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September 6, 2024
Sailboat Story – Page 7
Fixing The Boat With A Fly Swatter | Sailboat Story 156
The goal is to get at least 1 good, clean fuel tank. Then we need to fill the clean tank with fresh diesel and get that diesel all the way back to the engine so that we can HOPEFULLY get the engine running again. With a combination of hose, pump, drill, a...
Last Day On The Water Before A Sweaty Summer Sailboat Refit | Sailboat Story 157
Join us for a long, slow ride against the current of the St John's River as we draw nearer to the marina where we will haul out the boat and spend a sweaty Summer getting her ready for new adventures. ~ Ben, Tambi, & Molly | "SAILBOATSTORY" Don't f...
Climbing To The Top Of Our Sailboat Mast To Fix A Halyard Wrap | Sailboat Story 158
She always wanted to climb the mast and the perfect opportunity presented itself when the headsail halyard became wrapped around the furler. I, being one who does not enjoy heights as much as some, was thrilled to assist her in ascending aforementioned mas...
We Bought A Westsail 42 Sailboat | A Tour Of Our Upcoming Refit Projects | Sailboat Story 159
We bought a Westsail 42 sailboat and we'd like to show you some of the projects we'll be working on through the Summer to get her ready for longterm cruising. She's a super-solid old girl with a whole lot going for her, but in order for her to be safe and...
Removing The Propeller, Shaft, Coupler, Stuffing Box & Cutless Bearing | Sailboat Story 160
The sailboat refit has officially begun and that means that we have to take a lot of things apart before we can start putting it all back together again. We pump contaminated diesel fuel out of the boat, take off the Max Prop, disassemble the shaft coupler...
Cutting Open A 44 Year Old Sailboat Holding Tank With A Sawzall | Sailboat Story 170
I cut open a 44 year old sailboat holding tank with a sawzall. While I'm at it, I also cut large holes in our fuel tanks to install larger inspection ports. Despite their destructive nature, these are actually necessary steps as we refit our old sailboat a...
Removing A Perfectly Good Windlass + DIY Fiberglass & Epoxy Deck Repair | Sailboat Story 180
The windlass that is currently installed on our boat is wrong in many ways. First of all, it's a vertical windlass, but a horizontal windlass is what was really needed. Secondly, it's location puts the motor obtrusively in the middle of the forward cabin...
Rebuilding The Forward Cabin On Our Westsail 42 | DIY SAILBOAT REFIT | Sailboat Story 190
The time has arrived to get started on rebuilding the forward cabin of our Westsail 42. It's current state is one of general disarray and incompleteness. Really, the only part that's even partially finished are the boards on the wall, but most of those are...
Working On Boat Projects At Home Because The Refit Never Stops | Sailboat Story 191
To keep the momentum going on our sailboat refit we bring certain things home with us so that we can keep working on the boat even through we're not at the boat. In this video I repair a damaged floor board, remove the old anti-fouling from our propeller, ...
Replacing The Cutless Bearing & Installing A PSS Dripless Shaft Seal | Sailboat Story 192
The Swabby, AKA Molly, AKA my best boat helper, accompanies me to FL where we get to work replacing a worn out cutless bearing, reinstalling the shaft, and installing a brand new PSS dripless shaft seal. Thank you for watching! ~ Ben, Tambi, & Molly ...
How To Install A MaxProp Propeller With Molly & Ben | Sailboat Story 193
In this video, we install our Maxprop propeller. Prior to this video we removed the propeller, cleaned off the old antifouling paint, degreased it, and added 2 more degrees of pitch. Now, we put it back on the boat. Thankfully Molly is on the job to ensure...
Scratching Boat Projects Off The List (and adding a few more) | Sailboat Story 194
Some days you just have to go after some of the smaller boat projects that tend to accumulate. We remove the vinyl graphic from the side of the boat, rebed a leaky deck prism, remove an engraved belay pin board thingy, and work on our busted up cap rail. T...
