A cruising sailboat is more than just a boat.  She is our home, our utility companies, our transportation, and our major play toy.  Over the two years we have shared our lives with our Shearwater II, systems have evolved, technology has improved (or at least changed), and we have updated her systems.

The utilities consist of Electric Power, Communications, Water Supply and Waste Disposal. 

Only the electrical power systems have undergone several generations of modifications.  The Balmar regulators developed a pulsing that we eventually found was related to the temperature sensors.  In the meantime, we replaced them with Ample Power regulators, but have since switched back.  The biggest change was the replacement of the  Balmar alternators with  Zena welding generators.  Less expensive, more reliable and warranted for three years against anything that can cause it to fail.  The Zena units have the same 200 amp rating as the Balmar they replaced but each produces an actual 150 amps when charging compared to the 100 amps maximum produced by the Balmar. 

Communications has undergone several changes.  Our original choice for offshore e/mail, Ocean 2000, proved to be unsatisfactory.  After several months of banging our heads, we purchased an Iridium handset and have found both the voice and data satisfactory.  Although the data is slow and fairly expensive (about $1/minute or $5 for a daily e/mail update), Iridium customer service, provided by Stratus, is patient, capable and has gotten us going several times.

We had one false start on making water with a PUR 40 water maker.  After our first ocean crossing, we removed it and replaced it with a SK 150.  The new unit works flawlessly.

It makes between five and six gallons per hour with a near silent tapping noise that is inaudible in all but the aft cabin directly above the unit.  Other than routine oil changes, it has required no maintenance.

The unit makes ample water for us, our charter guests, and our washer/dryer if we are careful about using only what we need.

We keep the pre-filters are under a towel to keep them out of the light and reduce the growth of unwanted green friends. 

Rigging

Sails are the main engines of a cruising sailboat such as the Shearwater.  We can travel several hundred miles using the power of our twin 27 horse power Yanmar Diesel engines at between 5 and 6 knots.  We traveled nearly 8,000 miles using mostly sail power when crossing the North Atlantic Ocean from Cape Town.

Using our sails in a good wind, we can often travel in excess of 10 knots.  Somewhere around 12 knots, I chicken out and reduce the amount of sail to reduce the load on the boat's rigging - those pieces of string, wire and pipe that hold the sails where we want them. 

Unfortunately, slowing down a sailboat isn't like slowing down a car.  To see more, visit Rigging and Reefing.

Maintenance

Every machine requires maintenance - a boat is no exception.  Sometimes routine maintenance uncovers a serious problem before it happens.  Our yearly task on changing the zincs that protect the engine from corrosion turned into a serious repair task when we

that caused both Propeller Shafts to fail. 

After only 4,000 hours, both of the Yanmar  3GM engines failed with broken pistons and other internal damage.