The big refit began in February of 1999 when I retired from working at the US Naval base in Keyport, Washington. The first thing we did was to tackle the problem of installing a big holding tank on a small boat. This effort took one month of intense effort followed by a lot of part-time effort for the final hookup. It was around September before the monster was finally finished. What we wound up with is about 32 gallons of waste storage. The head is a Wilcox-Crittendon Skipper Type II. The holding tank is below the shelf. One cruising friend suggested we were foolish to waste so much good storage space for a big holding tank. We'll let you know in a couple of years if he was right.

We sacrificed a lot of storage space for this holding tank. We had to build it in place. The structure is 1/2" and 3/8" marine plywood. The outside surface of the tank conforms to the curvature of the hull. There are two layers of West System epoxy glass cloth on the inside, four layers on all interior seams, all is pigmented white. There is a baffle inside too. The exterior surfaces have one or two coats of polyester glass cloth, unpigmented, with about four layers on all the seams.Sanitation Marine in Seattle provided good advice and parts for the in and out fittings. I found a good article on the Internet which gave me some ideas. The biggest thing I remember about building this was how much I scratched the bulkheads of the head compartment. The tank was so big that every time rotated it a quarter turn to work on another surface, I would dent something else. I could only rotate it 270 degrees either way. Nancy did a great job refinishing the bulkheads. We installed a "Full Tank" light from Sanitation Marine which goes on about four inches from the top. From "pumped out empty" to "Full Tank" light going on we measured 32 gallons in a 40 gallon tank, or about 60 flushes. When the tank is full, Active Light takes on a slight list to starboard. We are considering another holding tank of equal size to port, using an electric transfer pump and could employ a new type of "waste" ballast to control boat trim sailing upwind. (joke)

During those first months of retirement, we had a wonderful time finding and buying parts and gear from companies over the Internet. I figure we saved the cost of the laptop ($2,000) several times over by this method of purchase. We bought a lot of gear from Online Marine. They seemed to have better prices than many places, and although they do not display a complete variety of brand names of common boat stuff, they will quote you a price if you know what you want. That's the big caveat with Internet shopping, you have to know what you want. There are no "bricks & mortar" stores to touch and feel of the product. Online Marine treated us fairly with the shipping charges and we always got the product within a couple of days. We bought a Firdell Blipper from them, a Raytheon SL72 radar and mount, an ICOM M-45 VHF, our suite of DataMarine instruments, and more. We were able to get 100 feet of VHF coaxial cable shipped to us from Online Marine at about $.78 a foot, where as a local Seattle dealer wanted almost $3.00 per foot, . . . and wanted the 8% state sales tax, too.

However, one big mistake we made buying "on line" was to buy our SSB radio from a group called Amateur Electronics Supply. Their price was great, about $400. below West Marine, and they were honest with us, saying that because this unit was not carried in stock, we could not return it if we were dissatisfied. We bought an ICOM M-710 radio and the AT-130 tuner for around $1,800. These were new units with a full warranty shipped from the factory. What I didn't know was that this radio was not ham ready. Didn't I just get through pontificating about how you need to know what you want when shopping on the Internet?! Now we need a software upgrade to allow us to have ham transmit capabilities. I have heard everything from $300. (from the ICOM factory in Bellevue, WA) to $70. (from Rogers Marine in Portland, Oregon) for this upgrade. While I am on the subject of radios, . . .we need to mention our wonderful ham license coach, Mr. Gene Johnson. Gene is an Extra Class license holder and a great guy who has selflessly given his time toward teaching countless numbers of outward bound cruisers the in's and out's of radioland. Thanks, Gene! You are one of the good guys in this world.

We bought a four-man off-shore quality life raft from Viking Marine after touring all the makers at the Seattle Kingdome Boatshow. The raft, in a hard case with a cradle, cost $3,100. It will be delivered in May 1999. The Viking rafts are a little more rugged looking than the better known competitors and their primary audience seems to be fishermen and cruise lines. We dealt with a fellow named Ed Hoff and he has treated us pretty fairly.