Cleaning A Moldy Boat Fridge | Sailboat Story 195
The refrigerator in our boat, even though it's essentially brand new, is in a very sad state indeed. When we opened the lid for the first time, we were shocked to see that there was a very disgusting, albeit very cold, colony of mold that was happily thriv...
DIY BOAT HATCH AIR CONDITIONER | How We Run A Window Unit AC On Our Sailboat | Sailboat Story 196
Just a short video showing our homemade cowling that allows a window a unit AC to be used on a boat hatch. This is a simple DIY cowling that we made to help keep the boat comfortable during the hot, humid Florida summer while we work on refitting our Wests...
Forward Cabin Restoration, But I’m Not Pleased With The Results | Sailboat Story 197
Ben heads back down to Green Cove Springs, FL for another round of boat work. In this video, Molly's forward cabin gets the boards put back up on the walls, the splintered cap rail is repaired using an epoxy wood putty, and a rotten bulkhead in the galley ...
HULL TO DECK JOINT REPAIR | PART 1: Ripping Up 90ft Of Teak Cap Rail | Sailboat Story 198
The hull to deck joint on our sailboat is very leaky so we are about to embark on the most in-depth boat project we've ever taken on. The teak cap rail has to be removed to access the hull to deck joint which will need to be thoroughly cleaned of 45 year o...
HULL TO DECK JOINT REPAIR | PART 2: Remove Hardware & Stop Leaks With Epoxy | Sailboat Story 199
Work continues on our leaky hull to deck joint as we do battle with 5200, contort our bodies to remove hard-to-reach sailing hardware, and ultimately stop the leaks using neat epoxy. Along the way we discover that's it's entirely possible for a person to ...
HULL TO DECK JOINT REPAIR | PART 3: Filling & Fairing With Thickened Epoxy | Sailboat Story 200
We've ripped off the old teak cap rail, cleaned out 90 ft of hull/deck joint, and now we begin to fill and fair the joint with thickened epoxy. It's HOT work doing this kind of manual labor in the intense Florida heat, but between the 2 of us, we set up an...
HULL TO DECK JOINT REPAIR | PART 4: 270ft Of Fiberglass Onto Our Westsail 42 | Sailboat Story 201
Tambi and I lay on 270ft of fiberglass cloth onto the bulwarks of our Westsail 42. The fiberglass we use is 25oz double biased mat. We make 3 laps around the boat with my job being to wet out and lay the fiberglass strips into place and her job being to mi...
HULL TO DECK JOINT REPAIR | PART 5: Fairing, Sanding, & Heat Stroke | Sailboat Story 202
It's time to start making our hull to deck joint and cap rail pretty again. What that means is that we have to get it shaped right in order to paint it. Unfortunately, the process of getting a 90ft hunk of fiberglass shaped right means a considerable amoun...
HULL TO DECK JOINT REPAIR | PART 6: Painting It Pretty | Sailboat Story 203
There's just something special about that moment when you finally get to see the results of your massive efforts finally pay off... and that moment is in this episode. In this episode we finally apply paint, and let me tell you, the end product looks soooo...
HULL TO DECK JOINT REPAIR | PART 7: Stern Cleats, Pushpit & Cheek Blocks | Sailboat Story 204
Before we could repair the leaking hull to deck joint on our Westsail 42, we had to remove all of the deck hardware that was mounted on top of the cap rail. Now that this boat project is complete, it's time to put all of the sailing hardware back onto the ...
Lining Our Fuel Tank With G/Flex 650 Epoxy | Sailboat Story 205
Our aluminum 130 gallon fuel tank has some suspicious looking spots on the bottom. It doesn't leak, so we want to do what we can to keep it that way. As a preventive measure, we coat the inside of the fuel tank with G/Flex 650 epoxy. ~ Ben, Tambi, & M...
