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It has been a while since I updated, so here goes.
We hauled Bejasus out of the water on 17th September 2007 and relaunched on 28 February 2008.
In the intervening months, the hull topsides were prepped and repainted in white using Awlcraft 2000. A new dark blue bootop stripe was added and a go faster stripe in dark bluewas run along a hull moulding about a foot below the toe rail. This gave the effect of breaking up the slab of white and making the boat look a bit sleeker. Toerails were stripped and revarnished using Bristol finish.
Then the hull was prepped and what we thought was a small repair on the bottom of the keel was opened up for repair, and opened and opened and opened. Arrgh!! Turns out to have been an old repair that was a real bodge up. I guess the boat had been aground, perhaps on a coral head or a rock or something, and a repair had been carried out, but it was a mess. They had tried filling the area with old rags, paper and even a diaper, then had it glassed over. Pathetic. Anyway it was all stripped out and fully glassed back and was now probable stronger then the original build. This was followed by three coats of Micron Extra antifoul in mid blue.
Masts and rigging was removed and all fittings stripped from the masts and the booms, including grinding off the aluminium winch pads which were showing bad corrosion signs. Finding new pads was a nightmare, but eventually Selden Masts came up trumps. They opened a location in North Charleston, SC and they had the correct pads coming into their inventory, which they had shipped over from England.
Next we cleaned up and repainted the engine and gearbox, and then Theresa went nuts ripping out furnishings and repainting bilges and the interior of the hull using light grey Interlux bilgepaint, this was after she had scrubbed everything spotless.
All the time this was going on, I was rotating back to Europe on a monthly basis to work.
Anyhoo, new wind speed and depth transducers were fitted and the old Furuno radar removed from the mizzen, the mount reworked and a new Raymarine 4kw unit fitted. Masts were completely rewired and a new Hella 3 mile LED steaming light fitted, and a new Raymarine GPS antenna. New 55w spreader lights were fitted to both masts and a Raymarine Loudhailer fitted to the mizzen spreader. I know this was overkill and the first time I holla at Theresa, I know she will want to kill me. Anyway it also has a great control unit which can set all kind of signals like foghorns etc.
While the masts and rigging were being renewed, I stripped and examined the furlers. The forestay Profurl NC42 was fine, but bearings in the older Hood on the inner stay, were feeling a bit worn. I decided to replace the unit with another NC42. Most people seem to have a lighter unit on the inner stay, but I don't agree with this. When the weather picks up, the genoa will be the first thing to get rid of and the staysail will be used through the rougher weather, so the staysail furler should be at least equal to the genoa one. My thinking anyway, plus only one set of parts required, since both units and fittings are now identical.
Once back in the water, the electrics were hooked up and the Electronics guys got into the act. A new stainless pedestal and a Navpod were fitted in the cockpit, and a Raymarine E80 Chartplotter, ST70 Multi-instrument, the AP16 Autopilot control head, and a Ray 240 remote handset, all fitted into the Navpod. A seatalk backbone cable was run and the transducers, ST70 sensor pods, Ray240 VHF unit, Ray250 AIS and Loudhailer control head wired in. Also a Ray240 handset was fitted at the nav station along with another ST70, and the connection run to the new laptop running Raymarine RNS 6.0 software. The laptop will also have the Ocens Weathernet and Gribware software installed and be hooked up to both the Icom M802 SSB, and the Qualcomm Globalstar satellite phone.
Theresa also proceeded to finish the toerail varnish work on the stern.
Anyway, here comes the kicker. Theresa was stepping off of a friends boat and it was only 2ft to the dock. Somehow she managed to badly break her tibia and fibula on the lower left led, just above the ankle. What a mess. One 10mm 15 inch rod, 6 inch plate, 11 screws, a 2 inch incision on her knee, a 10inch incision in her calf and two 1 inch incisions on her ankle. Poor girl, she was in agony for a while and will be in physio for a while. She cannot fly for 8 weeks, and we had to cancel our departure which should have been around the 21st May. We had everything arranged including crew and a delivery skipper. Still I do not want to do the trip with out her, it was our first big cruising adventure and we are determined to do it together. Luckily we had insurance for her and didn't get hit with huge bills.
So thats where we are at the moment. I am sure we had loads more done than described, but the one thing about remaining in the US for another year, we should be able to get everything else done at reasonable prices. Including new 316 welded handrails instead of the current this 304 riveted ones we currently have. Also I can get on with rewiring the rest of the boat. By the time we leave next year she should be pretty comprehensively refitted.
Perhaps we will get that Bahamas trip in after all.
Fair winds to all.
G&T | 
