Sundown Sailing Adventures

About a month or so ago, Kim and I were dining at our favorite restaurant, Los Tarascos. Kim has been ramping up her already well-established business, KBC Communications, and is settling into the groove. She felt so “in the groove” that she stated, “we need to set a date.” I agreed that we should and with that she said, “How about September 1?” September 1 sounded good to me, so we finished our meal and celebrated making this big decision.

So what does that date mean? Is this the date we leave? Is this when the boat launches? Or is that the pickup date for the truck to move it? It is all or some combination of those, we guess. Basically, it’s a point in time—a goal—and we are working toward it with determination.

One big project, gelcoating the deck, is finished. We have started to re-bed all of the deck pads and hardware. We still need to paint the topsides and boot stripe, and replace the teak deck.

Late in the fall we installed a Webasto diesel furnace and interior winter boat work became much more comfortable without the need for a propane blast furnace to heat the work spaces. We also had the boat shrink wrapped (complete with a zippered door).

The original holding tank is in Sundown’s keel and had an extremely complicated plumbing system that required two threw hulls, a “Y” valve and a vented loop. I don’t think that it had been a “closed” system for many years as it gave off an offensive odor.. When I decommissioned the holding tank I found a rusted hole through the weld at the vent. We re-designed the system with a Nigel Calder recommendation that works with gravity. I custom fabricated a new tank with sheet fiberglass panels and mounted it directly forward of the head on the chain locker bulkhead. It’s very simple and requires no macerator pump or Y valve.

The starboard aft quarter berth (the guest room) needed some woodwork to, including removal of a rotten headliner (ceiling). I was unable to find a reasonable source for that so I made it from scratch. I thought this project would take a fair amount of time, but I completed it in a couple days! The other woodwork included wire and electrical back panel covers for new electrical stuff like the inverter control, bilge pump switch and lights. I added a shelf to the plan for those little incidentals that need a place to live while you sleep. I also painted and varnished that area.

Another project I recently completed is finishing the companionway stairs. The Hans Christian 33T comes with an unusually cumbersome arrangement for steps which double as the engine compartment cover. I redesigned the compartment cover last year and we have used a Workmate stool as the step since then. The two step original staircase had barrel bolts and small oval accesses to a cavernous and unusable storage area. I hinged the steps and cut out the back to make the stairs lighter and usable. The barrel bolts were discarded and two toggle latches were added. They were completed with varnish on the outside and white paint on the inside.

We also have been switching out the incandescent lights for LEDs. We turned every light on in the boat the other day and we were drawing less than 3 amps! It’s a very efficient lighting system.

With the help of my friend, Larry Monesson, the headliner from the galley to the head is painted now, too.

We’re checking off items on the “to-do” at a regular pace, which means that September 1 date might actually mean something!

If you’re on Facebook and don’t follow us there, please do! We frequently post photos there of our progress. Kim promises to get back to a more regular blog-posting schedule once her KBC work calms down a bit. Just know we’re working hard with a target date in mind.