Adding a Flag Halyard
We’ve had a flag halyard on our starboard spreader for several years and had a small burgee on that halyard until it wore out. We would occasionally hang a US flag on the halyard. It tended to thump on the spreaders and it started to get ratty by rubbing on the mast because we have […]
New Solar Panels
As much as we love our canoe-stern, it has its drawbacks – like a place to mount solar panels. A lot of people add a big arch to the back of the cockpit to mount solar panels, dinghy davits, and other things. We considered adding an arch but opted not to mostly due to cost, […]
Outland Hatch Covers
I have a love|hate relationship with our overhead hatches. We only have two overhead hatches (main salon and v-berth) and the boat would be so dark and stuffy without them. But at the same time, the sweltering summer sun coming through them turns the interior into a solar oven (or so it feels). Oh, and […]
Fuel Tank Cleaning & Upgrading the Fuel Filter System
Cleaning the Fuel Tank Our fuel tank is in a really inconvenient spot: under the V-berth. These old ’70s Taiwan boats are notorious for having a rusty, black iron fuel tank and we’ve never looked inside ours. And there’s no way to replace it without cutting it into pieces since it was installed before the […]
Cockpit Scupper Drains
To be honest I didn’t even know what a scupper was before we bought a boat. And fair warning, this post has quite a few “boaty” terms. Scupper – a hole in a ship’s side to carry water overboard from the deck We have scuppers along the bulwarks for draining water from the decks, but […]
Creating a New Storage Locker
Tayana’s have a lot of storage locker space, and yet, it never seems to be enough. We’ve completed a few projects where we were able to convert unused (or poorly used) space into useable storage lockers. And we’ve thought about changing the storage under the settees and engine room, but that’s for another post. Once […]
Engine Room Insulation
Our Perkins 4-108 is located under the companionway steps right next to the galley and quarter berth and is fairly noisy. There is existing insulation, but it’s now over 40 years old. When we did the sea trial, we used a free phone app decibel meter and clocked the noise at around 80 dB. And […]
Bilge Pump Cycle Counter, Switches & Alarms
Our boat came with two electric bilge one manual bilge pumps. The small electric pump is located at the bottom of the bilge and the larger electric pump (a Rule 3700) was located higher in the bilge near the middle of the boat in front of the old water tank. We decided to revamp the […]
Installing LED Locker Lights
LED technology has come a long way over the past decade. Even over the past 5 years! We upgraded all our lighting from amp-hungry incandescents to LED lights back in 2013. At that time, we contemplated putting lights in the hanging lockers but didn’t because of cost and hassle. We tried some battery-powered LEDs for […]
Installing a Balmar External Voltage Regulator
While I don’t recommend intentionally frying your alternator, frying ours last summer pushed this project to the top of our to-do list and I’m glad it did. We spent a lot of money on our Battle Born LiFePO4 batteries and with a new alternator and external voltage regulator I feel more at ease that the […]