Work some, play some

We have been busy working on Southwind and getting in as much sail time as possible!  We have managed to get the engine running beautiful and we are now able to motor whenever necessary without worrying about overheating! (Whew!!) This was a huge relief since winds can be shifty out on San Diego Bay and outside of the channels are very shallow areas which with a huge keel can be very hazardous.  We like to know that we have that engine ready to go if we need it!

After some trouble shooting we also realized that our alternator was bad and we began the hunt for a replacement.  We did another oil and filter change and replaced the fuel filter/water separator.  After doing a lot of research into the Westerbeke engine overheating problems, Tom was able to learn from others how putting in a bypass around the water heater would help keep the water flow pressure up to help keep the engine cool and VOILA! we were in business!

Thanks Downwind, for some great new life lines!

I was able to use my Sailrite machine to sew up some new sail covers to protect our sails which are in excellent condition!  A trip to Downwind on Shelter Island and the awesome guys there were able to help us get set up with new halyards, sheets for the genoa, and beautiful new lifelines (with gates on both sides, YAY!)

We have also installed a swim ladder, GPS, batteries, and some interior lighting.  

The project list seems never ending but we are really enjoying learning everything we can about outfitting our boat for safety and comfort.

We were able to spend a few nights on the docks and get a little sailing in.  We had our first anchoring experience at Glorietta Bay and it was amazing!  The girls and Tom were able to take the dinghy ashore and check out the beach, the girls also did a little swimming. Watching everyone have such a great time makes all the hard work worth it!

Downtown San Diego

Anchored at Glorietta Bay

Ending the day with a West Coast Sunset

Coronado Bridge San Diego

We Went Sailing

Happy faces after a great sail!

Well, its official....not only does she float, but she SAILS!! (And pretty darn well, if I do say so myself!) We spent all day Friday and Saturday (and the first half of Sunday) working on project after project, and decided on Sunday afternoon that it was about time that we took our beautiful Southwind out for a spin. And boy are we glad we did! This was our first sail since we limped into the marina almost a month ago. Winds were pretty crazy, and we had a bit too much sail out, I think (we sailed on the main and the genoa).  We even heeled over a bit which was great fun!  Since we haven't installed our GPS yet, I'm not sure exactly how fast we were going, but I am fairly certain we reached hull speed!  Such a great first sail!  And everything went so smoothly, no *big* issues. :)

Floating in the dingy before our sail

Our engine is still running a bit hot, but in defense of the engine, we did forget to open up the raw water intake seacock when we first started the engine. (Oops!) We sailed through the ship channel and out into San Diego Bay.  Most of our short two hour sail was spent getting a feel for how well she maneuvers and practicing adjusting our sail trim. We probably would have stayed out even longer, but after an hour or so, the battery on our handheld VHF died (we forgot to charge it, "oops" #2). At that point we decided to head back, afraid that we were asking for trouble by being out without a working radio. Overall, it was such a fun afternoon.  It also happened to be Hannah's first ever sail, and she loved it! Big win!  (Not really sure what we would have done if she had hated it, HA!) She was definitely nervous at first, but got a feel for it after a little while. She especially loved it when Dad let her be the helmsman for a bit. It was perfect weather, a beautiful afternoon, and we couldn't have asked for a prettier day!


The only downside of the day, we were missing one of our crew members. Emily participated in the Newport to Ensenada race as part of the Newport Sea Base Youth Race Team.  Unfortunately, the weather was against them, and a huge number of boats, including Emily's, were forced to drop out of the race. But she had fun, nonetheless, learned a lot and had a ton of stories to tell about her adventure when she came back!  You can check out some pics of the race start below.

And they're off!

A gloomy day to start the race

Launch day!

I never ever in a million years thought this day would come. Okay, that sounds way too dramatic. I should say I didn't see this day coming for a very very VERY long time! But its here, and its a very crazy feeling. Its exciting, and daunting, and scary and thrilling, and a thousand and one other feelings. But this is it, no going back now. The Boat Movers have been paid, crane time scheduled at the yard, and our slip at the marina reserved.  Now, all that's left is the boat!

