We have been working HARD the last 10 days to get Bay Dreamer back into perfect condition after a demanding year. Everything onboard is now running at 100% and with a lot of help of our neighbour Adrian we also managed to mount a bowsprit so we can use our brand new light-wind-Gennaker.
There is always a lot of work on a boat, especially on a long distance cruiser such as Bay Dreamer. Everything we have onboard the boat are being used constantly and you always need to maintain or service at least one or a couple of things on a weekly basis. It can be the water-maker, outboard engine, sail-winches or the toilets- this is normal!
But at least 2 times a year we do a COMPLETE “maintenance & repair “run” of all the systems at once. This takes a lot of working hours but its well worth it! This is some of the jobs we have done this time:
- Service of both engines: oil, filters, belts, valve-clearance, impellers, alternator check etc
- Service of water maker, changed a broken circuitboard, cleaned the membranes
- Sail repairs; changing all worn out threads, repair small damages
- Service of outboard engine
- Service the dive compressor, new paint, re-enforced brackets, engine service
- Repaint the dive-bottles, we also left the bottles to a professional for inspection
- Changed wood in the storage compartments
- Service the generator
- Rigg and mast control + cleaning
- Changed a couple of ropes that was getting bad
- Surface rost removal all around the boat
- New gas-springs on forward storage compartments
New Sails – faster boat
Besides all this general maintenance jobs we have done two major upgrades on the boat- A brand new light wind Gennaker and a brand new mainsail! Our new Gennaker is a furling sail from North-sail that requires a bowsprit, Bay Dreamer was not equipped with one so we had to mount a brand new bowsprit in the front. This job took a couple of days of hard work and problem solving but with the help from our neighbour Adrian the job was a total success.
“After the new sail-system was mounted we went out for a sea-trial and I am still amazed how great this sail were! We were moving forward good in wind-speeds we normally would have to motor in!”
Our old mainsail were getting very “fluffy” and it was always a hassle to take it in and out (we have a furling main)- especially while reefing in hard conditions! This new mainsail we bought from North-sail is made out of a stronger material than our old one and besides being super easy to furl in and out it will hopefully also give us some more speed!
Another upside besides more speed to our sail upgrade is that we now have a full set of “backup sails” in case (or when) we damage our new ones in the future!
Bay Dreamer with crew are now ready to head up north to he Marquesas Islands and we will set of with a new happy crew on the 1st of oktober. Until then we will kill time with the whales on an Island called Moorea just 10 miles from Tahiti where we are at this very moment!
Cya soon
// Daniel & Anna
I love the last picture, looks exactly the same as when we were firing up Moana before we left Canaria. Well not exactly, back then I wanted to save everything from a 1cm piece of wood to a broken water hose and you went mental on all the shit we had stored everywhere.
See you soon!