Learning on a 56 foot sailboat

[captain58sailin]

Best wishes IceDog, I have been engaged in a refit as well, finally broke down and hired a retired ET to rewire the boat for me, I have the skill, but not the time. A lot of the different things that need attention can be done "out there" rather than waiting in the harbor until everything is perfect. You probably don't need to be told this, but it helps me to make lists of things that need attention, then I go through the lists and decide what priority they have #1) Safety, etc... kind of like triage, it helps me organize my approach, brings the focus down so I don't get overwhelmed by the size of the projects. Vaya Con Dios Hermano!

[IceDog]

I will have lots of time starting in December I enjoyed my time working on it in May and I am looking forward to getting started on the main work in December!

[captain58sailin]

I can think of nothing better than anchored up in a nice cove somewhere, coffee & stew pot on, turn up the tunes and work away until a fish bites the line or the crab pot needs pulled. Of course there will always be time for cribbage breaks.

[Crimea Cruiser]

Originally Posted by savoir

Solenoid ? Every diesel has a manual kill switch on the fuel inlet side. It's usually beside or below the 2 micron fuel filter.

Perhaps yours, but not every one! Just walked through a nice blue water boat. Only thing missing was just that! It's absence stuck out like sore thumb to me.

[gjordan]

Savior, most modern diesels have a solenoid shut off, but many older diesels have a pull cable, much like a choke cable that is used to stop the engine. They both simply move the fuel cutoff lever on the injector pump. There is no magic shut off switch. If the cable fails, you manually move the fuel cutoff lever. If the solenoid fails, you manually move the fuel cutoff lever. This will cover 99% of marine diesels in cruising boats. 40 years of owning diesels.____Grant.

[IceDog]

I have about 12 weeks to go before I leave Afghanistan. I have been spending too much of my free time lurking on Cruisers Forum but I have managed to read several books on sailing and seamanship. I'm currently curled up with "Modern Seamanship" by Don Dodds, an excellent book.
Based on my reading and on several recent threads on the forum, we are changing our plans somewhat. We will increase the time spent based at Green Cove Springs to give us time for the boat and its crew to be prepared to cruise the East Coast. We will do most of the refit work ourselves. We will both attend a local sailing school and club and will sail at least a couple of times a week using the club boats so that we both develop the skills necessary to work our way up to the size of boat that we bought. A local club has a fleet of keelboats ranging from Catalina 22's and 25's up to a Morgan 37. After taking the ASA classes and 30 to 50 days of smaller keelboat sailing we should be ready to start training on the big one.
The club I am thinking of joining is at The Sailboat Club.
Thanks to everyone for the feedback, both positive and negative and to the folks who have offered to help!
Regards,
Kevin

[IceDog]

Update: I left Afghanistan for the last time in late December. I have been chilling out in Costa Rica since then. I did a refit on our 18 foot fishing panga and bought a 1975 diesel Land Cruiser that I have been working on/playing with. I am returning to Green Cove Springs in about 5 weeks to work on the boat and launch it. I am looking forward to it

[Neeltje]

Originally Posted by IceDog

Update: I left Afghanistan for the last time in late December. I have been chilling out in Costa Rica since then. I did a refit on our 18 foot fishing panga and bought a 1975 diesel Land Cruiser that I have been working on/playing with. I am returning to Green Cove Springs in about 5 weeks to work on the boat and launch it. I am looking forward to it

Hi Kevin,

Just joined the Forum and found your thread. We'll hopefully be in GCS by June, assuming of course, that I get over this damned Shipwright's Disease by then.

I had the Neeltje hauled out here in Saint Augustine last July for a simple bottom paint refresher, and every time I was ready to splash her again, I found something else that needed doing on the hard.

That was 8 months ago, but I'm feeling better now...

Hope to see you then and there.

Jacques

[HappyMdRSailor]

Thanks for the update!

Wishing you a speedy low surprises refit !

Thanks for your service man!