The next big effort was to replace the standing rigging. Having heard about Brion Toss when I was working in Newport, R.I. in the early 1990's, we chose to work with him in his new digs in Port Townsend, WA. We hauled the boat at Fleet Marine in Port Townsend and began two and a half months of working on the rigging. We did all the work ourselves. We sanded the mast down to mostly bare metal and began the laborious task of building up all those protective coats. We used Gloucester Paints green zinc chromate primer for the bare metal. The three subsequent layers were Interlux products. We covered the green zinc chromate with the Multithane Primer (two coats), then came two coats of Polythane white as a conversion coat followed by two or three coats of Interthane Plus. We painted with foam brushes, outside in the boatyard, and had a really hard time fighting the weather. The Polythane step was supposed to be unnecessary, but we found the final coats of Interthane Plus to have such aggressive solvents that it could be considered a very expensive paint remover. Then began the task of inspecting, replacing, and resizing every wire, terminal, tang, bolt, cotter and clevis pin in the rig. All of this was done under Brion's supervision. We cut the wire and installed all new StaLok terminals ourselves after Brion drew up a wire cut plan. There were some terrible inconsistencies in our old rig we were never aware of. For the jibstay and upper shrouds we had 3/8 inch (!!!) SS wire connecting to mast tangs at the masthead that were undersized for even 5/16 inch wire. We had non-pivoting tangs for the lower shrouds, . . . that got fixed. At Brion's suggestion, we dispensed with the turnbuckles on the bobstay and the jibstay, letting the new split backstay adjust that tension. (Come to think of it, I don't think I ever moved those turnbuckles in 14 years.) We pulled and checked all of the chainplate bolts (only one had a little crevice corrosion). We used LocTite and/or TefGel on every connector. We changed the mainsail and jib halyards to snake down inside the mast, discarded an immense old mast-mounted clutch winch, put in an insulated backstay, and changed our running backstays from 1/4 inch wire to that new T-900 exotic line. Lighter, stronger, more better. The mast internal electrical wires presented quite a struggle. The former owner, Dick McCurdy, had stuffed lots of different types of materials down and up the mast in an effort to dampen the noise from wire slapping around inside the mast. We pop-riveted plastic electrical conduit every two feet for the length of the mast. Then we ran all new high quality marine wire for the various lights. We had basically six (6) cables running through this 1 & 1/4 inch conduit. These were radar cable, masthead tricolor-anchor-strobe, VHF coaxial, wind instrument, spreader lights, and steaming-foredeck light. The wires are now suspended from the masthead by a 20 foot piece of 3/16 inch Sta-Set X terminated in an icicle knot. This is so the wires themselves don't need to support 50 feet of their own weight. When we were all done, Brion's bill was was a little less than $5,000. That included the SS wire and StaLok terminals. Brion buys his wire and terminals from a group in Florida called Sailing Services. Their prices seem competitive. I have recently been buying my running rigging from an outfit in Massachusetts called Rigging Only - also known as The Rigging Loft. They have an experienced rigger you can ask to talk to, his name is Tom Bigsby,a nice fellow. They sent us 600 feet of 7/16 inch New England StaSet double braid for $322. plus $30. for shipping. That comes out to 58.6 cents per foot. Compare that price with West Marine! Tom's advice in deciding the proper line for the application cost only the phone call. They can send you a good paper catalog. They sell almost all major brands of rigging gear, only New England Ropes line. The prices are good.

One of the problems in restoring an aluminum mast is dealing with the inevitable corrosion whch occurs between the stainless steel (SS) screws, pop rivets, fittings and the aluminum mast. What we did when we encountered a SS screw snapped off or frozen in the aluminum mast was to first file or grind the screw off to get a flat surface to center punch. Then with a single clean rap of a hammer, we center-punched the screw. With a cobalt drill and liberal thread-cutting oil, keeping the drill rpms as low as possible, you can slowly and carefully drill through any stainless. The trick is to keep the drill bit from getting too hot and to stay in the center of the SS screw and not let the bit jump over into the much softer aluminum. Once you have drilled through the SS screw, you can either use an easy-out screw extractor or just drill and tap the hole the next size larger. When you are ready to put on the new fitting, clean away the thread-cutting oil and use Tef-Gel. This is a new product that Brion introduced to me that puts a micron thin film of anti-corrosion goop between the SS fitting and the aluminum mast. All in all, I really learned a great deal from Brion Toss.You can buy Tef-Gel from Brion at around $10 per tube or call 1-800-433-BOAT. That will put you in touch with Ultra Safety Systems in Riviera Beach, Florida , . . . the people who make Tef-Gel. Great stuff, really seems to stop the SS/aluminum corrosion, and one tube lasts a long time. It is also in the West Marine catalog.

