After 13 years of fishing out of Newport, Oregon we made a decision to do some cruising this year. So North to Alaska in late June is the plan.
Realized from the start that turning Shearwater into a “cruiseship” after all these years of doing open ocean day trips was going to be a bit of job.
Not that the boat has been modified from its original configuration but the requirements for living onboard comfortably without services for several days at a time does not have a lot of overlap with 12 hours on the ocean, return to port process fish, cook crab and sleep in the camper.
Some of the big ticket efforts are detailed below.
Anchoring – The “Armstrong” retrieval system is in need of an upgrade as is the anchor and rode.
Windless – E-Z Anchor pro 1200, will be mounted slightly in front of the v berth step. This is a big unit and with the cover in place it blocks some view of the bow on the port side, have a clear view from the helm though. They also seem to have a reputation for longer term reliability that some of the main stream windless systems lack (based on internet research so take the assessment for what it is worth). The very nice folks at E-Z actually return phone calls and go to great lengths to insure you get setup correctly, which is little rare these days.
Anchor roller is a large “sea dog” retrofitted with the 3 3/8” E-Z flat roller. The planned mounting location gives about 4’ between the roller and spool so have a better chance that line will wrap somewhat evenly and not bunch up.
Dedicated G34 battery will be installed in the locker to power with an ACR between it and the main battery bank system.
Rocna 10K anchor – good enough for “New Moon” is good enough for me. Looked very hard at the Mason Boss used by two other very experienced C-Brat’s (Thataway and HunkyDory) but there is a considerable price difference between the two. Put the money saved into the windless.
Rode – 300’ 1/2” West Marine three strand with 20’ of 3/8” 316 stainless chain.
Backup anchor and rode will be 14lb Danforth with 500’ of 3/8” New England 3 strand that has been sitting around the house.
Batteries – Time for a refresh this year no matter what the boating plan is.
House batteries will be two 31M-PC2150 Odyssey’s, windless will get a 34M-PC1500 Odyssey.
Cabin –
Insulation – Zero cabin insulation today. Have 5 gallons of Mascoat (Thanks to BC for the “pain free insulation thread”, all his work and feedback from others). Most of the interior is pulled out of the boat so first coat will go on soon (all masked off and waiting for some slightly warmer weather), looking to do 3 coats on the v berth including under the berth platform, 2 in the cabin and head. Just spraying the sides and not doing the cored bulkheads.
Heat – Continue to use the Webasto purchased three or so years ago. Been reliable(but not without some quirks) produces copious amounts of heat and defogs windows like magic. Plan is to move from under the dinette seat to the head and properly duct with 60mm outlets in the head, v berth, dash/defrost and a single 90mm in the main cabin. Attempting to revive the old Wallas DU-100 for cooking and backup heat. if I can’t get running then have a two burner Origo for cooking and will come up with a plan “b” for heat.
Head – Removed the Jabsco electric and holding tank. Maybe mine is just old but it’s a liquid only system, never been worth a cr*p so to speak. As much as I would like a $14,000 Thertford carbon fiber toilet I went with Thataway’s endorsement of the Sealand M711-28 with holding tank. Do have one challenge in that Shearwater does not have a pressurized water system but have a couple simple ideas to deal with this.
Discharge will be handled Via a Whale marine gulper pump, hoses, y-valve, shut off valve and thru hull will be upgraded to 1 ½” to support.
Electronics –
Current electronics have served me well for many years and the upgrade is not a strictly cursing requirement, it’s just time to upgrade.
Installed a Garmin autopilot 3 years ago so going with Garmin 7610xsv chart plotter/sonar with vchip map upgrade coupled to a Garmin GT50M sidVu/downVu tranducer.
The Bluechart mobile application with Active Captain is really quite an amazing tool. Plan/modify routes, research anchorages , modify waypoints as well as many other functions then upload to the chartplotter via Bluetooth wireless. IPad will serve as backup navigation system along with paper charts.
The Furuno radar has never missed a beat and will stay for another season.
VHF antenna will be upgraded to a “Digital” replacing the Shakespeare Galaxy. Current I-Com VHF will stay, time permitting I will wire the NEMA interface into the chartplotter.
Lots of other work outside of the major upgrades above to be done over the next 10 weeks.
