboard our Niagara 35, we carry 80 gallons of water (40 gallons under each saloon settee) that we treat as grey water for cleaning, bathing, washing, etc.  Phillip and I always purchased filtered water for our drinking water, which were typically housed in 12-15 one-gallon jugs that we stashed and stowed in various places around the boat.  This also meant every week or two we had to find a way to get to town to fill our drinking jugs and carry them back to the boat as well as stopping at a fuel dock or marina every few weeks to fill the tanks below decks.  While this worked well for the coastal cruising and short hops we had taken so far on Plaintiff’s Rest, if we were truly going to shove off to sail the Caribbean, and cross the Atlantic to Portugal, Spain, France, and beyond, Phillip and I felt a water-maker would add comfort and safety.  We were considering the portable Rainman unit that we could simply bring up into the cockpit when we needed to make water, throw different hoses overboard, and make water into drinking jugs and our saloon tanks.  But, we wanted to consider, more fully, installing the unit into the boat and adding (don’t say it!) a thru-hull to accompany it.  Either way, this would be a pretty minor, but profound and significant “qualify of life” upgrade to our boat!

Tankage

On our Niagara, we have a 30-gallon diesel tank under the starboard settee and, as mentioned, two 40-gallon tanks of water under the saloon settees.  For long-term cruising this is really not much.  We burn roughly half a gallon of fuel an hour while motoring, which gives us about 60 hours of motoring out of the tank on a single passage.  Considering the ten-day passage we had been planning to the BVIs in November, 2020, this would severely limit us if the wind shut down and we had a need to motor, to avoid ship traffic or reefs and rocky shores.  For this reason, for our BVI attempt, we added an additional three 5-gallon jerry cans of fuel, in addition to the typical three we usually carry for an offshore passage.  While this did increase our fuel capacity, traveling offshore with that many jerry cans on the deck added weight, reduced our visibility of the waterline from the cabin below, and made traversing the side decks more difficult.  So, it was not ideal.  We also carried an additional 5-gallon water jerry on the lifelines as well which added to the deck weight and clutter.  But, this only brought us up to 60 gallons of diesel and approximately 100 gallons of water, considering our dozens of drinking gallons below.  In all, not ideal.  Do-able but not ideal.  For this reason, we had been toying with the idea of trying to find some space below where we could install a larger diesel tank or additional water tanks.  We are not sure, yet, whether we will take this task on as we know this will limit storage for food, tools, and spares as well.  Not to mention wine!  Blasphemy!  But, additional tankage would undoubtedly improve our boat’s capabilities and increase the amount of time we could safely and comfortably travel offshore, so it was worth consideration.

• 

• 

• 

• 

In Conclusion

We knew going into it, that this was going to be a pretty extensive, and costly, overhaul but we felt these particular systems and upgrades were necessary to make our Niagara 35 truly capable of carrying us safely and comfortably across oceans to new international destinations while allowing us to more comfortably live and work aboard full-time.  Finding ourselves on this new path, thanks to such sweeping, unexpected changes in our lives—Covid and Hurricane Sally—felt odd, exciting, surprising, but mostly awesome.  Whatever we chose to do and wherever path our decisions took us down, the one thing we did know was that this was the start of an entirely new chapter for us.  Big changes are coming at HaveWindWillTravel!

Change.  Uncertainty.  Creativity.  Perseverance.  2020 taught us many things.  For Phillip and I, it was truly a wake-up call, in that we have always been committed to traveling as far and as broad as our work, lifestyles, and incomes allow, but we never dreamed the end-goal that we are committed to (international travel) could simply disappear, be shut down, like the flip of a switch.  *click*. “Sorry we’re closed,” said The World.  The pandemic showed Phillip and me many of the things we thought would always be there—open ports of call, the ability to travel anywhere as long you have a passport, the freedom of it all—just might not be there tomorrow.  What a revelation.  As I’m sure it was for many of you with all of the things you had planned to do: start a business perhaps, start cruising, finally take that trip to Jordan, or South Africa, or Peru, take your kids overseas, finally attend that once in a lifetime concert, go to a Super Bowl game, finally make that trip you’ve been promising for years to visit a friend or family member who lives abroad.  We all thought we would have plenty of time to do those things.  But, with the change and uncertainty that 2020 brought to those plans, it also pushed us all towards creativity and perseverance. 

Out of COVID, I was delighted to see people dig deep creatively and start creating art they had been holding back for a lifetime.  People got creative in businesses and services they offered.  Entrepreneur opportunities they felt they never had time for before—when their world was full to the brim with all of their regular, everyday “stuff to do”—now people suddenly had time and a mad desire to finally tackle those things way down on their list.  It was inspiring to watch many people shift and change direction under the pressure.  Like diamonds forming, I saw brave, new artists and musicians emerge.  People who had never really written before were now finally trying to write their first book (and coming to me for self-publishing advice) or finally starting that blog they felt they always had in them.  People built new structures, created new products, took up new hobbies, and designed new systems and solutions to problems they had previously always faced but never—in the mad swirl of life as normal—had time to try to address. 

