{"id":17,"date":"2026-08-18T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/?p=17"},"modified":"2026-09-04T17:12:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T17:12:36","slug":"ok-so-another-boat-but-this-one-is-different","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/?p=17","title":{"rendered":"You can’t save them all"},"content":{"rendered":"

La Sirena \u2014 Three Months in the Boatyard<\/h2>\n

It’s not hard to believe that La Sirena has already been in the boatyard for almost three months.<\/p>\n

When I brought her into the yard, I knew there was plenty of work ahead. She’s a 1980 Rafiki 35\u2014a solid, heavy-displacement, very capable cruising boat\u2014but she had been sitting in a marina unused for several years.<\/p>\n

Before I could think seriously about taking her cruising again, I wanted to go through the boat carefully and start bringing her back to working condition.<\/p>\n

The last two months have been a combination of cleaning, inspecting, repairing, replacing, and uncovering the inevitable surprises that come with bringing an older boat back to life.<\/p>\n

I’ve gone through many of the boat’s seacocks and through-hull fittings, making sure these critical components are in good condition and ready for the job they’re supposed to do. Six have been replaced with Marelon thru-hulls and seacocks, a job that seemed daunting, but turned out very satisfying once completed.<\/p>\n

I’ve also been working on the chain plate hardware and rigging, checking the connections that are critical to keeping the mast where it belongs. The standing rigging is circa 2017 and has virtually no use, it is spotless, but I still aim to start to swap out some items next summer, will be doing this myself and using sta-lock.<\/p>\n

The running rigging has been inspected and is currently being replaced where needed (almost all of it), and I’ve been working my way through the many smaller systems and jobs that had been neglected while the boat was sitting. There are a few blocks that will be replaced in the next couple of weeks. I will be climbing the mast to replace the NX2 wind instrument in the next few weeks, as well as replacing a speed transducer paddlewheel.<\/p>\n

The Volvo Penta 2003 model engine is in excellent condition, oil change, impeller, fuel filters, there’s also a fuel polishing circuit built in as well as an oil change pump that makes oil changes quick and easy.<\/p>\n

There’s also been a tremendous amount of cleaning, organizing, and general maintenance.<\/p>\n

Some jobs have been straightforward.<\/p>\n

Others have turned into three jobs when I thought they were going to be one.<\/p>\n

That’s part of owning an older cruising boat.<\/p>\n

You start looking at one thing, and before long you’re asking yourself, “How did I end up working on that?”<\/p>\n

But that’s also what makes the progress so satisfying.<\/p>\n

Little by little, La Sirena is starting to feel like a boat again.<\/p>\n

The objective isn’t to turn her into a brand-new yacht. She’s a 1980 Rafiki 35, and part of what I love about her is that she was built as a serious cruising boat\u2014solid, heavy, and capable. They do not make them like this any more.<\/p>\n

The goal is to make her safe, reliable, functional, and ready to go cruising again.<\/p>\n

There’s still plenty left to do, but we’re getting there.<\/p>\n

The plan is for La Sirena to be ready to leave the boatyard and set sail in October 2026.<\/p>\n

And that’s when the next chapter begins.<\/p>\n

I’m planning to spend the winter living aboard, anchoring out as much as possible, I do expect to dock for supplies and for extreme weather events only, I am determined to show and share what this experience is truly like, exploring the Pacific Northwest, finding sheltered places to ride out the weather, maintaining the boat, and documenting the entire experience.<\/p>\n

It is not my first live-aboard experience, I have sailed the Atlantic seaboard and lived mainly at anchor from England, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Channel Islands, Bay of Biscay, Spain and Portugal … in a much less capable boat than La Sirena. I have met several other crews in the boatyard, doing work, bottom painting, tidying up their boats and have mentioned my plans. Most are surprised to hear of winter sailing plans, the weather in the Pacific Northwest can be and is indeed daunting.<\/p>\n

But, experience awaits, to be built upon. Can it be done – yes. Will it be worth it – yes. Will it be a one winter season and never again experience … we will find out. I am fully confident in the capabilities of La Sirena and my own skills and experience will be brought to the fore to make all of this happen.<\/p>\n

I won’t be doing it alone.<\/p>\n

Birnie, my 12-year-old Dachshund, will be coming along.<\/p>\n

Birnie was rescued several years ago, and somehow this little guy has ended up with a new job as first mate aboard a 36-year-old\u2014or rather, 46-year-old\u2014sailboat.<\/p>\n

His input with the maintenance involves getting right in there, let’s say a little in the way, but his company and consulting skills are second to none.<\/p>\n

So, after several years sitting unused and three months of hard work in the boatyard, La Sirena is slowly coming back to life.<\/p>\n

There is still work to do.<\/p>\n

But October is getting closer.<\/p>\n

La Sirena. Birnie. Winter at Anchor.<\/p>\n

The Pacific Northwest adventure begins in October 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n

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La Sirena \u2014 Three Months in the Boatyard It’s not hard to believe that La Sirena has already been in the boatyard for almost three months. When I brought her into the yard, I knew there was plenty of work ahead. She’s a 1980 Rafiki 35\u2014a solid, heavy-displacement, very capable cruising boat\u2014but she had been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-restoration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79,"href":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17\/revisions\/79"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sarmc.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}