THE REFIT

Much as how the list of improvement projects is never longer than when you move house, taking ownership of a boat has generated a worklist that is truly testing the project management skills of a pair of strategy consultants. Serenity First had been equipped to cater for coastal sailors who would be spending at most two weeks aboard, and much of her equipment was original (i.e. 10 years’ old). Given we would both be taking her further offshore and living on her full-time, modifications were required across the majority of her systems to either upgrade outdated technology or provide sufficient redundancy and comfort. On top of this, it would give us an opportunity to understand how she had been put together, and learn useful mechanical and electrical skills that will be called upon on a regular basis for the next few years.

The current list of key projects is as follows:

1. Renovate engine
2. Refurbish all through hulls and fit with bungs (insurance requirement)
3. Replace propane tubing and install soleniod for increased safety (insurance requirement)
4. Increase energy generation and storage capabilities to meet expected liveaboard lifestyle
5. Modernise electrical consumption (e.g. LED lighting, low energy fans etc.)
6. Augment safety equipment (e.g. liferaft, life jackets, flares, jackstays etc.)
7. Install new communication and navigation systems (e.g. AIS, backup GPS, satellite phone, weather forecasting etc.)
8. Clean and re-fit fresh water system
9. Maintain all deck fittings and sailing hardware
10. Purchase new outboard and dinghy
11. Upgrade ground tackle (e.g. anchor, chain, windlass etc.)
12. Expand sail inventory (e.g. cruising chute & spinnaker pole, storm sails etc.)
13. Assess all hatches, ports and deck openings and reseal as necessary
14. Add wind-vane self steering (i.e. Hydrovane)
15. Design and build radar arch, and mount solar panels
16. Clean and refurbish interior
17. Fix broken Raymarine instruments (log, windex and autopilot)
18. Repair cracks in rudder and reseal key joints with hull
19. Repaint antifouling
20. Remove old names and charter decals and replace with new SF ones!
21. …

This post series will capture the highs and lows of our first few months on the boat. We are a 50/50 mix of nervous and excited and the only things that we know for sure is that in the process of fixing certain things Alec will end up breaking others, and Laura’s patience will be tested like never before. Please stay tuned for our two man war against entropy 🙂