It all reminded me of an observation the dockmaster, Steven, in Great Harbour Cay in the Berry Islands, Bahamas pointed out to Phillip and me when we were keeping our boat there for hurricane season 2019.  If any of you have traversed the Berry Islands in the last few decades as well as more recently, you have surely noticed the sad atrocity that has become of Little Stirrup Cay, now known as Carnival Cruiseline’s “Coco Cay.”  It is an absolute circus.  A monstrosity of money, forced distraction, and shallow entertainment.  It is USA’s version of the typical American “vacation” on steroids.  Where there was once untouched, pristine Bahamian beauty to explore, enjoy and use creatively, entertainment is now shoved in your face on a platter. You don’t have to put any thought into how you spend your time. Just slide down the stories-tall, super-powered water slide, go for a hot air balloon ride, thump to ear-busting electric music, down five sugary Coco Crash drinks, alongside a pile of processed, fried some-kinda fish (we think), and then lie down and bake on a crowded, loud beach … with 2,000 of your closest friends.  Then head back to your enclosed, air-conditioned cabin on your oil-guzzling cruise ship so big it blocks the sun.  Sign me up.  NOT!

Seeing the very visual transition from untouched island to multi-colored madhouse makes me think Coco Cay is a metaphor for the world—a wild, distracting circus that has consumed its own resources.

• 

• 

• 

While I will readily admit the “circus” is good for the tourist economy of the Berry Islands, and it certainly employs hundreds of Bahamians who live around Coco Cay and who ferry over every day to “clock in” and man the monkeys, when I asked Steven how he felt about Coco Cay, he was very candid.  “It sucked da creativity outta da locals,” he said.  Steven explained those who had been bringing in lobsters or other fish to sell, weaving palm frond baskets to bring to the market, playing live music for tips, braiding hair in their own home-built pop-up salon, cooking and selling their homemade heirloom recipes to cruisers or marina transients simply stopped when they all found work at Coco Cay.  “Now dey jus get up, go to Coco, work ‘n come back.  No time for anyting creative.  Too busy on the clock,” as he tapped his watch with a frown and a shrug.  That really stuck with me when Steven said it (back in 2019, mind you, well before any of us had ever heard the word “Coronavirus” or “social distancing”).  Then, when I saw what COVID did globally—shutting down the Coco Cay employment factories of the world if you will—I was reminded of Steven’s words as I watched people find their creativity again and find new methods to express themselves and earn an income.  That part of COVID was actually very cool.  The creativity and the perseverance that resulted. Where previously, the world, functioning normally, simply handed us all a platter of things to do everyday without any room for choice as to how we were actually spending our time. Once COVID hit, many of us found all of this time now available to make a more conscious, intentional decision as to how we spent it. And, in that space, many of us got creative and far more careful about how we spent our time.

All of that said, 2020 definitely made Phillip and I scrutinize our own future plans through a much different lens, basing our decisions now on the possibility that everything could change in a moment.  Because we now know it can.  In 2021 or the years to come ports could shut down, borders could close, travel as we knew it, pre-COVID, may not always be as open as we had always simply expected it to be.  With that mindset, Phillip and I started asking ourselves some really intense questions about how we wanted to spend our time over the next 5-10 years (probably our best, healthiest remaining cruising years) and what we would need to do to make that happen, particularly in the face of a still-lingering, and perhaps re-igniting, pandemic.  Our simple answer:

IT IS TIME TO GO.

WE NEED TO GET THE BOAT READY TO TRULY SHOVE OFF AND TRAVERSE THE WORLD.

To do this, we needed to prepare the boat to make the long voyages we have always dreamed of, and enable her to stay off the grid as long as possible (because the grid may be shut down from time to time), while allowing us to work comfortably aboard as that is now easier than ever to do post-pandemic.  In essence, it was time to finally make our boat all that we had dreamed her to be when we first bought her and start making concrete plans and goals to get us to the point where Phillip and I could cross the Atlantic, just the two of us, and begin cruising all over Europe, to Spain, Portugal, back to the Azores, France, the UK, the Med, Italy, Greece, all of it.  As far as the boat could go, capably and comfortably, became our immediate goal.

With all of the change and uncertainty it brought to the world, COVID taught us: It is time to make our own future and go. 

Hurricane Sally, having survived her, told us—pandemic or peril—we would persevere, if we got creative.

And, so we now begin the telling of the tale that will turn the page in our scripts, as 2020 did for many of us.  The year of the pandemic and the hurricane that brought us to the brink set Phillip and I spinning on a new trajectory.  Next, we’ll start sharing with you the creation of our Atlantic-crossing, live-aboard list, the needs, the wants, the desires, the headaches, the worries, the fears.  We were contemplating a re-power, a water maker, a new auto, more solar, more tankage, satellite wifi, heat, AC?  There were only a thousand things to consider and start tallying up.  It is an exciting new chapter, followers, that we are chomping at the bit to share with you.  And, it all ignited as a result of the change, uncertainty, creativity, and perseverance that sprouted out of that weird, wild year.  Stay tuned and, tell us, what did 2020 teach you?

