One of the known issues, when I purchased Pomaika’i, was a few soft spots in the deck. The bow area that supports the windlass, an electrical winch that raises and lowers the anchor chain, was the worst area on the deck. When you used the winch the deck would bounce so much the windlass just turned into a blur of motion. Definitely not something I could rely on...
Keeping track of and prioritizing the projects on the Pomaika’i is almost a full-time job. To manage this and keep me on track I’d initially planned on using index cards to track projects and costs. But this quickly became unmanageable. I do a lot of my brainstorming while I’m at my day job and wouldn’t have the index cards with me when I...
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted on the blog. While I’m doing the refit I’ve decided mostly to post when I’ve completed a section or project. I work full time so have limited hours per day during the week and the weekends to work on projects so they can take awhile to see through to completion. But I am working every day, especially...
I dodged a bullet this week as the cold front moved through the Artic Wastes of Northern Florida. Tuesday night was excessively cold, dipping into the 20’s overnight, so I was running the space heater at full volume all night. Around 5 am on Wednesday morning the old power cord, and shore power connection point on the boat gave out and melted. Waking up to a...
With the cold front moving in over the weekend I had a bunch of downtime, which I normally like to fill by making plans and strategizing. I stumbled upon an app called InstaCart which does grocery shopping and delivery for you (making money on product mark up and delivery fees). Since I don’t have a car I’ll probably use this type of service for to do the...
2017 was a challenging year. Between having a trawler crash into my previous boat, dealing with insurance payout delays, shopping for a new boat, getting it moved to Jacksonville and dodging a hurricane or two I was stretched financially and spent the last three months focusing on rebuilding my cash reserves. This boat project is being done on a cash available basis...
I’ve been working the last few months on remodeling the aft cabin on the Pomaika’i. This will be my primary living space, so I wanted it free of the old boat smell and easy to keep clean. To accomplish this, I tore out all the old liner, faired the inside of the hull, and started to paint. I figured this would be a good time to rebed the portlights in the...
The first step in getting Pomaika’i to a livable condition is sealing up all the leaks and making it watertight. The most obvious was the leak where the mast passes through the deck. Pomaika’i has a keel stepped mast, meaning that the mast passes through a hole in the deck and sets directly on the keep at the bottom of the boat. I prefer this method...
I sailed Pomaika’i from Fort Myers to Jacksonville, FL where I live on her. While this trip was filled with challenges, it was one of my most adventurous outings. There were a lot of firsts for me on this voyage. First time sailing overnight, and on top of that solo sailing at nightFirst time offshore on my boat, and solo.First time on the west coast of Florida...
What a stressful couple of weeks. Both the boat and I pulled through Hurricane Irma without issue, but I used up a whole bottle of Tums. Since I’ve become a boat owner in Florida, I get the NOAA hurricane reports sent to my Facebook feed. I watched Irma, with concern, as it moved from the open Atlantic towards the Caribbean. Unfortunately for me, my hands were...