With our return home from our long cruise last summer (2008 cruise to Bay of Fundy), there was work to be accomplished to continue with the improvements we wanted and needed to make to Sanderling before setting out on our next summer adventure.

We had a long list of both major and minor items that needed our attention. We started by replacing the topside controller for the Vetus bow thruster, rewiring some of the NMEA circuits in order to feed NMEA data from the GPS to the radar, VHF radio, and auto pilot, and by March had removed both port-side saloon windows to replace broken glass and worn-out window channels, and replaced the circuit breaker that was causing problems whenever we needed to blow the electric horns for more than a couple of seconds.

In January Sanderling went to a boat yard where some routine maintenance was performed: new bottom paint, wax the hull, replaced a broken thru-hull, replaced the exhaust manifold riser and two 90 degree elbows in the exhaust system, and replaced corroded zincs, attempted to fix the jamming chain fall. While in the yard we sanded and varnished the bright-work around the upper deck.

Mid-February was the time to start a major project: replacing the Maxwell vertical windlass with a new horizontal Lofrans Tigres windlass. The project started with a major effort removing the old windlass and the heavy platform (90 pounds) that supports the windlass and forms the bow platform for the anchor rollers. That was followed by cutting away the indented area where the old foot switch was located and repairing the cut out section to close the hole left in the small bulkhead. Then we cut into the same area, after all the work repairing one rectangular hole, in order to install a six inch inspection plate which would provide better access into the underside of the anchor platform.In the process we removed all of the teak deck strips on either side of the windlass platform and vacuum-bagged them with epoxy to 1.5mm marine plywood to form two larger deck areas that will be fastened to the platform with 3M 4200 caulk rather than having multiple screws in each piece of teak which caused problems on some teak deck boats.

In the picture above, the new teak decks are shown along with the reworked windlass platform, the new Lofrans Tigres windlass and the rebuilt underlying cabinet with the new inspection port.

We removed the old 140 feet of 3/8″ chain and replaced it with 260 feet of 5/16″ chain which is more appropriate in size for Sanderling, and will give us plenty of length if we find ourselves anchoring in 40+ feet of water again. We’re also adding a hand-held tethered remote control by the windlass which will raise and lower the anchor chain, as well as a new control toggle at the topside steering station which will do the same.

Major projects remaining: fasten the windlass platform to the boat and the windlass to the platform, complete the electrical wiring for the new anchor windlass, and check and tune the injectors on the engine. Following that work, we need to clean up the boat (inside and out) and stock up on supplies for the cruise.