STRUGGLER REFIT
Excuse my grammar and lack of detail on this next months post but this is meant to be a record of experience. More of a point form to look back for reference.
Jan 26-29
3,307 km drive from Sylvan Lake, Canada to Guaymas, Mexico.
3 nights and 5 full days. My first time ever crossing the board by road into Mexico.
Sylvan Lake
Idaho Falls
Zion National Park Campground
Tuscon
Guaymas Boatyard
Jan 30
-Sun shades and all UV protection taken down and away.
-Interior and exterior quick clean
-All 3 halyards rigged up through the inside of the mast.
-New Mainsail and 135% Genoa measured and ordered from Rolly Tasker in Florida USA.
TOASTED TIRED
Jan 31
Coffee + Yogurt
-Interior boat organizing. All things putaway
-Wind Indicator Installed at mast top
-Boom Vang taped and painted. Totally Rebuilt
“Little Prickly Pear Creek”
Feb 1
-Anchor locker big hole fiberglass fix. (Water likes to rush through this hole into the bilge while beating into the wind)
-All standing rigging bottoms polish and inspected.
-Installed AIS transmitter and receiver! (for Mom)
Evening beers and BBQ with young folks in the yard. Met a bunch of nice folks that are sailing a metal monohaul to New Zealand. All musicians. (O’Sean Boat)
Feb 2
-Received email back from sail makers. Sent payment to begin (6-8 weeks for delivery)
-Finished polishing stainless lifelines and bottom of standing rigging
-Built out wind vane and installed on boat. Sewing done beforehand at home in Canada. (Appears to be working. Will see on water)
Catalina Bay Sunset
Feb 3
-Removed prop and shaft for replacement. Found a newer shaft on the boat that is in great shape!? Why? Will try and re use shaft stuffing box and re seal the shaft up.
-Fixed propane valve and regulator for cooking. Now can heat stuff up!
-Started sanding and oiling exterior wood
Street hot dogs for dinner (Pajaritos)
“Did you know you have a mating pair of birds making a nest in your boom?”
“No but I can hear something”
Feb 4
-Exterior wood sanding and staining (completed 3 coats)
-Built and installed lifeline support wood for 7 exterior Jerry cans. Thank you Mom, Kayla, Finley , and Millie for the navy fabric covers.
-Polished and re installed prop shaft and prop.
Tuna spaghetti sauce on pasta
Journal, read, bedtime in a hot dustbowl.
“How did I get here?”
“Hes just drifting through my man”
Feb 5
-Installed cockpit table made by Billy H
-Clean boat exterior
-Re packed packing bearing on shaft. Learned a lot abojt these drip bearings. Re installed. Should only drip 1-2 drips a minute whiule on the water. Will report back.
Burritos for dinner
Feb 6
-Cleaned out bilge of oil and nasty. Nasty Ol Stinky
-Re painted bilge white
-New Bilge pump installed (new backup also stored away)
-Found water leak on both 30 gallon (110 litre stainless steel tanks) Could be coming from bottom but doesn’t look like the plumbing? Yikes this is not good.
Cottage Pie for dinner
-Started to disassemble the couches for tank removal.
Feb 7
-San Carlos Swap Meet 8am
-Thrift store shopping. Scored 3 south pacific cruiser books for cheap!
-Purchased fishing gaf, 5 stantion blocks for furling line, and a North Sails “drifter sail” for $200CAN!
-Hoisted up for upper top rigging polishing and inspection. Rigging complete.
Feb 8
-Extended manual hand bilge pump from from cockpit to bilge. A+ This is a super helpful safety feature. There is now a hose running from the bottom of the bilge, up through the cockpit where a manual handle pump can gush water out the back of the boat at high volumes. This could be good of electric bilge pump fails or I start taking on large quantities of water.
-Exterior decks cleaned!
-Engine oil sucked out
Feb 9
Huge day.
-Oil and filter changed.
-3 fuel filters changed.
-Started removed and serviced.