Also, while the boat was in the Fleet Marine yard, we checked the rudder pins for electrolytic corrosion. These are 1 inch stainless steel pintels in bronze gudgeons. Even though these pintels always carry sacrificial zincs, the lower rod needed to be replaced, as there was some corrosion on the lower threads. The Reynolds Grey & Associates machine shop, just outside Port Townsend did a really good job for us in turning out the new rudder pin. We also did the obligatory bottom paint job. For many years now we have used the military surplus paints bought from D & R Military Surplus near Chimacum, Washington. This stuff is always expired shelf-life vinyl or ablative copolymer marine bottom paint manufactured for the US Navy. It usually contains around 60% copper oxide and I have had very good luck with it here in the Pacific Northwest. Sometimes the vinyl is extremely thick and hard to apply (thin it with MEK), but it sure does last and keep the bottom clean. You have a color choice of black or red. The cost is around $200. for five (5) gallons.

Getting back home to Poulsbo, we launched into painting the house sides, bulwarks, bowsprit, and varnishing the rub rails. Nancy did a great job on the bulwarks and bowsprit, we put seven coats of varnish on the rails using the cheapest stuff we could find, Man-o-War gloss varnish from Home Base at $29. per gallon. The rails look great! Our friend, Jim Haskins, told us about this mail-order outfit where one can get a good no-load sandpaper. This would be the 220 grit silicon carbide non-loading sandpaper from Industrial Abrasives Co. A sleeve of 100 9x11 inch sheets cost $21.50, that's 22 cents per sheet for a long lasting sandpaper. Their phone number is 1-800-428-2222, they'll continue to send you catalogs forever once you order anything. I also buy my 5 inch 8 hole hook & loop sanding disks from them for around 24 cents apiece (pack of 50 price is $11.95).

	We installed six new 5 x 12 inch bronze opening ports which we purchased from West Marine for $150. each, on Cecil Lange's recommendation. That price includes the trim ring and the SS screen. After we had measured and measured and scratched our heads for several hours, we finally gathered our courage enough to cut into the beautiful, fragrant Port Orford cedar on our house sides. These planks are 1-3/4 inches thick, 25 years old, and it look like new wood. It is a joy to work on this boat! We installed each port with four through bolts and six #14 machine screws. We bedded the ports in 3M 5200, which may prove one day to be a mistake (if we ever want to remove the port), but we are at least confident that nothing will knock out those portlights.
After installation, we had the problem that the glass developed small hairline cracks in two of the ports. The folks at West Marine were nice about replacing the glass at no cost. If I had it to do over again, we would have bought our ports from Richard at New Found Metals near the airport in Port Townsend, Washington. They are a little more expensive, but have a much nicer finish, better dogging down togs, etc. We moved the two oval Wilcox Crittendon ports from the galley to the head area. We moved the two W/C 5 inch round ports to the forward cabin. That makes all ten of our ports opening and bronze. The six new 5x12 ports have sloping outboard rims to prevent rainwater from pooling.
	Next we bought new hawse holes to replace the rail mounted open chocks at the bow and stern. One of our motivations for doing this is that we have heard the authorities at the Panama Canal require the chocks to be able to take an upward lift on a line. If you have open rail chocks, you will be required to weld a plate or bar over them. We also replaced our midship hawse holes with a version from New Found Metals which have cleat horns on the inside. All six sets of hawse holes cost us $527. after taxes. They do very nice work at New Found Metals. Richard is the owner and is your contact there.
We constructed two new hatches on the afterdeck. The one to port will hold the two 10 pound aluminum propane bottles in an airtight compartment with an overboard drain astern. The starboard hatch allows access and storage for the Jordan Series Drogue and gives us access to parts of the boat where we never were able to store things before. We have bought our droque kit from the SailRite people. We were very nervous about cutting into the deck of our boat, but we planned it out for a long time and did not cut the deck support beams. The two resulting 11 x 19 inch ports are covered with hatches which should blend in well with the deck after the teak covering weathers a bit. The hatches are quite stout, constructed of 1/2 inch marine plywood with 1/2 inch teak decking strip epoxied to the plywood. The sides of the hatches are constructed of 1-1/2 in of Alaskan Yellow cedar and teak. The teak was a gift from my friend and Fishing Attitude Inspector, Mike Shurtleff. You can also see the hawseholes we installed in the transom to accommodate the 30 foot bridle for the drogue.
	Here you can see the traveller control blocks from Garhauer Marine (double ball bearing blocks with cam cleat and becket on a plate plus two double swivel blocks) which we hope will finally solve the problem of how to control the mainsail sheet trim with this overbuilt, ugly, homemade traveler. The entire solution from Guido at Garhauer cost $165., shipping included. Guido is Garhauer's fabrication specialist, a very helpful fellow who can help you select the appropriate product. Their prices are below others, and the two double ball bearing blocks on a swivel for 7/16 inch line we bought from them have a beautiful, highly polished 316 stainless finish and the phrase "Guaranteed to 2009" stamped right on the blocks.

