Hello everyone!
"The only true knowledge comes from knowing that you know nothing." - Miss Piggy
First, let me introduce myself: I'm a 45 year old guy from Boston who had been kind of daydreaming about being a liveaboard for several years now. I have an uncle who did it on a 23' Sea Sprite decades ago, and I never forgot about that. More recently, my best friend was dating a man who was a liveaboard in Boston's North End (and who went from a 32' Catalina to a 54' Beneteau while I knew him). Every time we hung out on his boat the itch just got worse. I *wanted* this.
Sure, I'd been on boats plenty. My mother's family were all former Navy/Coast Guard and/or fishermen at some point or another and summers always meant boat trips to the islands in Boston Harbor etc. But I'd never had my own boat. And it seemed like a pipe dream as there was no way a normal person could afford to do it, right?
Well, to avoid making the story too long, my rent went up to $1700/mo on my tiny studio condo in Boston and that was the kick in the pants I needed. I started talking to whomever I could find about living on a boat and learned that, at least in theory, I could afford to do it.
So here I am nearly a year later. I've got me a 1985 Hunter 40! She's suffered from a fair amount of neglect, sadly. At least two years abandoned at a yard, and lots of, shall we say, incomplete repairs from the previous decade. But the inspector gave her a conditionally clean bill of health. (more on that later) And my two old-salt uncles agreed the price was good and the boat was sound.
And now I live aboard! I've got my slip in Charlestown, and I'm past the point where it's all academic and I'm reading everything and I'm at the point where the issues are now real and present.
The shakedown cruise exposed a lot of issues. And I'm trying to organize and prioritize everything.
The two size 31 batteries seem fine, but the wiring appears to have been the plaything of a gigantic cat or something. It's all unlabeled, many wires in the battery compartment that are just frayed ends to who knows what. Lots of electronics that should probably work but don't. And, worst of all, the wood under the batteries is rotted. That appears to be the only significant rot on the boat, so it wasn't a dealbreaker (the sole of the salon once delaminated, but previous owner (PO) replaced it all from the bilge forward.)
I've got several components that are probably functional if wired up. There's an old inverter in teh battery compartment under the rear cabin bed, but I think it's obsolete. There's a newer inverter under the navigation table, but I don't think it's wired up to anything right now. There's an obsolete air conditioner I didn't know about (PO didn't mention it, but it was found during inspection). There's a diesel heater that the PO used, but it may not be connected right now. GPS not working. Radar broken but display supposedly functional but not working right now. VHF works, but the mic attachment in the rear deck did not. Stove appears to work (has CNG, but didn't try lighting it). Refrigerator runs, but not very cool and gasket useless. Ice box has a cold plate in it and that works fine (cooler unit under sink).
Additionally, there's two heads. The PO told me he had never used the forward head in 10 years. The forward holding tank is apparently just a walled off bit of fiberglass in the hull, and it is cracked, so yeah, not for use. I think PO just used forward head as storage. The aft/port head supposedly works, and there's a relatively new (and clean looking) holding tank he installed in one of the cabinets in the aft cabin. It is plastic, has all the hoses on top, and has no option to pump into the ocean (fine by me).
Fresh water. I've got a 100 gallon tank under the V berth. It leaks a bit right above the bilge, and I couldn't get the pumps to draw water from it at all (too much air in line?) PO later told me that he would just use the hose from the marina directly hooked up to the system to provide water pressure and didn't bother with the electric pump. That seemed to work when I tested it, but also leaked right above bilge. The galley faucet looks like it's hanging on by force of will only, but it did produce water when the system was hooked up to the shore hose.
Bilge pump works, tho' it leaves 1" of water in the bilge at all times. Also I think it is wired wrong I think (switch it from 'auto' to 'off' and it will still run when the float says to). Remember that forward holding tank that cracked? Yeah, someone tried to fill the fresh water tank but accidentally filled that holding tank (not me, i swear!) and it drained out into the bilge, so now it smells like 12 year old death. It wasn't exactly a clean bilge in the first place, but this was a step backward.
Yanmar 40HE (I think it's HE, it's the low end model) ran fine the day before launch and mechanic gave clean bill of health on engine and fuel, but lost power 45 minutes into shakedown cruise. I think sediment in fuel tank may have clogged fuel filter, but haven't had a chance to confirm since.
Above deck the rigging all seemed funtional if neglected. I have no doubt that some bits could handle a bit of lubrication (winches, travelers, etc.)
I replaced 2/3 halyards (I have a mainsail and a genoa) 1/3 halyard seemed decent enough to keep for now. And I've replaced all my dock lines. I replaced the mainsheet. And now I'm debating which lines to replace next (almost all look sad and crusty) probably starting with the furler. I'd love to see how someone set up their rigging on a similar boat. While I've got mine functional, it doesn't seem terribly efficient.
Oof. Well, that seems like a lot. But I've put away the sails for now until she is ship shape, so I can focus on interior until Spring I think. I've got a couple space heaters and I'm trying to figure out how to best contain the condensation from the hatches so that it's not dripping all night (it reached 32 degrees last night) and I've got an appointment for some clear shrink wrap to be assembled into a lovely solarium deck bubble sometime before Christmas.
If you're still reading, then thank you for your patience.
As I'm new to boat ownership, and probably an idiot for starting with a 40' sailboat from the age of Marty McFly and Pac Man, I'm accepting that I am an idiot and am therefore happy to receive wisdom in whatever form it takes from whomever has some to offer.
TL;DR: Hi! I'm new!