Got a question for you.  How many times have you started a story with: “Remember that time I did everything right?”  Not many, I would assume.  The best stories, mine at least, typically start with: “Oh man, remember that time I screwed everything up?”  … I’m pretty good at that.  But, as my buddy Bob Bitchin wisely reminds me, a screw-up can be one of two things: an adventure or an ordeal.  The only thing that moves that toggle switch one way or the other is your attitude.  So, in line with the ultimate purpose of this blog—to share the reality (which includes the mistakes) of cruising—let me share this fun little Annie “adventure” with you.  My first post-Sally engine crank … FAIL!

February 21, 2021:

Our boat has been on the hard for almost five months.  Five months.  That’s way too many months!  But, we were grateful to have her safe and in good hands and undergoing repairs.  Considering what she had been through in Sally, we were lucky to have her intact.  So, a slow repair process at the mercy of the insurance company, albeit frustrating, was not entirely intolerable as long as she was coming back together.  And, Plaintiff’s Rest certainly was!  Her damaged rudder had been dropped and shipped off to Foss Foam, with a new one being shipped back to her shortly.  Her extreme dock rash and other bumps and gouges had been repaired, and polished, and her chewed-up jib cars replaced.  Plaintiff’s Rest would soon be ready to splash!  Ready to sail!

In honor of this upcoming momentous moment, the boys at the shipyard were getting everything put back together to prepare her for her first sail since Sally.  I was at the yard that day overseeing operations and had asked the boys if they would hook up a hose so I could turn the engine over to make sure everything was running smoothly for the day of the splash.  Westie (our 27A Westerbeke) had not been cranked since September 23, 2020, almost five months to the day.  He’d been up on the jacks, sitting idly, just waiting.  Personally, I hate to have an engine sit.  I imagine all of the little rubber gaskets and things inside getting super dry and crumbly.  That thing is meant to run, get warm, stay lubed up, GO!  I was eager to turn him over for the first time.  I imagined hot, viscous oil pouring happily into all of his nooks and crannies and hearing him purr in gratitude.  (Yes, Westie, when happy, purrs.)

Having been five months since I last did it, however, I found I was embarrassingly rusty.  There were several Perdido Sailor crew members in the cockpit waiting for me to get my act together to turn the engine over.  I checked the fluids, as Phillip and I always do before we crank, although I found I had forgot (momentarily) where we kept the blue paper towels to do that job.  I forgot I needed a flashlight to look up in the corner where the coolant overflow bin is located.  I forgot to jiggle the oil dipstick one more time so it didn’t drip a bead of oil into the bilge. I was just … off my game, you know?  Have any of you ever felt that way about a procedure on the boat that you haven’t done in a long time?  Plus, all of the guys were watching and waiting on me.  All evidence to the contrary, I distinctly do not like to be watched or, much worse, waited on.  So, I was kind of … fumbly.  (Yep, that’s a word today.)

I did remember to grab the key as I hopped up into the cockpit, ready to crank.  Last minute, I remembered to check that the kill switch was down, that we weren’t in gear, and I gave her a little throttle.  But, right before I was about to crank I remembered.  Darnit!  The battery.  “Just a sec,” I told the guys as I hopped down below and turned on the start battery.  Pop back up and I’m ready for action.  Are any of you thinking I’m missing something right now …  

I press the glow plugs for my usual fifteen seconds (which felt like an eternity with all of the guys there standing in silence – although I know the thought of their stares was only in my own head).  Then I pressed the start button and voila!  Westie turned right over!  It felt therapeutically good to hear him running.  Brandon and I had a quick debate about how much throttle to give him to start (he thought it should be less, I thought more, as I hate to hear Westie rattle and sputter).  About fifteen seconds had gone by, when I finally (because fifteen seconds is typically a looonnngg time for this) remembered to look back over the stern to make sure water was coming out.  I typically do that right after I crank, every time, even though I can hear the water pumping.  It’s just habit.  But, what was I distinctly “out of” that day?  Habit! 

“There’s no water!  Crap!  Brandon!  I didn’t … There’s no water!  I gotta kill it.” 

I killed the engine and sat there stewing.  Had I really, after all these months, all of these extensive repairs on her, all of this babying of her, and everything she had done to hold on at that ragged dock then thunder her way to the shipyard, and I had just cranked my boat DRY?  (Something I have never done by the way.) That was the “thanks” I paid to Plaintiff’s Rest after all of that?!

Turns out, yes.  I had.  I was furious with myself.  For whatever reasons—being nervous, out of habit, out of the water—it just hadn’t dawned on me to … say it with me …

MAKE SURE THE SEAK COCK WAS OPEN.

