800

Our sailboat in the travel lift with a freshly painted bottom.
Our girl, with a freshly painted bottom. Isn't she pretty?

We have 800 days until departure. We are going to sail off, and we plan to only return to the US for visits. This blog is about our journey to departure, and what happens after we leave. We are going to talk about what works, what doesn't, how we did it, and provide reviews of what we like.

Some years ago, I (Wayne) decided that I was going to retire and sail the world in 2026. There are many factors that conspired to accelerate my departure schedule; most of those factors are the result of good fortune.

I (Emily) retired last week from 18 years as a bookseller to focus on getting our girl in shape. I'll be learning many of the skills required to do the things on the list below (thanks in advance, YouTubers). Until I met Wayne, most of my boating experience involved the human-powered variety: canoe, kayak, SUP, etc. Did I mention I have a lot to learn?


Cargo bike riding on our third date
On the cargo bike. Wheee!
There is a lot to be done between now and departure. Ideally we will do the majority of this work ourselves. We want to be self-sufficient, off-grid, petrol-free, economical, and above all able to fix anything that breaks. There are no mechanics to call in the middle of the Pacific.

Some of the things we need to do:
  • Change all systems to electric, 12 volt when possible - galley, hot water heater, heating, and secondary propulsion, e.g. replace diesel engine
  • Re-rig standing and running rigging
  • Replace lifelines
  • Repair various hull leaks
  • Replace instrumentation, ideally with open source software and commodity hardware
  • Rewire 12 volt and 120 volt systems
  • Replace all plumbing with PEX
  • Remodel entire galley
  • Reupholster all the things we decide to keep
  • Rebuild the dodger and bimini
  • Learn to sew sails
  • Refine our image pipeline
  • Refactor our boat to be as off-grid as possible
Topics of interest to us are:
  • sailing (can you believe it?!) 
  • boats 
  • sustainability  
  • scuba diving
  • bicycling 
  • cooking 
  • small space living  
  • booze (again, crazy, right?) 
  • marine critters 
  • soft goods 
  • photography
  • open source software and knowledge sharing
  • books/reading
Please join us on our journey. As mentioned, we are going to discuss the things that we tried, what works for us, how we go wrong, and our adventures along the way.

We have some strong ideals around how to present this information and what those formats should entail. We are averse to advertising and begging for handouts that is typical to vlogs, blogs, and similar content. We get to stand on the shoulders of giants and, hopefully, get your input on these tasks. We also hope to offer hassle-free insight to the next people seeking to do similar things.

We will review many places and things that we encounter. We will share our discoveries and lessons both good and bad. Ultimately, no one will accuse us of being tightfisted with our opinions!

A view of Puget Sound and the Olympics from the water.
A view of Puget Sound and the Olympics from the water.


So... here is our journey. 800 days left.





Location: Bremerton, WA, USA

Comments

  1. UnknownMarch 6, 2019 at 11:21 AM

    May the wind fill your sails!! What a grand adventure. I come from a long line of sailor friends who have had marvelous journeys!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Removing a Large Engine While Still in the Water

Image
This is Part 2 in our adventures in repowering our sailboat with electric drive. Based on questions and feedback, this is going to be long. I try to keep the detail relevant to people who may want to do this themselves. We are happy to answer any questions that arise. Part 1, "Towards Electric Drive" is here. Part 3. "Actual Engine Removal" is here. The Problem(s) The Planning The Execution The Problem(s) All of that is coming out. All of it. Most of the time, we get to stand on the shoulders of sailors that did something before we did. Most sailors don't have a Large Diesel Engine they are trying to remove in an unconventional way. There is some information out there on removing engines from boats, but they all involve smaller engines or a boatyard and large crane. We had a few problems to solve. Working on your house while you live in it is always a tile puzzle game. Even more so on a boat. The overarching problem is: we need to lift Large Diesel Engi...
Read more

Bikes and Boats, Better Together, Chapter 2

Image
 Chapter 1 of Bikes and Boats, Better Together is here . Cargo bike hauling a cargo bike. We pared down our bicycle selections to just one cargo hauling bike for a wide range of reasons. A cargo bike is a lot like a bicycle saddle: one size does not fit all, and what worked perfectly in the past might not fit so well when things change. We replaced two cargo bikes with one electric-assist Hase Pino tandem. This is the second semi-recumbent tandem we have owned.  Bilenky Viewpoint custom semi-recumbent tandem The Bilenky no longer fit our needs at the time, but we really should not have sold it. Despite this repeated lesson, Wayne still tends to purge things the moment their usefulness isn't immediately apparent. We also would probably never go with another fully custom build: custom bike, custom problems. This issue applies to just about any mechanical thing, not just bikes from Bilenky. We combined the Hase Pino with a Surly Bill longbed trailer . Now, we can haul things that...
Read more

Where It Started, Where It Is Now: The Saloon Edition

Image
View of the saloon from the companionway. Water tanks exposed, galley and furniture removed. Water tanks out. Cleaning, before and after. Dry fit of the new tank stringer. The outboard spaces will be accessible storage. Fairing, fairing, and some more fairing. The more durable the paint, the nastier it is. Tank stringers glassed in, almost done with saloon bilges and hull. That's a room air conditioner to the right, courtesy of Tom Heller. It's been a game-changer for being able to work in the summer heat. We are back to having real working times with the epoxies.
Read more