sailing casita

Progress!

The mast is finally up! WooHoo!! We bought the boat in mid March, she was delivered to Portland in early April, went back into the water in early May (it took a month to get the bottom paint done), and now in mid June we finally have the mast up. We’re not quite ready to go sailing yet but at least she looks like a sailboat, not an odd (underpowered) powerboat.

Getting ready to step the mast.
Almost there…
Tada! Just in time too, that was the last of the blue sky before a storm blew in.

We are also pretty much done with the head refit and we are pretty happy with the results. Here are a few photos:

The old (leaky and stinky) marine head.
The new Airhead composting toilet.

We also installed a foot pump (the sink water was supplied by an electric pump under the galley sink) and put in white Formica on the counter, it looks much nicer than the 70s style fake wood pattern.

Circa 1979 wood grain Formica.
Much cleaner looking!

The veneer near on the cabin trunk (near the portlight) was damaged and the headliner was starting to fail so we used the white Formica in these areas too.

Damaged veneer (it was separating from the plywood layer) and headliner that was starting to fail (it was sagging and the trim had separated exposing the staples).
Half of the headliner is removed in this photo to allow access to some wiring.

The head is now a much brighter and more inviting space 🙂

And in case you are wondering, this is going to be our shower:

One gallon pressure sprayer: fill with water, heat on stove, pump up, and Voila – a hot shower!

by

Rowan

on

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2 responses to “Progress!”

  1. Mike Avatar
    Mike

    Looks like nice work!

    Although I have yet to try this, I read where a black pressure sprayer (or one painted black) left on deck in the sun, will heat the water up for a nice warm shower.

    Mike

    Reply
    1. Rowan Avatar
      Rowan

      We also have a plastic solar shower (the type used for camping) but I always find those pretty awkward to deal with so I was thinking of sewing some sort of removable black jacket for the pressure sprayer to take advantage of solar heating. Neoprene maybe? Painting it black would be simpler but I don’t know if paint would adhere well to the stainless or stand up to heating on the stove.

      Rowan

      Reply

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Welcome!

We are Devon & Rowan and this site is about our life aboard our sailboat, how we got here, and where we hope to go in the future…

We started our boating life in the Portland Oregon area with an Ericson Independence 31 before moving to the SF Bay area. In 2013 we purchased and moved aboard Casita, our Hans Christian 33. In October 2024 we finally cast off the dock lines and headed south. We are currently cruising Mexico with plans to do a Pacific crossing.

We aren’t retired and we aren’t wealthy so we will cruise until we run low on funds or low on fun and then look at our options. Please join us for this next phase of our adventures together.

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