Dag nabbit!  I mean, we weren’t floating.  It just didn’t feel natural. 

To his credit, Brandon was doing a very good job of playing my therapist that day as I cursed and beat myself up over it.  He said it had only been a short time, that it was probably fine, that if I turned the engine back over and water came out, I shouldn’t wouldn’t worry about it.  That he wouldn’t worry about it (and Brandon is our ultimate gage of whether we should worry about it).  Although I couldn’t help but worry about it, there was nothing I could do about it.  I stomped down the companionway stairs, opened the sea cock (while calling myself a colossal dummy) then we cranked the engine again and I was overwhelmingly thrilled to see water coming immediately out of the exhaust. 

While I may have thrown a flange off of the impeller, I took comfort in the fact that I knew replacing the impeller in our raw water pump was already on our “short list” so I could chase that guy down and remedy that problem, assuming I caused it, then.  I did find supreme comfort in knowing, even though I had just royally screwed up, that I knew exactly how to fix it. 

As a result, I was immediately comforted and reminded of an anecdote that brought me supreme peace—a delightful … attitude, if you will—in that moment.  It is the reason I shared this story.  Some good friends of ours (Stephen and Beth, if you’re reading : ) told us a while back, when they were nervous to begin some remodeling and repairs on their house, thinking they might “screw everything up,” Beth’s father, an accomplished carpenter, had told them: “There ain’t anything you can screw up so badly that I can’t fix it,” as he handed Stephen a hammer.  In that moment, I felt that way.  I had reached a point on my own boat that there wasn’t any system I wasn’t willing to dismantle and troubleshoot, because I was confident I could either fix it, or learn how to.  In essence, there wasn’t anything on that boat that, if I screwed it up, I couldn’t fix.   What a supremely perfect attitude, no?

So, let me hear it folks.  Have any of you ever accidentally cranked with the sea cock closed?  And, if so, did it turn out to be an ordeal or an adventure?

Isn’t solar power just awesome?  Using pure sunshine, something that is entirely free, that we all have access to, and that doesn’t cost us a dime to charge our little boat batteries and keep us happily floating and going?  I care none if this makes me appear the quintessential sun nerd.  It just warms my heart (get it ; ) to be able to operate the electronics on our boat from a source that is not only eco-friendly for our poor ailing earth, but that is also super affordable and … (drumroll) easy enough that Annie can install it!  Win.  Win.  Let’s dig in. 

So, as many of you know, our brave little boat survived a hurricane!  Whaaaattt?  Say it isn’t so.  So.  These things happen.  And, while thankfully she pulled through not too scathed, the solar panels on her bimini did not.  (And I know many of you are thinking: What the heck were you doing leaving your bimini up for a hurricane?  Because we didn’t know until hours before that it was going to be a hurricane and we thought the solars might be necessary to power the bilge pumps if she did, God forbid, start taking on water.  Were we right in this thinking?  Likely not, but I can only say that with the beauty of hindsight.  Sally just caught us all off guard.)  Including our solar panels.  Here is a quick run-down of our pre-Sally set-up. 

We had three panels (one 100W and two 50Ws) Velcroed and stitched (for good Annie measure) to our bimini providing us with 200 watts total of solar power.  We combined the wiring for the panels into one heat-shrunk tube, affixed it to our bimini frame and then ran it into the deck on the starboard side via a gland that Brandon with Perdido Sailor helped us install. 

(Phillip and I were too scared back in 2014 to cut holes in our deck without supervision.  Thankfully, that’s long since gone to the wayside since I have become quite the proficient 610-hole-filler as needed.  Annie get your gun.  Pow!).

Once inside the boat, the solar wires then ran hidden in various lockers and cubbies down to this area beneath our aft-berth where we installed two MPPT controllers.

If you are curious what MPPT controllers are, in Annie-speak, they decide how much solar power the batteries need.  Our wet-cell bank has three stages of charging: bulk, absorption, and float.  I like to think of it as slowing down when coming up to a stop sign. You don’t go from 20 mph to stopped, instantly do you? I hope not. Typically, you first slow pretty rapidly (consider this bulk), then more slowly as you get closer to your stopping point (consider that a full battery) so the car doesn’t jerk at the end (that slower charge toward the end would be absorption), and then you’re sitting idle at the stop sign with the car ready to go once traffic is clear (that’s float).  I hope that helps some.  As a woman cruiser who tries (very hard) to be an equal to her male counterpart, I find I have to learn things at my own pace, in my own way, and find metaphors and analogies that make things *click* for me as sometimes (unfortunately many times) the way Phillip explains it just sounds like Hebrew.  I’ve often thought about writing a fun Your Boat, She-Splained book for women that helps explain systems that often seem overwhelming, though once you understand them, you find they are quite the opposite and totally manageable.  Ladies, let me know what you think of that idea (as I unapologetically digress).

