Another productive day aboard La Sirena, with a mixture of tidying up, fixing things and slowly getting the boat ready for the next stage.
I spent some time clearing and tidying the deck and cockpit areas. After months of working on the boat, there seems to be a never-ending collection of tools, parts, materials and random bits and pieces finding their way onto every available surface. Getting some of that cleared away makes a huge difference and, more importantly, starts giving me a better idea of what actually needs to live aboard when La Sirena heads cruising.
I also replaced the Shaeffer Series 7 cheek block for the main halyard at the base of the mast. It’s a small job, but these are exactly the kinds of things I want sorted before putting serious miles under the keel. There isn’t much point having a boat that is mechanically sound if the little hardware items are going to cause problems once we’re out there.
I’ve also started removing more tools and materials from La Sirena. At the moment the boat is still partly functioning as a workshop, but eventually I need to go through everything and decide what I genuinely need aboard. The goal is to have enough tools and spares to deal with the inevitable repairs while not carrying half of a hardware store around with me.
One particularly satisfying success is the CoolBlue refrigerator. It’s working great. I’m still not completely sure whether I managed to get exactly the right amount of R134a into the system — given how difficult that stuff is to source around here, I’m not keen on messing with it unnecessarily — but it’s cooling properly and doing what it’s supposed to do.
If it works, I’m happy. 😂
I’ve got more parts and gear arriving early next week, so the projects will continue. There is also still plenty more ordering to do over the next week or two as I work through the remaining jobs and figure out what La Sirena needs before departure.
I’m also starting to look seriously at a Takacat tender and a small outboard. The plan is to carry the tender on the dinghy davits already installed on La Sirena, which should give me a practical setup without having to figure out somewhere else to store a dinghy.
So, slowly but surely, the boat is transitioning from project boat to cruising boat.
There are still plenty of jobs on the list, but the nature of the work is changing. I’m not just fixing things anymore — I’m starting to think about how everything will work together when La Sirena is actually out cruising.
One job, one delivery and one slightly less cluttered cockpit at a time.
October is getting closer.
