Milly's Makeover

Milly is floating pretty after two months of work.  Any new boat has aches and pains over the first few years of sailing and Milly has been sailing full time.  She was overdue for some TLC.

We were the smallest boat at Hinckley.  Our neighbours were over twice the length.  We were the only owners working and certainly owners who biked to do chores were a novelty in the yard - gained us a certain amount of respect and a lot of friendliness from the staff.

When we decided to hop across the Atlantic to the Med, we thought we'd stop off in Florida to attend to a few ills.  There were a few items on our list:

• Get the bottom painted - any boat gets growth - seaweed and barnacles - on it’s bottom living in the ocean.  Owners, us included, often scrape the bottom and props on their daily swims.  Sitting in a marina in particularly fertile water or in anchorages with little current is especially hard on boats.  The marina in Santa Marta was particularly stressful on Milly’s props.  We had not had her bottom repainted with antifouling since Trinidad and knew she was due for a little spit and polish.
  
• Replace the radar under warranty - Her radar was spotty during our passage to Bonaire and since then gave out entirely.  Simrad, the dealer, promised that repair/replacement would be covered under warranty.  Our attempts at connecting with dealers in the A,B,C’s didn’t work.  Even in the Keys we were thwarted.
• Freezer repair - In Belize, during our kids’ visit, our freezer stopped freezing.  After lots of eating and cooking, we turned the freezer off for four months and saved a lot of power but shopped more often.
• Installation of a 12V water maker so we can make water off solar power.  Currently, our 110V water maker, although great, can only be used when we run the engines or the generator.
• Shaft seal replacement with extras installed - Milly has two shafts.  They go from the engine through a through hull in the bottom of the boat to the props.  The shaft seal, the contraption that does exactly what it’s name implies, is called and should be “dripless”.  Milly’s port side began to drip.  I didn’t like this - I envisioned a drip becoming a major gush.  Peter was less bothered but I did notice that he didn’t use the port engine as much.
• Trampoline border resew.  Over the last couple of months, anchoring meant standing on the trampoline which had gaping holes on two of four sides where stitching had degraded in the sun - a bit off putting.

  

  The trampoline pre fix.  You can just see the gap on the starboard side.  It ran along the entire length and width at the aft edge.  Gaps big enough for Sally.

• Increasing our solar power source through installation of bigger and more efficient solar panels.  Milly likes power and we like solar. We can always use our generator but when there are renewable sources, using a diesel generator seems irresponsible (and noisy).  We decided against wind energy which doesn’t get good reviews from other cruisers.  And a hydrogenerator, although making logical sense, is a bit ungainly on a catamaran.  We’re waiting for better methods of installation.

  

  Mission accomplished.  We replaced four 55W small panels with two huge 315W panels.  We more than doubled our power.  

• Adding 220V wiring to allow us to connect to shore power in Europe and almost everywhere else in the world.  Although we choose anchoring over docking, it is good to have the ability to grab shore power if need be.
• Two year service on our three diesel engines.  
• Most of all, we were scheduled for a boat inspection by the Antares guru, James, a wiz who had worked at the PDQ boat yard in Ontario for years and now spends six months of the year in Stuart doing boat work.
  
  

Milly was hauled out at the only boatyard in Stuart that had a boat lift wide enough to take a catamaran.  Of course, it happened to be the “Rolls Royce” of boatyards - expensive but great service.  A swarm of service people were working on the boat each day - Fridays ended a bit early and weekends we were on our own.  Part of the exclusive, rolls royce approach was that, unlike do-it-yourself boatyards where cruisers live on their grounded boats, we were not allowed to.  We could work on the boat during the day - small tasks that didn’t take away from the employed - but we couldn’t stay the night.  For the first few nights we stayed in a local hotel and then our fairy-god friends kicked in with a beautiful guest suite, dinners and breakfasts, drives to chandleries, a dog companion, cocktail boat and lots of laughs.  We stayed eight nights and Michele and Randy will soon join us on passage to Bermuda.

For a lark, we contacted Rocna Anchors for advice about our rusting anchor.

They took it upon themselves to replace it, shipping included.  Great service!

Our eight point list soon blossomed into four pages of points and two months of work.  Some as small as replacing screws or replacing dryer hose to more major (read costly) items like polishing the freeboard ,(This was not just vanity, although Milly does look shiny and clean.  It protects her from the salt and sun.) rewiring of the windlass and bilge pumps, and rejigging the propane lines.

Windshield wipers - yes, we have windshield wipers and are grateful for them every time we get a big salty splash - were corroded.  Peter did the work.

A leak found in our guest cabin under the bed, running onto the single side band ground.  After some scratching of head, James traced the leak to the escape hatch, took it out and remounted it.  Meanwhile, the ground was dealt with by Hinckley.

Scary wiring remainders attached to the bilge pump.  Rewired and bilge pumps replaced by the finest.  

New piece for the reef lines supplied by Antares.  Our reef lines had chafed through on our way up the Brazilian coast.  Peter had jury rigged a system that worked but this is a little more substantial.

Our windlass electrics were under the mast where salt water could and did get in.  Plenty of corrosion.  James rewired completely and we replaced some of the parts.

Milly stayed on the hard for about ten days and we stayed another week at dock so that James could finish most of his list.  Then we had a week off to luxuriate in the tranquillity of anchorage in a conservation area on the intercoastal waterway.  So wonderful.  Kayaking, walking, exploring.

Milly headed back to the water

Ahhh..!

Then to dock at a marina where the electrician and James finished off their various tasks.  Peter worked constantly.  He had enjoyed working with the professionals and learned a ton. His biggest accomplishment was the new water maker. Peter always seems able to figure out a problem.  I have great faith.

Now for the fine points of preparation for our TransAtlantic.  Milly is ready...almost.