Back to the solar.  Along with the MPPT controllers under the aft-berth, we also installed switches that allow us to turn the solar panels on and off.  For whatever reason, our battery charger did not seem like it when the solars were putting in at the same time as the charger was receiving shore power.  The charge would get funky.  So, we always turn our solars off before we plug into shore power and, just to avoid any other interference, when putting in juice from the alternator on the engine and simply turn them back on after we’ve killed the engine for the day.  It seemed the easiest fix. 

So, with the panels, switches, and MPPT controllers, it was a pretty simple set-up.  On a good sunny day, Phillip and I could generally put in 6-8 amps/hour at peak sunny hours, which translated to roughly 30-40 amps in a day.  With Phillip and I using approximately 40-50 amps on a typical anchor day, the solar panels would allow us, usually, to lose less power each day. Although we did still lose, not gain, we did so at a slower rate than before we installed the solar.  With the solar, we were able to stay on anchor for 3-5 days, depending on the sun, without having to crank the engine to charge the batteries.  It was honestly quite perfect as, after about four-or-so days, we either need to get back to the dock to work and/or re-provision, or, when we’re on an extended cruise, Phillip and I are ready by then to crank the engine, weigh anchor, and go scout out a new anchorage for the next few days.  While Phillip and I were perfectly content with this set-up (and quite honestly we liked that the panels were generally out-of-sight, out-of-mind) after Hurricane Sally we knew we would need far more solar! 

Why?  Shore power was in no way guaranteed, anywhere!  There wasn’t a dock, it seemed, in Pensacola that hadn’t been completely mangled by Sally, and those that had survived had been scooped up immediately by any limping boat that had weathered her and was desperate for a home.  Phillip and I had no idea what new dock Plaintiff’s Rest might call home once she splashed back after her repairs or, quite possibly, whether we would have to just leave her on the hook in a bayou and dinghy back and forth to her.  Knowing that latter option was a very likely scenario for us, we wanted her to be as powered-up as possible in case anything happened (a small water leak or other issue) while we were away and she was off shore power.  That was our initial reason to go from 200W, previously, to 380W.  But after Phillip and I saw how much power we could have been indulging in with the simple (and easy) addition of a 170W panel on the dodger, Phillip and I are now kicking ourselves for not having installed one there sooner.  But, c’est la vie. 

So, how did we come up with the plan for the new install?  This is my right and proper cue to introduce to you my Solar Savior, my Sun Sensai, the one, the only: LYALL with Sunpowered Yachts.  He came highly recommended by my good friend and exceptional sailor, Pam Wall, whose recommendations rarely disappoint.  Lyall certainly did not.  He was there for me every step of the way, answering my many tedious questions, sending me diagrams and photos and wiring instructions, even immediately shipping new parts when I had ordered the wrong ones (the blonde is real).  If you are going the solar route, save yourself infinite time and headache by letting Lyall be your first call.  He’s also got a lovely British accent that I can just never get enough of.  (This girl’s a sucker for an accent, can I get an “Amen!” from the ladies? : )

With Lyall’s help, we decided on two 50Ws on either side of the iso-lookout as we’d had before on the bimini, a 110W forward of the lookout on the bimini, and a new 170W on the dodger for a total of an impressive 380 watts.  While Phillip and I did debate the aesthetic of the huge, somewhat sci-fi-looking panel on the dodger—as we often stand and look out over the dodger while sailing so it would now become a major part of our “view”—we decided the extra power and security and safety it offered was worth the minimal diminution of our “pretty view” to the bow and the overall look of the boat. 

• 

• 

Lyall recommended this corrugated plastic material to install underneath them for extra support. You can get it at any Home Depot or Lowe’s.

Lyall walked me through the amperage parameters on the two EPSolar MPPT controllers we already had and determined they would work to regulate the new panels, although we discussed upgrading to new Victron contollers if that would be necessary.  Thankfully, it was not.  So, as long as the wiring running to our bimini was still good (meaning only the panels were damaged in Hurricane Sally, not the wiring), the install was really only going to require affixing the new panels to the canvas on the bimini, wiring them to the old wiring running up the bimini frame, installing one deck gland for the wiring of the new 170W panel on the dodger, and running that wiring down to the MPPT controllers.  It honestly was quite simple and Phillip and I were thrilled to find—when we brought the panels to the boat and hooked up the bimini wiring for the first time—that the wiring was working perfectly.  We were ready to install!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

My only hang-ups were (and I do this often but can rarely remember the lesson) I ordered a length of wire from the dodger down to the MPPT controllers below that was too short.  Yes, I measured (but that’s never an offensive question) but I always forget that when you start running wires behind things they may not always be able to go the direct straight route you measured as they have to take funky turns and can only come through in certain places.  You know, it’s a boat.  Nothing’s easy.  But, the minute I told Lyall this in an email, he immediately shipped out the longer length of cord, without even charging me, saying he’d figure out when I shipped the other back.  I mean … can you even find customer service like that anymore? 