-Engine coolant flushed and started up perfectly! Not moving much water through the cooling system? Maybe its the water hose pressue? Impeller?
-New prop and shaft spinning smooth. They seam stiff but a few neighbors say it should be fairly stiff? New shaft zinc anodes installed.
Feb 10
Quick trip to San Carlos.
-Electrical work
-Finished engine maintenance
-Cleaned entire engine and engine bay
Feb 11
-Complete interior clean and organize
-’Garage’ outside inventory and tidy
-Calked and sealed around mast on deck
Feb 12
-5 winches serviced and greased
-Old owners “Windwanker” decals fully removed and polished. Had to use a bit of brake clean since the name was etched into the clear coat.
-Electrical for nav units
3 baby puppies and Momma found
Feb 13
Trip to town and 5 stores to rebuild cockpit electronic junction box. Works great with cockpit light, chart plotter, usb charger, and room to grow. Completed.
-Started on rudder removal for inspection. Main steering quadrant removed and lower rudder shoe exposed.
-(Lost wallet somewhere in the yard? Shit)
Feb 14
7am start.
-Palm sanded the bottom of the skeg to access the 4 pins holding the rudder shoe on the bottom. Pins drilled and punched out. What a bastard getting the 4 bronze pins out. The thing here with all of this is I have never removed a yachts rudder before! And I hate chat GPT so its challenging when I’m so stubborn.
-Rudder supported up with boat jack and lowered out. Rudder shoe removed by 11am!
-Boatyard party at noon. Josue Birthday. He’s the man
Wallet found!
-The rudder is actually removed and I can move forward.
-No bearings. No problem.
Clean up. Bliss
Amongst all the stresses and projects in the boatyard, I’m somehow starting to create the feeling of nostalgia. Not sure from when but the feeling of warm mornings with the sun hitting my face and the birds chirping outside. It could be from early days spent camping in the spring or it could be from a time before having a mortgage. Or both!?
Either way I’m glad it’s starting to happen
“Feels like springtime in Alberta”
I cannot acclimate.
“Love comes too soon
I was not ready for you”
“The rudder, It just slides out the bottom man”
Feb 15
Hung over. Feel like shit. Stressed
-Rudder sanding and fibreglass work
-Met a Texas couple named Dale and Suzanne. They gave me a ride to Walmart and she tried to hit on me. Like very forward.
-Re wired anchor light from control box. Fixed
-Fixed stern light.
-All legal navigation lights including steaming light are operational.
Journaling and banking
“Sail south until 5-10 degrees then punch west”
Feb 16
Bottom of boat anti fouling sanded. Big gross day. Hands vibrating from 8 hours of palm sanding
Feb 17
-Finished boat bottom sanding.
-Rudder reconstruction.|
-Purchased epoxy resin and new 12v house batteries.
-Anchor light complete
-Boat taped off for bottom paint tomorrow.
Feb 18
-Finish preparing and sanding rudder
-First coat of black ablative paint rolled on by 11am
-Second coat almost done by 3pm. 1/4 of the boat left before running out of anti fouling paint! Another gallon here will be $250CAN! Dang. Will hold off a bit and see if any paint shows up.
-Two new 12v house batteries delivered right to the boat. $300/each
-Started fabricating 2 gauge wires between batteries.
Feb 19
Huge day. Tiny moments and goals
-Rudder back in with ropes holding it up on the winches. Stuffing box and seals installed.
-Steering mechanism re installed.
-Tyler, Ean, Skeeter parts run
-Battery cables built
-New sails mockups and technical drawing approved. That took 2 weeks to hear back! Dang.
-tidy tiny boat
Feb 20
Up at 5:45am. Cannot sleep.
Coffee and breaky.
-New 12 volt batteries installed.
-Faez from BC lends me a car and I get to an auto store for bondo hardener.
-Rudder is fibre glasses in. Then 6 layers of glass epoxied in.
Feb 21
8am
-Installed new stern cleat that’s been missing since purchasing boat.
-Sand and last coat of epoxy resin on rudder shoe.
