SAILING ISLAND ZEPHYR

After a year and a half of boat projects, we finally took Zephyr out for a shakedown cruise! We were a bit nervous since we have tackled so many projects since the last time we took Zephyr out. The refit has included some very challenging times, where I wasn’t sure how we were going to get to the other side. I ended up taking on quite a bit of work myself, and coordinating with contractors and boat yards for the rest. I’m grateful for the help of friends along the way. Pell was an enormous help in replacing the water and holding tanks. My welder Steve was a huge help in letting me use his shop in addition to the extensive metalwork he did for the arch and fuel tank. The refit isn’t done yet, since we’re going to take care of chainplate replacement and a few other things, but we were just glad to start using Zephyr again. We tackled some huge projects, then one thing led to another and we’ve overhauled much of the boat. By the end of this year, we will have gone even further. Here are some highlights of what we’ve tackled over the last year and a half:

• New water, fuel, and holding tanks and all associated plumbing (fill hoses, vent hoses, y valves, etc.
• New arch for solar, radar, wind generator, davits, and paddleboard storage
• New cabin sole
• Installed bow thruster
• Soda blasted bottom, new barrier coat and bottom paint
• New, more efficient fixed prop (Campbell’s sailor prop)
• New batteries – LiFEPO4 house bank, starter battery and new forward bank for bow thruster + windlass
• New inverter charger
• New high output alternator and regulator
• New energy monitoring system
• Added solar (wind generator coming on soon)
• Built gimballing electric galley
• Re-surfaced countertops
• All new galley faucets and installed saltwater foot pump
• Varnished wood in galley and forward cabin
• Painted walls in forward cabin and replaced lighting
• Overhauled engine: adjusted valves, new heat exchanger and elbow, new oil cooler and freshwater pump, new hoses, new thermostat
• New bilge pumps, macerator
• New raw water strainer
• Sewed a new bimini

And that’s just what I can think of off of the top of my head. We did a bunch more work when we bought the boat too, before we started this major refit. We certainly know a lot more about the boat, which makes it a lot easier to troubleshoot when there are issues. I’ll post detailed photos of the interior and explain more of the details of the refit later this summer when we’re done with all the major updates inside.

Our shakedown cruise was a simple 3 day trip, from Little Creek to Waterside in downtown Norfolk, then to Hampton Town Docks and finally back to Little Creek. Conditions were mild the first couple of days, but the third day was gusting to 30 knots and we were at hull speed on a beam reach with just the staysail and half the main up. Zephyr performed well and we’re confident that we’re ready for our next trip which is up to a boatyard up the bay to have the chainplates replaced.