The second little glitch was the wiring of the two 50Ws on the bimini in parallel.  Lyall recommended this over wiring them in series as this would increase the amperage of the panels without increasing the voltage.  This was beneficial as we would be wiring the 110W and the two 50Ws to the same MPPT controller.  Lyall explained it would be better to combine the two 50Ws and 110W on one MPPT controller with the 170W by itself on the other MPPT controller because of the big disparity in the 50Ws and the 170W, claiming combining those two on the same controller would really bring the 170W down.  Lyall explained it as “you’re only as strong as your weakest player” which made total sense to me.  The wiring in parallel, however, did require two additional Y-branch connectors, which Lyall was happy to send me.  See diagram below and the need for the connectors. 

Phillip and I did have to make some extensions here and there as the length of wiring that comes on the panels (roughly 17”) was not long enough in a couple of locations to reach to the bundle of wires on our bimini frame (that could not be extended).  But, here is where mistakes sometimes make the happiest of accidents.  The “too-short” wire I had ordered ended up working beautifully for this purpose as we could easily cut it and re-attach the fittings to create the necessary extensions.  So it was kind of a blessing in disguise that I’d goofed.  (Reminder to all to not be so hard on yourself when you do that, sometimes you’re just setting up for a happy accident … ride it out before beating yourself up over it).  Installing the gland on the companionway roof wasn’t terribly hard either, just one drilled hole (for the wire to run through), pilot holes for the screws to mount it, and some butyl and we were in business.  Installing and mounting the switch below the aft berth and inserting the wires into the MPPT controllers took less than half an hour.  Once those tasks were knocked out, Phillip and I were ready to plug the new panels in, turn their switches on, and watch the juice pour in! 

And boy did it … not.  Unfortunately it was a very cloudy day the day Phillip and I first turned them on.  So initially we blamed it on that.  But, then the sun came out yet the input was still very disappointing until we realized … duh, the batteries were already full.  We’d only just turned off shore power less than a half-hour before and had hardly ran anything.  Dummies.  Once we figured that out, though, we came back on a super sunny day with the batteries needing juice, and we were tickled pink to see our new 380W bank putting in almost 14 amps an hour! 

My mind immediately began calculating.  We spend about 50-60 amps a day.  14 times 6 peak hours equals … 84 amps?!  Meaning, on a good sunny day, we would be putting in MORE than we used.  Meaning, adding “cushion” for cloudy days.  With this much solar, Plaintiff’s Rest could, in theory, stay on hook as long as she wanted.  What an incredible thought!  Needless to say Phillip and I were thrilled.  Feeling a little dumb that we hadn’t installed a big-ass panel on the dodger years ago, but hey, we’d never felt super power-starved before.  And, now, we were power rich baby!  All thanks to the sun.  And Lyall, my Sun Sensai!  If you go with Lyall at Sunpowered Yachts, mention Pam Wall’s boat Kandarik for a 10% discount.  You’re welcome! 

Overall, this entire solar panel project I think cost us around $1,000 including the panels, wiring, gland, and other little tidbits.  A very affordable price in our opinion to add such a critical and valuable component (more power supply) on the boat.  I hope many of you start planning your own solar panel install projects soon!  Next up, I’ll share more of our Hurricane Sally repairs.  You’ll be surprised to see the transformation of our rudder.  Stay tuned!

I can’t tell you how many times Phillip and I have left Palafox Marina, whether it was headed out to our favorite anchorage, Ft. McRee, or just for a day sail, or sometimes to shoot all the way out into the Gulf and head south to the Keys, Cuba, the Bahamas, or beyond.  There was always a sense of thrill, however slight, when we would turn the corner around the jetty, point into the wind and hoist the main just as we were leaving the marina, a scent of adventure always in the air.  It has been a bit bittersweet to say goodbye to Palafox Marina, at least for the time being, and perhaps indefinitely. We just don’t know. But, whatever may come, Palafox Marina will always be an important chapter in our boat’s story as it was her primary home since we got Plaintiff’s Rest in 2013.  That’s seven years of memories at that marina! 

We’ve done dozens of boat projects at Palafox Marina. 

It’s where I first learned to dock the boat (and that bumping the dock is not the complete and entire end of the world).  It’s also where we put on our solar in 2014. 

It’s where we first installed our working jib in 2017. 

It’s where Phillip (we believe) will someday grow a third eye because he had to dive in the marina (yuck!) to retrieve part of our dinghy assembly that he dropped into the water.  Down you go, Phillip!

It’s where I got my heart-shaped “boat bite” from a heat gun.

Palafox Marina just houses so many memories for us.  But, now it was time to leave Palafox Marina, perhaps indefinitely, because it just couldn’t offer us shelter anymore.  What once looked like this. 

At the time looked like this. 

It was just … time to go. 

Plaintiff’s Rest was docked safely on the sea wall to the west, directly across from her former slip where she had bucked and heeled and held on for dear life. 