-Paint on black anti fouling (found a litre of dried up older stuff from a guy that gave it to me. Should work fine for the last little section of the boat.
-Trip to town to pick up deliveries from Debbie. (1.5 gallons of kiwigrip, 2 115litre water bladders, water fill deck fitting.
-Zip disc into starboard side water tank.
Not going to be easy as there baffles built into the tanks for
“I guess this has strung me far past where I’ve been before”
Feb 22
All get out windy!
-Grinding, zipping, and more grinding on stainless water tanks. Not easy
-Prepped both water tanks and ready to install water bladders.
Dinner and board games with Tyler, Ean, and Chris from California
Feb 23
1 month (28 days) since leaving Sylvan Lake. For perspective, that could be the same amount of time it should take to sail to French Polynesia from Mexico. 😑
-Plumbing for water tanks located. Tanks filled a bit to test. Appear to be working!
-Wood couches put back together and boat tidy.
-Clean, tidy, journal.
Cervesas
Feb 24
Working by 7.
-Start rigging the boat for departure. Running back stays, traveller installed, new mainsheet and blocks installed, main sail with battens lifted. Small hole in Genoa repaired, sheets ready for action.
-Pulled out the Snuggler dingy to inspect. Rebuilt floor and took it for a row with my new wood oars from O’Sean.
-Kicker engine fueled up and starts with some persuasion. Should have cleaned carb again but will out on the water.
-Bottom paint complete since Josue moved the stilts below.
Bottom paint completely done.
-Sprayed down and washed black canvas for sail cover, dodger, and sun shades.
Shower, guitar, spaghetti.
9:30pm.
Feb 25
-Genoa lifted and furrled away.
-Rigged
-Diesel, gasoline, propane, water. Laundry.
Checked out with the port captain! He was SUPER friendly and was working on his English. It seemed like the first time he had ever checked a boat out? I had to hand write what my intentions were on the sea and he stamped it with the port authority stamp. Here we go.
-Pressure wash topside and hull.
Started getting everything back in order on Struggy
Feb 26
6am start.
High stress busy day with launch tomorrow.
-Changed engine impeller. Heaps of water flowing out the rear. Started right up.
-Lent a hand to Tyler and Ean prepping their new mast lift next week.
-Spent the day organizing all the stuff outside in the “GARAGE”. Ive been collecting stuff for the month in case I need it. Now is the time to get rid of everything that wont continue on with us. Its funny how in a dustbowl boat yard, you collect anything that might be of use. Nothing is throw away (for me at least) until the very end. Must be the Thurston in me coming out.
The yards lift for launching smaller boats like mine require us to remove the forestay for them to fit over us! Boatyard staff ask for me to remove my forestay to prep for launch in the morning. I agree with some hesitation and concern and lash 2 of my halyards to the front so the mast doesn’t come down... looking back this was a very poor decision and wont ever happen again. My forestay does not come off for any reason.
8pm
I’m at the common area sharing some bbq fish with Faez from Canada and RagaMuffin when a huge gust of wind starts rolling down the mountains into the boatyard. Dinner is just being served when I look down towards Struggle and see a horrifying site. My genoa sail has unfurled and is starting to fly around in the air. I get back on deck and the winds have ciompletely lifted my unhooked Genoa and Forestay in the air and unfurled the sail completely! This is very bad news especially in a board yard with 30knot gusts. The boat and mast are rocking back and forth in the stilt cradle. its complete chaos!
I receive a really bad rope burn from trying to control the lines. 4-5 of my boat mates struggle to control the forestay flying around. We lash a line around it up on deck and manually roll the sail up. I climb the mast while it sways back and forth in a frightening burst of insae blowing. I lash the whole sail and furler to the mast for the night because nothing can be done now.
My launch tomorrow at 8am is completely out of the question.
Feb 27
Worst day of the trip so far by far.
Shitting and puking entire day. Must have got the classic Mexican bug, heat stroke, or a major stressful situation. Can’t get out of bed to inspect forestay until 4pm.
