Cruising organizations have been a valued part of our lives for nearly 40 years. Shennecossett Yacht Club (SYC), the Corinthians and Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA) to name a few. Whether to lend or receive a helping hand, to swap stories or learn new things. The enduring friendships from these organizations are the best. In June we had the pleasure of attending a cruisers gathering at Essex Yacht Club hosted by three separate cruising organizations: SSCA, Ocean Cruising Club (OCC) and Salty Dawg Rally. Wow! What a great group of positive people, wealth of knowledge, great speakers on a variety of topics, and just a lot of fun!
A hands on demonstration inflating a life raft inspired us to research options for our cruising situation.
Touring various cruising boats was fun, educational, and a much appreciated benefit to this gathering!
Immediately following this inspiring weekend we hauled Lone Star out of the water for an overhaul at Essex Boat Works. We can’t say enough about the helpful and knowledgeable staff at this well run yard. We need this 100 ton lift due to the beam/width of our trimaran.
We began by removing the rudder, shaft, and engine. You may recall we had an alternator problem last winter; we burned up or shredded more than a few v-belts. Although the engine ran well, we thought it was due for an overhaul and paint job. Great opportunity to clean the engine room and continue to sound proof it too.
We added new engine mounts, all new hoses, new Balmar alternator with serpentine belt, a new starter and rebuilt the injectors.
The folks at Essex Boat Works are so helpful, we highly recommend this knowledgeable staff!
We removed the four noisy cockpit drains that were just at the waterline and replaced them with closable valves, one on each side about 8 inches lower. Note the old AGM battery bank in the above picture, replacing them with lithium was another summer project. Tom and I scrubbed the yellow stain and numerous black marks off the topsides. We also had the yard do some touch up painting on the topsides and they added a black boot stripe and keel guard; a vinyl strip on the port transom, to prevent wear when lifting the dinghy on davits. After reinstalling rudder, new shaft, and old propellor we were ready to launch. The rudder is now painted white for better visibility.
After launching late on Friday, we had to spend one more weekend in Essex as the rebuilt starter was messed up. Essex Boat Works generously replaced it with a brand new one the following Tuesday. This haul-out was expensive, but considering all that we accomplished, it was well worth it. After 30 days, we were on our way down river and back to our mooring at SYC.
Old Saybrook Lighthouse at the mouth of the Connecticut River.
Tom immediately started the next project charging the individual lithium cells for our new battery bank. Then wired them all together to top balance them. At the end of July, we rented a car for a Kintz family lake vacation in New Hampshire.
Ahh relaxation, sailing small boats, swimming, and spending time with family, a slice of heaven on earth.
Upon returning to Lone Star we saw a good weather window to head to Block Island. We wanted to try a new arrangement for the WindPilot self-steering, need to be sailing to do that! Oh yeah, there are a lot of boats here in the summer!
Nice new dinghy dock in Great Salt Pond makes it very easy to reach town and get some exercise.
Who doesn’t enjoy a gorgeous sunset? It never ceases to awe and humble us. We live in a beautiful world 🌎.
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Sailing on Lone Star 