Now, our day had come to move her to the shipyard to be hauled out so we could finally assess the full damage to her rudder from Hurricane Sally.  I had mentioned, during my previous burst-of-a-post ; ) that Phillip and I were worried to turn or move her rudder in the unknown condition it was in after the storm because we were afraid something that might have been magically lodged might become un-lodged and that she might start taking on water.  For this reason our initial move of Plaintiff’s Rest, from her ravaged slip to her temporary spot on the sea-wall, had been done under sheer man- and tow-boat power as we did not want to move the rudder until the day we were hauling ass to the shipyard in case she started taking on water. 

Well, today was that day.  And, it was Captain Annie again answering the call of duty. 

September 23, 2020, 2:00 p.m.:

“I need you to pull me off at the hip as best you can!” I shouted to our buddy, Cap’n Jack, who had graciously offered to come that day to help in case Plaintiff’s Rest had issues with steering or some other problem once we started operating her and we needed a tow.  Honestly, I was overwhelmed at the response I got from many friends we had asked for help:

“I’m not in town, but I’ll tell you where the keys to our fishing boat are.  Anyone can drive her.” 

“I can come with the dinghy.” 

“You’re welcome to my boat.”

“I’ll be there.  Should I wear a cape?”

These were just some of the responses we received.  It really was heart-warming to feel the effect of such an outpouring of help, even from those who had lost their boat in the storm.  It seemed all sailors, no matter what has happened to them or their boat personally, want to see any other boat possible survive.  It’s like shaking a heavy fist at nature.  You didn’t get us all.  Not this time. 

We ended up having a friend (shout-out to Bill Wein – I sure wish I could have seen you in the cape!) who was going to come in his 10-foot rib on Thursday (Sep. 24th), when the shipyard had us slated to haul at 3:00 p.m.  As you can imagine, dozens upon dozens of boaters, damaged and scattered throughout Pensacola, were itching to haul, so we were advised, if we were given a pretty early slip to not miss it, as it might be weeks, maybe even months before the opportunity would come again.  This is why Phillip and I were feverishly asking for quick help.  But, the shipyard called on Tuesday and said Wednesday would be better, could we do that?  Off went the round of texts and calls again, trying to line up help for the new, day-earlier time slot.  We finally ended up with Bill’s rib, to be driven by another friend, Cap’n Jack, who was available Wednesday.  It was a hodge-podge rescue team, but I was thrilled to have help.  Phillip was on-board, but just in case of emergencies, as he was still fielding his own onslaught of work emergencies that had not let up since the storm struck.  We had another good friend, Keith, on-board to help as well, but I was once again in charge. 

Cap’n Jack had me tied a few different ways to his rib hoping he could pull me off of the wall (as, of freaking course!) there was a steady E/SE wind pushing me onto it, with not much room to maneuver off.  And, I had absolutely no clue how much maneuvering, if any, I was going to be able to do.  This was the first time we had cranked the engine (thankfully, Westie turned right over) and tried to steer the boat using the rudder since the storm.  Here we go, I told myself as I signaled Keith to let loose our last dock line to shore.  As I started to move the boat I could feel her responding to the rudder, which was overwhelmingly comforting.  But, as we started to pull away from the dock, unfortunately, Jack’s bridal and the force of the wind had grabbed my bow and turned me completely perpendicular to the dock.  Worried I would lose control of her if she started to spin in a circle, I made the tough call. 

“RELEASE!” I shouted to Jack, which we had discussed before would be my “safe word” if I felt things going sideways and I wanted complete control of the boat.  I’ll admit I was just a little terrified, but thankfully after several years honing my piloting and docking skills, I did feel comfortable I would be better able to navigate her than a tow-boat.  All lines fell off the boat and she was free.  By that time, she had turned completely to the north with her stern facing the direction we needed to go, toward the marina exit to the south.  But, thankfully, I had seen Phillip pull off this bass-ackwards maneuver (I can literally call it that) before.  I threw her in reverse and throttled her up hoping I could get enough momentum to steer her nicely, albeit in reverse, toward the exit. 

Phillip watched me attentively, but he did not step in.  He was on call.  I was Captain.  That had been our deal.  Mercifully it worked.  Whatever shape our rudder was in down there, she was fully capable of steering our boat.  I was able to back up to the exit and manuever her, finally after that tragic ordeal she had suffered there, out of Palafox Marina.  Cap’n Jack snapped this pic of Plaintiff’s Rest underway, all of our wayward, flat bumpers still tied on, with Captain Annie at the helm, but damn if we weren’t making way. 

Plaintiff’s Rest was going to make it!  Phillip and I locked eyes and gulped a big knot down our throats realizing the momentous accomplish our boat had just achieved. 

And while our plan had been to travel as gently as possible in the Bay so as not to put any additional pressure on the rudder, of course it was blowing 22+ out there.  We were heeled over without a lick of canvas up, but she seemed to be tolerating the conditions just fine as we made our way into the channel to Bayou Chico.  Cap’n Jack was running recon in advance of us making sure there weren’t any sunk ships or other large debris in our path, as many boats had been smashed and wrecked and met their fate, too, up in the Bayou. 