How To Build DIY Inspection Plates For Fuel Tank Access | Sailboat Story 206
We build DIY inspection plates to give ourselves complete access to our fuel tank. Previously our diesel tank only had 1 inspection plate installed, but the tank has 3 chambers created by 2 horizontal baffles. This means that only 1 chamber was truly acces...
Westsail 42 Is DRIVING ME CRAZY | Inspection Plates & Aft Cabin Restoration | Sailboat Story 207
Projects continue as Ben installs inspection plates on the diesel tank, repairs rotten wood in the aft cabin, and generally works towards preparing the boat for new voyages. It's been a long, hot Summer of non-stop boat work and if he doesn't get to go sai...
Lofrans Tigres Windlass Installation On A Westsail 42 Sailboat | Sailboat Story 208
The Lofrans Tigres horizontal windlass is one of the most common electric windlasses in use on cruising sailboats. It's time-tested, reliable, and spare parts are typically easy to come by so it seems like a great fit for our Westsail 42 sailboat. The inst...
Cutting A HUGE Hole In Our Boat & Installing An eBay Hatch | Sailboat Story 209
The forward cabin in our Westsail 42 has zero ventilation. There's no dorade vents, no hatches, and no portlights - nothing. This is a big problem because the forward cabin is Molly's room and she's going to cook in there if we don't do something about the...
LiFePO4 BATTERY BANK INSTALLATION | Unowix VS Battle Born & Dakota Lithium | Sailboat Story 210
We upgraded our battery bank with UNOWIX Defender X100 LifePO4 batteries. I'm SHOCKED at how light they are compared to the 62lb batteries they replaced and they're packed with the same safety features as the Battleborn and Dakota Lithium equivalents. The ...
Why Is Our Rudder Post Leaking & Knocking? | Sailboat Story 211
The rudder post on our Westsail 42 is leaking and knocking... but WHY? In this video Mike comes out help Ben out with boat projects. Together they complete a whole slew of projects, many of which were not shown in this video, but overall it was an extraord...
10 Billion Bugs Attack Our Boat | Sailboat Story #Shorts
Hi guys. We're trying to get things set up to make some "Youtube #Shorts". Working out the bugs. Speaking of bugs, do you remember the time 10 billion bugs attacked our sailboat? ~ Ben, Tambi, & Molly | "SAILBOATSTORY" Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE and...
Her Thirst For Solar Power Is Insatiable | Sailboat Story 212
We'll soon be installing solar panels on our sailboat. To get ready, we run the wires and install Blue Sea Cable Clams. We also mount long sections of stainless tubing between the pushpit and stanchions to provide a mounting location for the forward pair o...
The SNOW CONES Will Continue Until Morale Improves | Westsail 42 Cutter Refit | Sailboat Story 213
If morale of the crew suffers then the risk of mutiny is real. This must, of course, be avoided at all costs so whenever I find myself in this situation I quickly employ the most foolproof tactic I know. I give them snow cones until crew morale improves. ...
Installation Of Bouge RV Solar Panels On A Blue Water Cruising Sailboat | Sailboat Story 214
Our blue water cruising sailboat can now regeneratively charge its batteries by soaking up energy that has traveled 93,000,000 miles through space. This fantastic ability has been made possible with an installation of 720 watts of solar panels from a compa...
VICTRON ORION DC-DC CHARGER INSTALL | Sailboat Story 215
Installing a DCDC charger allows us to keep our alternator separate from our lithium battery bank. In this way, we can charge our house batteries while also protecting the alternator from the extremely low impedance of our lithium batteries. The challenge ...
She LOVES Her New Custom Bed From Mattress Insider | Sailboat Story 216
She is in LOVE with her new custom bed from Mattress Insider. It's soft, supportive, cool, and amazingly comfortable. The tricky part about getting a new mattress in a boat, RV, or tiny home is that the space available for the mattress is often oddly shap...