“DIY” is an acronym for “Do It Yourself”. I’ve authored several articles in various publications, some on the few saltwater cruising experiences we’ve enjoyed thus far, and some on improvements we’ve made to our little “mother ship”.
Cruising Articles:
In terms of cruising-oriented articles, I’m collecting a few here just for grins. 
Tom and Mel Neale, life-long liveaboards of some notoriety have many of their own fascinating stories to tell, and some from boaters like us. They published their coastal cruising newsletter for years (”Cruising Coast and Islands”) from their countless trips up and down the eastern US ICW to and from the Bahamas. Tom has been a contributing author and editor to several prestigious sail and power boating publications, currently the cruising editor of PassageMaker magazine. Mel hosts instructional cruises occasionally to replenish their cruising kitty (budget). They have been an inspiration to many aspiring cruisers and liveaboards including Kay and me. “How Tough Can Anchoring in a Lake Be Anyway?” is an article we wrote and they published in their magazine, and describes a pivotal moment for Kay and me in our boating “career” together–a tough situation that we weathered and gained confidence. We thought you might find it an interesting if you haven’t come across it before.
Tom and Mel Neale, life-long liveaboards of some notoriety have many of their own fascinating stories to tell, and some from boaters like us. They published their coastal cruising newsletter for years (”Cruising Coast and Islands”) from their countless trips up and down the eastern US ICW to and from the Bahamas. Tom has been a contributing author and editor to several prestigious sail and power boating publications, currently the cruising editor of PassageMaker magazine. Mel hosts instructional cruises occasionally to replenish their cruising kitty (budget). They have been an inspiration to many aspiring cruisers and liveaboards including Kay and me. “How Tough Can Anchoring in a Lake Be Anyway?” is an article we wrote and they published in their magazine, and describes a pivotal moment for Kay and me in our boating “career” together–a tough situation that we weathered and gained confidence. We thought you might find it an interesting if you haven’t come across it before.By the way, you can now read what Tom and Mel’s daughters, Melanie and Amanda are writing in publications like Cruising World Magazine.
In addition to living on and sailing Sojourn for over a decade, and weekend sailing Skye, our thirty foot Catalina tall rig for some seven years before that, Kay and I have completed several bareboat charters (meaning we were DIY captains, that is, the boats were “bare” of captains other than us the charterers) including a couple on Lake Superior, several in the British Virgin Islands and one on a motor yacht in the Pacific Northwest (San Juan Islands), we wanted to experience a bit more aggressive offshore sailing, so four of us (two captains & two admirals) decided on a trip down through the Windward Islands, a few years ago through some of the southernmost islands of the eastern Carribean off the coast of Trinidad and Venezuela.
Improvement Projects:
Below is a compilation of some of my articles documenting the improvements we’ve made to Sojourn over the last several years, some of which the Marine Trawler Owner’s Association have published for the benefit of others who have similarly built boats.
First, all diesel boats are blessed with a triad of fuel curses: dirt, bugs and water, especially in the tropics. I prefer prevention over reaction, so I wrote an article on my “Ultimate Fuel Management & Polishing System”, a design intended to prevent fuel problems which they say causes 90% of the engine problems in a diesel boat, as well as to more effectively move fuel around as necessary. I built and integrated this design into Sojourn, and it seems to have worked very well for four seasons now.
Next, trawlers and pilothouse motor sailers are blessed with large windows that bath the boat’s interior with light. Unfortunately, they also admit unwanted water through windows that will leak eventually over time. So one project completed a few years ago was pilothouse window replacement. This turned out to be a rather formidable but doable project. Now, five years downrange (2009), I did succeed in mostly keeping water out of the interior of the boat, but not out of the inside of the pilothouse bulkheads and side deck core material. Now I’ve had custom pilothouse windows manufactured by Freeman Marine, Inc. at a cost of about $5K. Not sure how much it will cost me to have them installed yet, but we’ll see.
As most of us know, as boats grow older the equipment needs replacing and upgrading for various reasons. We wanted a larger holding tank for our toilet and a newer better toilet that didn’t leak and was easier to operate. We also wanted all new hoses before hitting salt water. So here’s my exciting (not) ”down and dirty” toilet and holding tank refit story. Now, after four years, all is well, although I don’t use the electric side of the toilet simply due to power consumption while cruising, but it’s nice to have that feature available.
Now at the risk of boring you with one more old boat improvement project, there was a sense of urgency with this one when my engine room floor collapsed !! I needed to electrically repower this old boat ! Now, after almost three years, all is well with the fruits of this labor.
Additionally, in preparation for moving the boat down the river to Florida, I had installed a host of electronics, new offshore davits and other numerous smaller improvement projects (redoing lazarettes and hold, etc.), but those projects are documented elsewhere in this blog.
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Holy Toledo,…….what an experience…..so happy that you made it through without any damage….am keeping fingers, eyes and toes crossed that today goes smoother…..sunny and clear here…keeping eye on HANNAH, IKE and JOSEPHINE…right now looks like HANNAH will go up the east coast….we’re rooting for you, extra hugs, Cath and Joe
By: Cathy on September 3, 2008
at 9:00 am
Thanks Cath. Enjoy Connecticut !
By: gjurrens on September 19, 2008
at 5:37 am
Hey There, Captain,
Saw your post on mtoa. Unfortunately, i don’t have the headliner answer, but…. I’m very interested in getting into your blog/experiences.
i just bought a 44 MT DC. My first trawler. Project boat- seized engines, went down in its slip, previous owners smoked heavily, oil all over bilge, everything soaked. Massive clean-up, up top. It was like they just walked off the boat one day, never to return. He was very ill.
Anyway, pulled the motors and genset with the marina mechanic. Ripped down the soundboard, cut out the two 289 gal black iron tanks with a swazall. And now I’m degreasing the bilge with the next step painting the bilge.
Then going to work on water system and toilets, then tackle electrical.
Then maybe start on windows and then brightwork.
I hadn’t ever worked on boats, a complete novice, am I. And so I’m learning as I go. A bit terrifying, but a hell of a lot of new experiences. And what an education. I love it.
Anyway. Wanted to say hello. I know you are busy.
Sal Trapani MTOA 3556
Moondance 82MT44
Montauk, NY
By: Sal Trapani on May 23, 2009
at 6:24 pm