Yacht Refit Completed

Custom Step Plates at the gate...

On December 24, 2013 after nearly two months of re-building, we connected the last wire and then installed the custom Island Spirit step plates, completing the refit of our 20 year old yacht. What a job. Back in May, we pulled into Snead Island Boat Works, in Palmetto, Fl, and took our boat apart. We hauled it out and truckled it to the Island Packet Yachts factory where she was built in 1993. From May to November, she was inside the factory and the skilled employees at IPY rebuilt systems back to new conditions. Then on November 4, we trucked the boat back to Snead Island Boat Works where we re-launched and then began the re-assembly of all systems we removed for trucking. I must say that the rebuilding of systems took far more effort then the tearing down of  those systems. It actually took us nearly two months to rebuild, but only about 2 weeks to tear it all down.

Radeen is proud of the finished work

While the boat was at the Island Packet Yachts factory, we focused on seaworthiness items and making the yacht better. We looked at any system that could sink the yacht and had that system taken apart and rebuilt. Now we are feeling as if we have a brand new yacht and we know exactly what was rebuilt and who rebuilt it. The work by Island Packet was excellent and I highly recommend them for any and all refit work on their yachts. I am convinced there is no better team.

I am a list person, so please allow me to progress through the order of work to explain the extent of this task. Simple as 1, 2 3 !

#1. Tear Down the Boat, Prep for Trucking May 2013

• Remove 3 sails
• Remove all canvas: Bimini, Dodger and full enclosure
• Remove 4 solar panels
• Remove all stainless steel canvas bows and frames for canvas
• Empty sail locker
• Empty Galley: plates, glasses, silverware, pots and pans
• Empty Tool Locker, Spare Parts Locker, Safety Locker
• Remove all food and drinks
• Empty bow lockers, bilge locker, hanging lockers, etc.
• Empty and pack all clothing lockers
• Empty the boat! Box it all up, move it all to a storage facility via rental car!
• Pull the Mast and Boom
• Prep for trucking, tape all lids, lockers, etc
• Move to haul out slip, haul out directly to the truck (May 2013)
• Truck to Island Packet Yachts Factory, from Palmetto, Fl to Largo Florida

#2. Island Packet Yachts Refit Program inside the Factory, May-Nov

• Remove all saltwater hoses
• Rebuild the sewer system with a new fiberglass holding tank, new lines, valves and new macerator pump
• Pull the stern tube, inspect, replace cutlass bearing, re-install
• Re-align the diesel engine
• Remove the exhaust muffler and hoses, replace with new
• Install new hot water heater
• Repair any and all grounding wires
• Build a new laptop teak and almond desk
• THE BIG job: Remove the entire center interior of the yacht to remove the chain plates and install new larger ones (Chain plates are the stainless steel welded structures that are fiberglassed into the hull, behind all the cabinets. The mast rigging attaches to these 8 points. They are a key structure to the yacht)
• Rebuild the sump pumps and add new hoses and new anti-siphons.
• Strip and sand the exterior teak 
• Install gas struts on the cockpit locker lids
• Re-powder coat the deck mast step
• Add a saltwater foot pump at the galley sink
• Compound and wax the hull
• Prep for trucking
• Truck boat back to Snead Island Boat Works, Palmetto Florida (Nov 4, 2013)

 #3. Back at Snead Island Boat Works, Palmetto FL (Nov 4 - Dec 24, 2013)

• Launch from truck to water, no yard storage planned
• Sand all exterior teak for varnish work
• Varnish all exterior teak, 5 coats of Epifanes Varnish
• Re-install stainless steel rub rails via dinghy
• Install stainless steel bows: bimini, dodger, and solar frames
• Re-install and rewire 4 solar panels 
• Re-install 5 antennas: AIS, Satellite Radio, GPS, WiFi and Bullet2hp
• Re-install bimini, dodger and full enclosure canvas
• Woody wax the diamond decks
• Install new stereo, replacing the one that died during this process
• Install new stereo speakers and new Blu Ray player
• Install a new Balmar 614 regulator, replacing the one that quit
• Re-wire the solar controller due to the new regulator
• Replace all standing rigging on the mast with OEM Seco South rigging
• Replace digital TV antenna and run new cable with new fittings in the 50 foot mast
• Replace VHF antenna and fittings and run new cable in the mast
• Replace Mast Head light
• Replace the mast sheaves
• Wash the mast and polish the radar dome mounts with Spotless Stainless
• Test all wiring in the mast, prep mast for crane
• Snead Island Boat Works was hired to cut and rebuild the new OEM forestays and install as specified by Harken
• Mast re-installed with crane
• Tune Rigging to factory specs and re-pin the mast
• Install sails: Jib, Staysail, Mainsail, Run sheets
• Install Doyle Stack Pack for main sail
• Re-rig 2 Flag Halyards
• Rewire and improve mast base wiring connections
• Reconnect mast junction for Radar and B&G Wind Anemometer
• Connect the Alternator Stator wire to the battery combiner switch for charging two banks
• Test all systems: Radar, AIS, GPS, NMEA bus, VHF, TV, Running Lights, Mast Lights, Navigation Computer with AIS feed and Satellite Radio feed.
• Re-install the Island Spirit Step Plates

The cockpit combing boards with varnish

...and That's a wrap!

We are relieved to have the boat put back together at last. With a single list like this, it does not look that bad, but believe me, this was a ton of work, time and expense. Some days we were selling the boat, then other days we were incredibly happy. Sometimes, it was a real challenge to stay motivated.

So, let our third year of cruising officially begin now. We can start to provision and load up for our third trip to the Bahamas. We will need to sail from Tampa Bay down and around  the Florida Keys and up to Biscayne Bay, Miami, or challenge the Okeechobee Waterway once again and that 49 foot railroad bridge.

We want to spend January in Biscayne Bay and some of February, too. Then as weather allows, we will head out for the Bahamas for three months. Thank you for sailing along with us!

And this was the sunset Christmas Night, what a beautiful sight

My New Christmas T-Shirt, thank you Lee and Judi
CAPTAIN: The Man...The Myth....The Legend

From now on, this will be our car, the AB 10 foot tender