As we priced out all that it would take to install a (less robust) "proper and yachty-looking" traveler, the price approached $1,000. We decided the old traveler wasn't so ugly afterall. Drilling four 5/16 inch holes through the ends of that traveler with a cobalt drill bit and lots of thread-cutting oil, we found out why the darn thing is so heavy, . . .that bar is solid stainless steel! We went through 1-1/4 inches of solid stainless to through-bolt the traveler blocks to the traveler ends.

That pretty much brings us up to date on our preparations as of November of 1999. It is a wet and rainy month so far. I am splicing 7/32" wire to 7/16" New England StaSet double braid for the jib and main halyards this week. I am learning this art from three sources; (1) by reading the technique from Brion Toss's excellent book The Rigger's Apprentice, (2) from a little bit of a private lesson I had with Brion himself, and (3) from a video by a fellow named James D. "Fid-O" McGrew.

Probably the nicest fellow you'd want to meet, Mr. McGrew makes several splicing tools. The one shown on the left is called the Fid-O Awl. It makes doing your own wire to double braid splice a reasonable task. You can order one from him for around $11. by calling (916) 991-1142 or writing him at 8120 Rio Linda Blvd., Elverta, CA 95626-2761. If you decide to call, get yourself a beer and sit down in your favorite chair to spend some time talking to a new friend.

The Fid-O awl works by entering the wire, three-strand, or double braid with the point, pushing on past the breakpoint in the middle toward the handle, removing the point and passing the rope yarns back through the handle portion. As you pull the handle portion back out of your splice, you can twist the handle to adjust the threads of your yarn for the smoothest lay. Pretty cool tool! To my mind, Mr. McGrew is a real unsung hero and a real gentleman. I received a followup letter from him after he read this webpage and with his permission, make it available.

One issue you need to cope with regarding wire to rope splices is where the splice is located with respect to the winch and the cleat. Brion Toss and Fid-O McGrew claim that the splice should stop about one foot before the winch and/or cleat when the halyard comes taut. That way, no chafe comes to bear on the double braid yarns at the splice from the inside out as would happen if the splice itself wrapped around the winch or cleat. In other words, keep the splice itself off the winch. However, Tom Bigsby, at Rigging Only, recommends making the wire portion of the halyard long enough so that the wire itself wraps at least four times around the winch. That way you get zero luff stretch and little strain on the splice itself. The problem comes when you need to reef. Then the splice will be deployed between the peak of the sail and the winch, you'll get some stretch, etc. One answer is to let the roller furling jib halyard have wire wraps around the jib halyard winch. This jib stays up all the time and is not reefed by dropping the jib halyard. The reefable mainsail halyard will stop with the wire to rope splice one foot before entering the winch. This is pretty much a cerebral process thus far. I'll let you know later which one gives us trouble first.

There are many other preparations we have been making for the trip. The most obvious one is financial. We won't discuss those efforts because that subject is more taboo to public discussion than sex, religion, or politics in America. I will tell you we began three years ago with a challenge to my dentist to make my teeth as bullet-proof as possible against a mid-ocean dental problems. Seven crowns and many fillings later, we are almost there. Nancy and I have the same medical doctor, Dr. Frederick Dore, of Bremerton, Washington. He's the best doctor in the state of Washington, and he has been working with us to get us both fairly stable and healthy. Further on the body/physical front, our karate efforts began after a trip to Mazatlan, Mexico three and one half years ago. We found we both enjoyed getting off the beaten tourist path and exploring the back streets around the central market and harbor districts. We decided that we would like to be a little more difficult to mug (no, we were not robbed there). Since then, our karate efforts have taken on a very different focus. We are not preparing to beat up anyone who might try to bother us. Rather, we have learned that a good karate black belt is the person most reluctant to engage in a fight. We have found instead a whole new world of discipline, tradition, friendship, and exercise.