Because of the crazy schedules of everyone in our house I was down at the yard alone for a couple days (Dad was working, and Mom was taxiing the little girls around to their activities), getting everything ready for the infamous Launch Day. I got lots of chores done, finished some last minute straightening up, and ran errands to pick up little odds and ends that we needed. I also finished waxing and shining our masts (Cue Mr Miyagi - "This hand wax on, this hand wax off").

This morning the guys in the yard got Southwind off her cradle and on to the big truck!  It was quite a production, and it took them about 5 hours from start to finish.  Watching them lift her up was crazy and really nerve racking!  After they got her in the lift, she stayed up for a couple hours, giving me just enough time to paint the last few spots of bottom paint and the waterline stripe.  Then she got loaded up and strapped down, ready to go to the shipyard first thing tomorrow morning.

Everyone is so excited for launch day. Finally our boat will actually be a boat again! Stay tuned to hear all about our launch adventure!

Lifting her out of her cradle

Is it just me, or is she leaning a bit?

The yard just got a little emptier!

All strapped down and ready to go!

Checking off projects - Bottom Paint DONE!

Hannah making our dusty old masts SHINE! :)

Its official. Call the papers, alert the media let the world know . . . we have new Bottom Paint! And it is gorgeous! Dad and mom spent two entire days covered in red dust from sanding and washing all of the old, gunky rust colored paint off the bottom.  Most of the painting was done by Mom and Emily, with Em rolling and Mom tipping. (I did some rolling too, but honestly, I suck at painting. I have a tendency to get paint on everything *except* what needs painting.)

Emily hard at work on our water line.

For the bottom we decided to go with Interlux products, and since weren't sure what the previous owners had used on the bottom before, the bottom got sanded almost down to the gelcoat.  Then, to build our bottom back up a paint we used three coats of InterProtect and three coats of Interlux Ultra.  While the paint is definitely not easy to apply, it was definitely way better than the AwlGrip two part stuff we put on the deck! After that experience, we were definitely ready to take the easy easier way out for the bottom. And I think it turned out pretty well, don't you?

Also, if I may direct your attention to the pictures below, you may notice that we have toe rail, gunwale, stanchions and lifelines installed! After so many set backs the last few months, it's nice to have more and more things to add to the "Done" list. And it is also nice to have lifelines on the boat so we don't constantly fear for our lives while we walk around the deck (which happens to be 12 feet in the air)!

Southwind after a good sand and scrub. 

Next on the agenda, David (the yard's Fiberglass guy) is going to finish the repair on our bow and give our hull some much needed TLC. He is going to do a full wet sand, wax and polish. Southwind is going to look like a new boat! We are counting down the days until our beauty sees the ocean, and we can't wait!

Bottom Paint = DONE!!

Ready for 2015 by Shelly

It has been a bit since the last post.  The blog is slightly neglected but Southwind is not!  We have been using pretty much every free moment to either work on Southwind or research sailboat parts, practices and of course great places to sail (helps to motivate!)  This project has definitely been one of the biggest that our family has taken on but things are coming together and we will be in the water before we know it.  We have great things planned for 2015!

We used a template from NewFound Metals

I guess it would be best to update on where we are in our refit now and what we have accomplished.  Sometimes it seems like we would spend hours and hours without really getting to see the results.  There now seems to be a light at the end of the tunnel.  First of all, the wood rot was REALLY bad and it took a lot of time and patience to get the old torn out and replaced with new but it is done now and we couldn't be happier.  After getting the cabin sides replaced we could see how desperately we needed to add in some port lights.  We ordered 5 lights from Newfound Metals and with a bit of work installed all five!  I think we will eventually add a couple more but for now the five we added made a huge difference!

Beautiful new port lights!

We have also replaced all of our thru hulls and have added seacocks to all openings.  After a lot of research we decided to go with marelon.  So out with the old bronze and in with the new.  They look so fresh and clean.

We removed the old head (eewww!!) and used bilge coat to cover the floor in preparation for the manual head that we purchased.