"The only true knowledge comes from knowing that you know nothing." - Miss Piggy
First, let me introduce myself: I'm a 45 year old guy from Boston who had been kind of daydreaming about being a liveaboard for several years now. I have an uncle who did it on a 23' Sea Sprite decades ago, and I never forgot about that. More recently, my best friend was dating a man who was a liveaboard in Boston's North End (and who went from a 32' Catalina to a 54' Beneteau while I knew him). Every time we hung out on his boat the itch just got worse. I *wanted* this.
Sure, I'd been on boats plenty. My mother's family were all former Navy/Coast Guard and/or fishermen at some point or another and summers always meant boat trips to the islands in Boston Harbor etc. But I'd never had my own boat. And it seemed like a pipe dream as there was no way a normal person could afford to do it, right?
Well, to avoid making the story too long, my rent went up to $1700/mo on my tiny studio condo in Boston and that was the kick in the pants I needed. I started talking to whomever I could find about living on a boat and learned that, at least in theory, I could afford to do it.
So here I am nearly a year later. I've got me a 1985 Hunter 40! She's suffered from a fair amount of neglect, sadly. At least two years abandoned at a yard, and lots of, shall we say, incomplete repairs from the previous decade. But the inspector gave her a conditionally clean bill of health. (more on that later) And my two old-salt uncles agreed the price was good and the boat was sound.
And now I live aboard! I've got my slip in Charlestown, and I'm past the point where it's all academic and I'm reading everything and I'm at the point where the issues are now real and present.
The shakedown cruise exposed a lot of issues. And I'm trying to organize and prioritize everything.
The two size 31 batteries seem fine, but the wiring appears to have been the plaything of a gigantic cat or something. It's all unlabeled, many wires in the battery compartment that are just frayed ends to who knows what. Lots of electronics that should probably work but don't. And, worst of all, the wood under the batteries is rotted. That appears to be the only significant rot on the boat, so it wasn't a dealbreaker (the sole of the salon once delaminated, but previous owner (PO) replaced it all from the bilge forward.)
I've got several components that are probably functional if wired up. There's an old inverter in teh battery compartment under the rear cabin bed, but I think it's obsolete. There's a newer inverter under the navigation table, but I don't think it's wired up to anything right now. There's an obsolete air conditioner I didn't know about (PO didn't mention it, but it was found during inspection). There's a diesel heater that the PO used, but it may not be connected right now. GPS not working. Radar broken but display supposedly functional but not working right now. VHF works, but the mic attachment in the rear deck did not. Stove appears to work (has CNG, but didn't try lighting it). Refrigerator runs, but not very cool and gasket useless. Ice box has a cold plate in it and that works fine (cooler unit under sink).
Additionally, there's two heads. The PO told me he had never used the forward head in 10 years. The forward holding tank is apparently just a walled off bit of fiberglass in the hull, and it is cracked, so yeah, not for use. I think PO just used forward head as storage. The aft/port head supposedly works, and there's a relatively new (and clean looking) holding tank he installed in one of the cabinets in the aft cabin. It is plastic, has all the hoses on top, and has no option to pump into the ocean (fine by me).
Fresh water. I've got a 100 gallon tank under the V berth. It leaks a bit right above the bilge, and I couldn't get the pumps to draw water from it at all (too much air in line?) PO later told me that he would just use the hose from the marina directly hooked up to the system to provide water pressure and didn't bother with the electric pump. That seemed to work when I tested it, but also leaked right above bilge. The galley faucet looks like it's hanging on by force of will only, but it did produce water when the system was hooked up to the shore hose.
Bilge pump works, tho' it leaves 1" of water in the bilge at all times. Also I think it is wired wrong I think (switch it from 'auto' to 'off' and it will still run when the float says to). Remember that forward holding tank that cracked? Yeah, someone tried to fill the fresh water tank but accidentally filled that holding tank (not me, i swear!) and it drained out into the bilge, so now it smells like 12 year old death. It wasn't exactly a clean bilge in the first place, but this was a step backward.
Yanmar 40HE (I think it's HE, it's the low end model) ran fine the day before launch and mechanic gave clean bill of health on engine and fuel, but lost power 45 minutes into shakedown cruise. I think sediment in fuel tank may have clogged fuel filter, but haven't had a chance to confirm since.
Above deck the rigging all seemed funtional if neglected. I have no doubt that some bits could handle a bit of lubrication (winches, travelers, etc.)
I replaced 2/3 halyards (I have a mainsail and a genoa) 1/3 halyard seemed decent enough to keep for now. And I've replaced all my dock lines. I replaced the mainsheet. And now I'm debating which lines to replace next (almost all look sad and crusty) probably starting with the furler. I'd love to see how someone set up their rigging on a similar boat. While I've got mine functional, it doesn't seem terribly efficient.
Oof. Well, that seems like a lot. But I've put away the sails for now until she is ship shape, so I can focus on interior until Spring I think. I've got a couple space heaters and I'm trying to figure out how to best contain the condensation from the hatches so that it's not dripping all night (it reached 32 degrees last night) and I've got an appointment for some clear shrink wrap to be assembled into a lovely solarium deck bubble sometime before Christmas.
If you're still reading, then thank you for your patience.
As I'm new to boat ownership, and probably an idiot for starting with a 40' sailboat from the age of Marty McFly and Pac Man, I'm accepting that I am an idiot and am therefore happy to receive wisdom in whatever form it takes from whomever has some to offer.
TL;DR: Hi! I'm new!
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