Category: Sava

Four Years Living on a Sailboat

This may be hard to believe, even to us, but we are commemorating four years living on a sailboat. On December 5th, 2018, Brian, Domino and I moved onboard Sava in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and now we are in French Polynesia, on the same boat!

Four years ago Sava sailboat Florida
Sava when we first saw her in Florida. She’s come a long way

High Highs and Low Lows

We’ve had some high highs and low lows living on a sailboat. I’ve learned that in nature everything is more extreme. I have felt more awe and joy on the ocean and at anchor than I ever imagined, mostly when interacting with wildlife.

This year alone we experienced noteworthy nature shows. One of the most memorable was being surrounded by hundreds of eagle rays leaping out of the water in Las Perlas, Panama.

One of the highlights of our life on Sava: watching eagle rays leap out of the water all around us in Las Perlas
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Getting Sava Fixed

A trans-Pacific 30 day passage does a lot to a sailboat. Our time in the yard in Tahiti isn’t over! While resolving the known issues, we’ve found more problems with our twenty two year old boat. From sails and rigging to appliances, we’re getting Sava fixed so we can return to the water.

The Reasons We Hauled Out

Sava had water coming in through the stuffing box due to a vibrating engine. So we had to replace the engine mount and stuffing box and realign the prop shaft. We also needed to dry out and rebuild the rudder. After two weeks, we’re making progress on these jobs.

The engine mount is rebuilt and working. The prop shaft was straightened and realigned and is now installed!

Propellor on sailboat Sava
The propellor is improved and reinstalled

The rudder is dried out, refilled with fresh epoxy, and fitted with new rudder shafts. We know everything fits properly and will be reinstalled next week.

rudder on Sava
The rudder was rebuilt, refilled, and coated.
Rudder shaft being fitted
Ensuring the rudder shaft fits!

Sava has one coat of bottom paint and is waiting until just before she is ready to splash for the final coats.

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In The Yard in Tahiti

Sava is out of the water and in the yard in Tahiti. We’ve been having some issues the last few months and sailed to Tahiti a week ago to try to get stuff fixed. It’s taking longer than we thought but it’s okay because Sava’s getting better and we’re in paradise!

Sava in the yard in Tahiti
The ladder we have to climb to get onto Sava

Why We’re In The Yard in Tahiti

Initially, we hauled out to replace the stuffing box, which is where the prop shaft enters the boat. The stuffing box has been leaking seawater into the engine bilge whenever the prop moves, basically whenever the boat was moving. The leak began during our Pacific passage, and got worse the last couple months.

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