Now let's talk about the cutlass bearing, this has been a tough one for us.  We were able to get the prop off but have been unable to remove the shaft to get to the cutlass bearing.  This is like the ongoing project for us.  Each time we head down to the boat with new research and new ideas on how to remove the shaft and reach that pesky cutlass bearing we meet the challenge with no success and usually vote to move on with another project.  Eventually we will have to figure this out and we may have to call in some help.

In the meantime we have repaired most all of the fiberglass and with a little fairing and some sanding we should be ready to get the cabin and deck primed and painted.

The other things we have worked on includes making cushions and covers for all of the seating in the saloon (there were no cushions to be found when we bought her).  Inspecting the sails, which all appear to be in really good shape, and working on making a sacrificial sailcloth for our furling genoa. Katlyn has also been steadily working on cleaning the bilges and painting them and also getting the old diesel engine shiny again.

I sit here writing this as 2014 comes to a close, reflecting on what we have accomplished this year, and I am feeling pretty lucky to be a part of this crazy family.  This has been a really great year, not always easy but very rewarding.  We officially added our youngest member in as we finalized Zoey's adoption, we found Southwind and made some great memories as a family as we began her refit, took an awesome visit to the East Coast to visit family and do some sight seeing and put into motion a dream of becoming a cruising family! 

 Yes I say, farewell 2014 you were a good year... Welcome to 2015...Let's Do This!

Rotten to the core! - By Shelly and Tom

Sailing from scratch?  Slight understatement.  A planned work weekend for our beloved Southwind gave us some unplanned lessons.  While thinking that we were ready to begin prepping for new port lights and paint we ran into unexpected discoveries, ROT! Yep, wood rot!! And not just a little. Although it is unclear the source, wood rot has become a huge issue for us.  We uncovered rot along the port side of the cabin, enough to convince us that we need to replace the whole side. And with further investigation it became apparent that we would be working our way around the whole cabin, after all, no need to do the job half way. Southwind has been sitting for years and at some point all of her port lights were removed.  This made for a dark cabin. We were  planning to open her up a bit with some fresh port lights, not exactly this open...anyway I guess when we are done we will have sturdy sides and some nice new lights! At least the weather is on our side, the days are cooler and no rain in the forecast. We are also very fortunate that upon opening things up and inspecting the main structural beams we found that all is well structurally, I think that if we had uncovered rot in the structural beams it would have sealed Southwind's fate. It was a reality check weekend for us all. I think Tom spent about 30 minutes just trying to wrap his head around the large opening in the side of the cabin created with just his hand. I am usually the one picking out the positives and even I had my moments of doubt.  Eventually we pulled ourselves together and got to work removing all of the old wood from the cabin port side and forward, starboard side will be next. Each time we feel a bit overwhelmed we just take a moment to remember where we are headed. At least this hard work is for us! This is definitely a big project but we are all in! Southwind is a dream come true for us,  a work in progress, a goal and the beginning of a new life!  As we taped down the plastic to cover her bare bones at the end of our work day, I couldn't help but feel that as we tore her apart we somehow were bonding with her. We will take care of her and she will soon be taking care of us!

Port side cabin strip down process

Forward cabin

Almost done!

All stripped down...finally

Washing Down the Sails - By Katlyn

Hello all! So, during our last work day at Southwind, we were able to find all of our sails that had been stowed in the v-berth for who knows how long. So we gathered them up and brought them home to give them a good rinse off and inspection.

We got really lucky with these sails! They are in really great shape. The Jib has a small tear near the foot, and none of the sails have any battens (we are still confused about what happened to them...) but other than that, the sails are perfect!

We were able to stretch them out across the driveway, and Emily hosed them down. The sails were definitely a lot bigger than we realized. The main sail stretched all the way into the street! The head of the main got a quick rinse before we folded it back so it would get run over by a careless car. 

After rinsing each sail, we moved it to the sidewalk to drive before folding it back up. FYI, small neighborhoods are not very conducive to sail surveying.  Our drive was not long enough, and I think we upset a few of the neighbors after we blocked the sidewalk for a couple hours. Oh well, what can you do? Ha ha!

Overall, we are super excited about how great these sails are! They definitely could have been much worse, especially after being untouched for so long. We all can't wait until the masts and rigging are up and we can finally unfurl our gorgeous sails!

Happy Sails!

-Katlyn