On the Hard

New Name Added

Originally Posted at www.svsweetescape.com

Sweet Escape is back on the hard at Racine Riverside Marine.  She was hauled out on June 13th to complete a long list of upgrades and maintenance in preparation for our cruise later this summer.

If you will recall, the boat was put in the water in April for our sea trial and has been in ever since save for a brief haul out necessary to replace a cracked seacock.  We did not have a chance to do any topsides exterior cleaning as is the norm after a winter lay up and boy did it show.  This was one dirty girl.  

The list of upgrades includes the complete replacement of the bottom -  this involves the removal of all the old bottom paint down to the gelcoat and the application of several barrier coats along with multiple coats of new bottom paint.  

Other upgrades include the installation of a new Raymarine chart plotter, AIS, a masthead digital TV antenna, and Spurs line cutters.  We will also replace the traditional stuffing box with a dripless type that will keep the saltwater and the microorganisms that live in it out of our bilge and the replacement/expansion of our house battery bank.  We currently have two 12 volt 4D house batteries with a total capacity of about 400 amp hours.  To reach the level of self sufficiency we are seeking to achieve we need to raise this capacity to up over 1200 amp hours which will involve installing eight six volt batteries wired in series and in parallel.

On the maintenance side of the ledger is the return (finally) of our tank level monitor, an investigation of some oil seepage from the transmission and the repair of the notorious fuel delivery solenoid that abruptly put the brakes on a day sail two weeks ago.  

We are also having the diesel fuel tank scrubbed.  Diesel fuel is prone to bio-organic contamination.  There are microorganisms that live in diesel fuel and when they die they create a black tar like substance that settles on the bottom of the tank.  When the boat is sailed in conditions where there is a lot of movement due to wind and waves the fuel is sloshed around inside the tank which results in this contamination becoming suspended in the fuel.  This can lead to plugged fuel filters and eventual fuel starvation of the engine, shutting it down often when you need it most.

We also intend to replace our forward head and are using this opportunity to finally add the new name to her hull as well as the aforementioned badly needed cleaning and waxing.

By Friday, Riverside had removed more than half of the old bottom.  We need the boat back in the water and ready to go by the first week of July.  We intend to do a quick sail across Lake Michigan with daughter Erin and her boyfriend Ryan, leaving on a Friday and returning on Sunday.   This will be a good opportunity to sea trial Sweet Escape following these upgrades.

We will post additional photos on our Albums page.