Spent Saturday morning working on the exterior teak on the sailboat Palani. It was forecast to be a sweltering day, so I started at 5 am. The teak was originally varnished but allowed to go bad over the last few years. The varnish (what little bit that was left) was spotty and coming off. I removed most of it on previous weekends with a putty knife. I don’t...
I’ve decided to go through the boat one section at a time and document the existing condition. This will allow me to find all the hidden storage areas, build an inventory of what’s on the boat (tossing anything not needed) and get an overall game plan on what to do. So today I went through the V-Berth (forward cabin) pulled everything out. The main...
Sailing Vessel Palani is hull number 18 in the Cabot 36 series. She was manufactured in Canada in 1978. She is rigged as a cutter; this means she has three sails. The main sail, a large genoa located at the bow and then a smaller jib that is between the main and genoa. She is a shoal draft full keel boat. I was looking specifically for this type of hull design as...
After everything that had happened the day before Friday started out with a wonderful sunrise on the St Johns. Standing on the deck of my new boat watching the sun come up over a river that’s smooth as glass was energizing and filled me with a sense of “right”. Being from the West Coast I’m always in awe of the size and breadth of rivers in the North Florida area. St...
Well, the first day of boat ownership was a challenge. A perfect storm of poor planning on my part, inexperience – again on my part and mechanical issues. Palani is Hawai’ian for “FreeMan” and the sailboat will provide a means of leaving the gilded cage of society. Poor Planning As I hadn’t really expected to find a boat this early in my search I...