We purchased our newest Shearwater in December of 2007 after about three months of discussion and negotiation.  She had been sitting, neglected, in the water for a few years and was truly a sight only a sailor could love.  We quickly decided to wait until she had some new makeup before taking the first photos.  Here she is after new topsides and bottom paint and the beginning of her new look with modern forward facing hatches to catch every breeze at anchor.

We like to sail.  We generally anchor out rather than visiting marinas partly because it is cheaper, but more because anchoring brings us closer to the water.  One of our early projects was attaching an Anchor Bridle and replacing the old anchor chain with a new all chain rode.  Click here to see more about the near disaster we averted by doing this project before we went out far from home.

Once we have anchored, our thoughts turn to ---a hot shower---.  We restored the water system, cleaned out our tanks and their air vents and settled in for our first hot shower.  If this has you in suspense, see what is next. 

Sailing:  Having secured the anchoring and re-worked the plumbing, it is time to address the sailing.  Minor changes and some big plans are shown here and some repairs to the centerboard are also described.