Will post some pictures as things move forward, any commitments, questions or suggestions are appreciated.
stevej
Realized from the start that turning Shearwater into a “cruiseship” after all these years of doing open ocean day trips was going to be a bit of job.
Not that the boat has been modified from its original configuration but the requirements for living onboard comfortably without services for several days at a time does not have a lot of overlap with 12 hours on the ocean, return to port process fish, cook crab and sleep in the camper.
Some of the big ticket efforts are detailed below.
Anchoring – The “Armstrong” retrieval system is in need of an upgrade as is the anchor and rode.
Windless – E-Z Anchor pro 1200, will be mounted slightly in front of the v berth step. This is a big unit and with the cover in place it blocks some view of the bow on the port side, have a clear view from the helm though. They also seem to have a reputation for longer term reliability that some of the main stream windless systems lack (based on internet research so take the assessment for what it is worth). The very nice folks at E-Z actually return phone calls and go to great lengths to insure you get setup correctly, which is little rare these days.
Anchor roller is a large “sea dog” retrofitted with the 3 3/8” E-Z flat roller. The planned mounting location gives about 4’ between the roller and spool so have a better chance that line will wrap somewhat evenly and not bunch up.
Dedicated G34 battery will be installed in the locker to power with an ACR between it and the main battery bank system.
Rocna 10K anchor – good enough for “New Moon” is good enough for me. Looked very hard at the Mason Boss used by two other very experienced C-Brat’s (Thataway and HunkyDory) but there is a considerable price difference between the two. Put the money saved into the windless.
Rode – 300’ 1/2” West Marine three strand with 20’ of 3/8” 316 stainless chain.
Backup anchor and rode will be 14lb Danforth with 500’ of 3/8” New England 3 strand that has been sitting around the house.
Batteries – Time for a refresh this year no matter what the boating plan is.
House batteries will be two 31M-PC2150 Odyssey’s, windless will get a 34M-PC1500 Odyssey.
Cabin –
Insulation – Zero cabin insulation today. Have 5 gallons of Mascoat (Thanks to BC for the “pain free insulation thread”, all his work and feedback from others). Most of the interior is pulled out of the boat so first coat will go on soon (all masked off and waiting for some slightly warmer weather), looking to do 3 coats on the v berth including under the berth platform, 2 in the cabin and head. Just spraying the sides and not doing the cored bulkheads.
Heat – Continue to use the Webasto purchased three or so years ago. Been reliable(but not without some quirks) produces copious amounts of heat and defogs windows like magic. Plan is to move from under the dinette seat to the head and properly duct with 60mm outlets in the head, v berth, dash/defrost and a single 90mm in the main cabin. Attempting to revive the old Wallas DU-100 for cooking and backup heat. if I can’t get running then have a two burner Origo for cooking and will come up with a plan “b” for heat.
Head – Removed the Jabsco electric and holding tank. Maybe mine is just old but it’s a liquid only system, never been worth a cr*p so to speak. As much as I would like a $14,000 Thertford carbon fiber toilet I went with Thataway’s endorsement of the Sealand M711-28 with holding tank. Do have one challenge in that Shearwater does not have a pressurized water system but have a couple simple ideas to deal with this.
Discharge will be handled Via a Whale marine gulper pump, hoses, y-valve, shut off valve and thru hull will be upgraded to 1 ½” to support.
Electronics –
Current electronics have served me well for many years and the upgrade is not a strictly cursing requirement, it’s just time to upgrade.
Installed a Garmin autopilot 3 years ago so going with Garmin 7610xsv chart plotter/sonar with vchip map upgrade coupled to a Garmin GT50M sidVu/downVu tranducer.
The Bluechart mobile application with Active Captain is really quite an amazing tool. Plan/modify routes, research anchorages , modify waypoints as well as many other functions then upload to the chartplotter via Bluetooth wireless. IPad will serve as backup navigation system along with paper charts.
The Furuno radar has never missed a beat and will stay for another season.
VHF antenna will be upgraded to a “Digital” replacing the Shakespeare Galaxy. Current I-Com VHF will stay, time permitting I will wire the NEMA interface into the chartplotter.
Lots of other work outside of the major upgrades above to be done over the next 10 weeks.
Will post some pictures as things move forward, any commitments, questions or suggestions are appreciated.
stevej
on the boat. This set of projects is pretty extensive and not without some apprehension but things are moving forward.