douglas_family
Well-Known Member
We have been living on board now for five months (my wife and I and 2 kids aged 4 and 2), thought some of you may be interested in our experience of refitting largely while living on board…
Unable to afford to buy our boat and refit in advance we decided to move on board in Spain and refit over the course of our first winter. The boat’s general condition was not too bad, our first priority was to get the boats sea-worthy, as although Almerimar (where we bought the boat) is a popular liveaboard wintering destination we wanted to get a few miles under the keel, so we decided to aim to get to Barcelona.
To get the boat ready for sea the trampolines had to be replaced, the engines serviced and new check stays fitted, rebedding of some deck gear, and a lot of the previous owners stuff removed to make space for our belongings, we had 5 weeks over the summer to do this, carry out some basic sea trials and receive some own boat tuition from some sailing instructor friends (went from 8m monohull to 13.5m cat). Sea trials and training became combined into 3 days on the water in which we worked out systems for us and the kids!
Winter sailing in the med was not dissimilar to sailing in the summer in Scotland although the wind arrives and leaves quicker! We worked our way up the coast of Spain discovering all the work that was required and/or desired on the boat. Which necessitated a 1 week stop at Cartagena to fix leaking fuel tanks and a six week stop at Torrevieja to replace the anchor windless, add new chain and fit solar panels. We had left Almerima Sept10th and arrived in Port Ginesta (near Barcelona) in December having lingered as and when we choose and moved on as the forecast allowed.
We had a long job list on arrival (including replacing part of our facnor rollerfurling gear, fitting a stereo and fixing leaking windows) at the top of which was the self steering which we had failed to repair at every previous stop! We decided to replace the whole steering system from mechanical too hydraulic and fit a Navman pilot to replace the broken Simrad wheel pilot. The steering is being professionally fitted and should be finished this week and the pilot which I’ve fitted myself which is all but done just awaiting the pump. Between us we have carried out a multitude of small jobs like servicing pumps, heads, replacing hinges and cupboard locks, sanding, filling and painting. We have generally fitted these jobs around trips to Barcelona, family visits social outings and of course the mundane bus trips to Mercadona for supplies. Once you are on board full time we have found there is a lot more time!
Even with the kids and carrying out a lot of the work ourselves we have found it no problem living on board and fixing up the boat. Pics of the boat and blog of the travel can be found at www.double-helix.org.uk for those interested. We hope that we are nearly at the end of our current job list – although we fully expect to add to our list fairly constantly!
Unable to afford to buy our boat and refit in advance we decided to move on board in Spain and refit over the course of our first winter. The boat’s general condition was not too bad, our first priority was to get the boats sea-worthy, as although Almerimar (where we bought the boat) is a popular liveaboard wintering destination we wanted to get a few miles under the keel, so we decided to aim to get to Barcelona.
To get the boat ready for sea the trampolines had to be replaced, the engines serviced and new check stays fitted, rebedding of some deck gear, and a lot of the previous owners stuff removed to make space for our belongings, we had 5 weeks over the summer to do this, carry out some basic sea trials and receive some own boat tuition from some sailing instructor friends (went from 8m monohull to 13.5m cat). Sea trials and training became combined into 3 days on the water in which we worked out systems for us and the kids!
Winter sailing in the med was not dissimilar to sailing in the summer in Scotland although the wind arrives and leaves quicker! We worked our way up the coast of Spain discovering all the work that was required and/or desired on the boat. Which necessitated a 1 week stop at Cartagena to fix leaking fuel tanks and a six week stop at Torrevieja to replace the anchor windless, add new chain and fit solar panels. We had left Almerima Sept10th and arrived in Port Ginesta (near Barcelona) in December having lingered as and when we choose and moved on as the forecast allowed.
We had a long job list on arrival (including replacing part of our facnor rollerfurling gear, fitting a stereo and fixing leaking windows) at the top of which was the self steering which we had failed to repair at every previous stop! We decided to replace the whole steering system from mechanical too hydraulic and fit a Navman pilot to replace the broken Simrad wheel pilot. The steering is being professionally fitted and should be finished this week and the pilot which I’ve fitted myself which is all but done just awaiting the pump. Between us we have carried out a multitude of small jobs like servicing pumps, heads, replacing hinges and cupboard locks, sanding, filling and painting. We have generally fitted these jobs around trips to Barcelona, family visits social outings and of course the mundane bus trips to Mercadona for supplies. Once you are on board full time we have found there is a lot more time!
Even with the kids and carrying out a lot of the work ourselves we have found it no problem living on board and fixing up the boat. Pics of the boat and blog of the travel can be found at www.double-helix.org.uk for those interested. We hope that we are nearly at the end of our current job list – although we fully expect to add to our list fairly constantly!