“I promise when I fall, I’ll be graceful”
Grab enough energy to climb the mast, lash a backup line around the forestay and roller furler and lower it down onto the ground. These task are proving difficult alone. I lay it out and inspect the damage. Could be much worse but I do have damage to both the furler and forestay.. Dang
Jan 28 Saturday
Up all night. Mosquitoes and hot air. Stomach and bowels are gnarly and brain is spinning even worse.
6am coffee and granola bar.
-Finally get the laundry from Thursday folded and put away. Put all the clean cushion covers me and Ma made in 2024 back on. They haven’t been washed since I installed them last years Novemeber. They held up great and look brand new. Washed the towels, carpets, and all clothing for the journey ahead as well.
-Put away the grocery’s that were missed before the sail mishap on Thursday.
8am
-Start on furler reconstruction. It looks like 2 of the 8 foot sections have twisted apart but are only slightly bent. I reshape them and the remake the inner sleeves. My friend Ean locates some set screws for the furler. Thank goodness for Ian and Tyler on Memento Mori.
-Lift furler and forestay. Let me document how difficult this is to do and set alone?
-Sew sails
-Multiple times up and down the mast getting the rig and forestay correct. Learned a lot about how roller furlers actually work. I guess you don’t know much about them when you race on a 22’ sailboat with hank on headsails in Alberta, Canada. It’s only fair.
-Found a really nasty rip in the Genoa slide near the bottom. Take the 2 hours to add a sleeve to the rope by hand sewing.
-Dinner and inside cleaning.
Help Tyler and Ean re wire their new mast which has just recently been painted and sits on saw horses besides there boat.
Bed. 10pm
March 1
Inside cleaned up and dishes.
Feel rough but optimistic.
This feeling gave way mid day to the start of excitement and joy. Fist time in probably forever since last trip. I’ve been more stressed about this upcoming jounrey all summer until now.
I think last night was due to being up all night with night terrors and dreams of old friends and loved ones.
All of today was spent returning favours and tools, organizing lockers, and finding a place for everything I have acquired here along the way. So many helpful people around the boatyard lending ideas and techniques from past experience.
Set up my main bow anchor and off to bed in heavy winds. Feels so powerful right now.
Having sails on the boat furled up while on stilts in a boatyard is horrible. It’s absolutely terrifying. I’d rather be out an anchor right now compared to being jostled around on these stilts. I will launch tomorrow and be out of here.
These last few days really have been a cheap shave in reality. An easy lesson on what can happen if Mother Nature flips her middle toe at you.
Night of launching. 11pm.
I put together an email to the Rigging Shoppe in Toronto Canada. Since I did notice a small bend ikn the forestay, I will order a completely new Forestay and replace it on the water when Kirk and Ian arrive March 16 or if its not ready it will have to come down with Joshua on Mach 25th.
“The systems are in place, only problem is there are 100 systems”
-BT
March 2
6am
Best sleep since driving down here by far. Wasn’t expecting that.
Coffee and tidy up for splash inside.
I even remembered to put the plug in thanks to Billy H.
Well here’s the good news! After a 3,300 kilometres drive down to Mexico from Canada and 30 long dusty days in the boatyard. The tiny sailing vessel Struggler did not tip over on land. Now it’s time to test her water wings in the big lake.
In the water and off by 9am.
-New impeller and Heaps of water going through the engine but won’t cool back down when its in nuetrel. It doesn’t overheat while running though. Talk to Chris and he says diesels run at a constant temp. You can shut it down at temp?
-Depth sounder is not working. Just shows --
-I spend the next 2 hours tuning the standing rigging. I borrow a tension gauge from Quinn on O’Sean and get the forestay and backstay set to 15% breaking strength and the rest of the 8 shrouds to 12% breaking strength.
12:15 headsail up!!!! I’ll sail out of this bay the same way I sailed in. With the engine off.
See you in the next chapter where we start our sail to New Zealand!
“You gotta jump in to go swimmin”