Phillip had me laughing as we were both looking ahead and he was pointing out the slip where I would pull in and tie to the dock so the shipyard crew could then man-handle us into the straps to be lifted out. 

“Well, this should be the easiest docking you’ve ever had to do.  You don’t have to worry about scratching her at all.” 

I have to admit I really needed that gigantic dose of humor in that moment.  He was totally right.  There was nothing I could do to her now, as far as a hull-bump, that would make any hill of beans.  Plaintiff’s Rest was already scratched and marred to high heaven.  But, she was floating and going!  Those were two big blessings right there.  Unfortunately, we didn’t get lucky with a third.  While this would have dawned on me had I had a little more fore-thought, but I’ll just have to admit, I was in my own little “Save Plaintiff’s Rest” bubble that I hadn’t thought to consider the state of the docks at the Travelift slip.  In my mind they had appeared pristine.  A safe haven for our baby girl once she made her harrowing journey across the Bay. 

What was I thinking?

Almost every dock in Pensacola was wrecked by Sally.  Of course the Travelift docks were wrecked too.  We could see it immediately as we passed by them.  I knew I had an E/SE wind pushing me and, when that is the case—i.e., both momentum and wind charging me toward a slip—I am always inclined, if space allows, to pass the slip and come at her with the wind working against my momentum to give me better control.  So, I had already planned to pass the slip initially, but when I did I saw what terrible state it was in.  Both sides of the dock were thrown cock-eyed from the storm.  Phillip was trying to communicate with Brandon ashore to determine which side was the least damaged so we could tie to it. 

“Starboard,” he hollered back to me from the bow as I was making my turn into the slip, but I could tell the wind already had too strong of a grip on me, and I wasn’t going to be able to make the slip, particularly not with a starboard tie.  It would more likely be a port slam at that point.  So, I backed out and circled again.  My hands and legs were shaking.  I was sweating, although the wind had me chilly.  But, as I started to come toward the slip another time, Phillip was hollering with Brandon and I didn’t know what the status was.  “Neither side!”  Phillip shouted back to me, which just struck me dumb.  Neither side?  Phillip jogged from the bow back to the cockpit and doled out my terrible fate that day: Both sides of the dock were unusable.  I had to motor straight into the straps, no mess-ups. 

I backed out again and was trying to make another circle but the boat didn’t seem to want to respond.  I throttled up, but she couldn’t seem to get her bow around.  “Throttle more,” Phillip said watching me struggle, which I did to no effect.  I was honestly afraid I had lost the rudder and was about to send Phillip down below to look when he asked: “Are you in gear?” 

Gulp.

What can I say?  I was nervous.  I was anxious.  But, I was definitely not in gear.  Get yourself in gear, Annie, literally! Thankfully I had the wherewithal not to throw her immediately into gear, at full throttle.  I’ll give myself that.  And, I didn’t pee.  There’s that, too.  But, once I throttled back, shifted her into gear, I was then easily able to turn and maneuver and by some miracle of grace I then motored her directly into the straps.  You want to talk about not much room for error.  I was so relieved when it was done that I clapped for myself.  I seriously did.  In the cockpit. All on my own. I didn’t care who thought it was weird or silly.  But, the guys at the yard were super nice about it and congratulated me on a great entry.  They said they’d had many boats come charging in and get all goobered up coming into the Travelift, so thankfully I had saved them some extra work. 

And, then it was time.  Time to finally haul our hurricane-ravaged beauty and see what carnage we would find beneath.  Phillip and I gave each other a little hand-squeeze as she started to emerge. Surprisingly, her bottom job looked pretty good.  Gouged in a few spots but nothing too terrible.  That boat that had sunk behind her, although it had damaged her stern rail, hull, and rudder, had likely saved her from other boats that had tried to come at her like a spear.  The rudder, however, was definitely chipped and cracked on the bottom, which meant she was also likely water-logged, too. 

Although we did not yet know the full state of repairs that awaited us, Phillip and I felt simultaneously exhausted and exuberant to have that day behind us.  Our baby girl had been plucked from the wreckage and finally sat in safe hands now on her jack stands at the Pensacola Shipyard.  She was safe.

It was a strange feeling, though, not knowing where she would go next, where her new home would be, and what might become of Palafox Marina.  As I write this (February 1, 2021), Palafox Marina, while it has been cleaned and a few docks rebuilt, remains largely empty with no activity occurring.  We have no idea when the rebuild might begin, how long it might take, or whether Plaintiff’s Rest will ever call Palafox Marina home again.  It’s been sad to see such a beautiful marina go, and while we don’t know what exactly lies in the future for Plaintiff’s Rest, we know she had a great time of it at Palafox Marina.  To our many memorable years there.  Cheers!