[mpatter894]

well I to am chilling at my home in Costa Rica Playa Potrero, I am getting ready to go by a boat up in florida as well, I am a retired Captain from Maersk Lines and have sailed since I was 10, my wife has never sailed either, so it should be exciting teaching her to sail although I speak fluent spanish we will have to muddle through because of sailing terms. we just sold one of our homes in SJ to finance the boat. I am currently using Massey Yachts to help me finding boats we have it narrowed down to 5 boats in the 44 to 50 ft range. I will be keeping the boat in St Augustine then heading down to the Caribbean after hurricane season. I have over 2.5 million miles under my feet my best advice for you is know the limitation of your boat first then understand the limitations of you crew and most importantly is communicating. There are a lot of new terms to learn when it comes to boats and being on the water some of this can be confusing so if your partner wants to call something by another name by all means let her use it for now its more important to get the job done than argue the difference between a line and a rope.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by mpatter894

well I to am chilling at my home in Costa Rica Playa Potrero, I am getting ready to go by a boat up in florida as well, I am a retired Captain from Maersk Lines and have sailed since I was 10, my wife has never sailed either, so it should be exciting teaching her to sail although I speak fluent spanish we will have to muddle through because of sailing terms. we just sold one of our homes in SJ to finance the boat. I am currently using Massey Yachts to help me finding boats we have it narrowed down to 5 boats in the 44 to 50 ft range. I will be keeping the boat in St Augustine then heading down to the Caribbean after hurricane season. I have over 2.5 million miles under my feet my best advice for you is know the limitation of your boat first then understand the limitations of you crew and most importantly is communicating. There are a lot of new terms to learn when it comes to boats and being on the water some of this can be confusing so if your partner wants to call something by another name by all means let her use it for now its more important to get the job done than argue the difference between a line and a rope.

Funny coincidence....

I have a friend from KP whose name fits your screen name eerily well... Lives in FL and is a harbor pilot!

I wish you great luck in your boat search, and beginning your sailing dreams...

[captain58sailin]

Glad you got clear of Afghanistan. Doing a little chillin myself in Belize, big snow storms in AK right now, I'm hoping it will have melted off by the time I get back, so I can restart my refit. Best of luck, and thank you for your service Sir.

[IceDog]

Thanks for the good wishes folks!
Jacques, I hope to meet you in Green Cove Springs or St Augustine and I wish you the best of luck with your boat. The Neeltje sounds like a really cool boat. MD Sailor, I was not in the service though I spent 5 years in support roles for the Army and Air Force, mostly working in the Counter Rocket, Artillery, Mortar program (C-RAM). I believe that I helped to keep our troops safe and I am proud of that. Mpatter894, that sounds awesome. Good luck in your search for a boat. Good advice on the spousal communication issue I hope to meet you also one of these days. Captain 58, I have seen the extremes of temperature in the world from 130 degrees every day for a month in Iraq to minus 109 degrees at the South Pole in winter. As I get older, warm weather sounds better and better. We have constant heat and humidity here on the coast in Costa Rica and that can get old sometimes too. We can always head up and inland to eternal spring in San Jose I guess.

[captain58sailin]

Good luck to you Ice Dog, this old dog is definitely looking for a warm place to rest his bones after Alaska. It is nice here, there is a breeze coming off of the Caribbean that keeps things moderate and the fresh produce can't be beaten. The grand plan is finish the refit on the boat and head south with it and then sail around the horn one day.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by IceDog

Thanks for the good wishes folks!
Jacques, I hope to meet you in Green Cove Springs or St Augustine and I wish you the best of luck with your boat. The Neeltje sounds like a really cool boat. MD Sailor, I was not in the service though I spent 5 years in support roles for the Army and Air Force, mostly working in the Counter Rocket, Artillery, Mortar program (C-RAM). I believe that I helped to keep our troops safe and I am proud of that. Mpatter894, that sounds awesome. Good luck in your search for a boat. Good advice on the spousal communication issue I hope to meet you also one of these days. Captain 58, I have seen the extremes of temperature in the world from 130 degrees every day for a month in Iraq to minus 109 degrees at the South Pole in winter. As I get older, warm weather sounds better and better. We have constant heat and humidity here on the coast in Costa Rica and that can get old sometimes too. We can always head up and inland to eternal spring in San Jose I guess.

Don't cut yourself short.... You still were in harms way... provided a needed service.... You just got your check from a different boss... Oh... probably more, and it was your decision... but that's beside the point!

Maybe we'll me up some day for a beer...