By S/V Lealea | January 19, 2017 at 08:30 PM EST |
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By Chuck Rose
Long term maintenance is not often discussed in cruising circles. Most often any talk of maintenance is limited to annual haulouts and occasional repairs. But, over time every part of the vessel must be overhauled if cruising is more than a once around adventure. After 27 years of ownership, we have now touched every part of the fabric of Lealea. At the completion of the current project we will have replaced everything except the hull itself, the mast and the stern rail.
On April 1st, auspiciously, I took delivery. The first weekend in May we hauled out for the first time for a survey and began the maintenance journey. That first haulout wasn't much, really. Rick Monteverde, the previous owner showed that there were no repairs of the hull and that the boat was sound below the waterline. We checked the cutless bearing, rudder and stuffing box, sanded and repainted the bottom and put her back in the water. This is what passes for the "Annual haulout" for most boat owners.
In 1992 I replaced the battery, back then just a single Sears Die Hard lead acid deep cycle marine battery. I also had new awnings made and contracted with a diver for bottom cleaning every 3 months at $100 annual rate and bought new rugs for the cabin. Late that year the original Volvo engine succumbed to salt water sucked into the exhaust. I sailed her sans engine until July of 1994 when I had the money to replace the engine. Haulout, bottom paint and new engine installed by Ala Wai Marine ran $7725 and took five months to complete.
In 1996 Laura joined the crew and we started replacing and upgrading - compasses, VHF, GPS Bilge Pump, oil lamps and a new pulpit to replace the one that got bent on our first sailing date (Don't ask)
In 1997 Lealea got a complete new paint job. Pettit Trinidad Blue bottom paint and awlgrip from the waterline up. During that haulout she also got new standing and running rigging and new running lights, plus new cockpit hatches and companionway slides and boards courtesy of my best friend Jesse Woods.
By 1998, a guest had snapped off the stern mounted whip antennae for the VHF so I replaced it with a masthead unit. While the mast was down we noticed athat the spreader bases needed replacing and had new ones fabricated at Ala Wai Marine. New mainsail and working jib and another new set of running rigging came in October.
Laura was making Lealea into a more suitable home with new carpets, cushions and curtains, new cookstove and another set of new awnings with an improved design fpr more privacy. By 2004 we were beginning to prepare the boat for serious cruising. Laura got a part time job at West Marine and we took full advantage of the generous employee discounts to outfit Lealea with additional upgrades and additional equipment. We replaced the single lead acid battery with three AGMs with one dedicated to engine starting and two for house power.
We continued adding and upgrading equipment and in 2007 we got a video camera....
Long Term Maintenance video coming soon. See you at the Seattle Boat Show January 27th - February 2nd
Nice to hear from you. I look forward to seeing the finished boat. Just bought a 93 Catalina 42. Bring on the bills