I borrowed the idea of this “boat systems report card” from another site (svfelicity.com) after referencing it numerous times throughout our refit. It’s a quick, efficient way to discuss what’s working and not working. I will add comments to this page at various stages in my travels over the next few years essentially creating a report card for each major piece of gear I purchased and installed.

Anchoring – My anchoring system plays a major role in my “self-insurance” tactic. I carry a 44lb Bruce, 35lb CQR, and Fortress FX-26 for our anchors. The primary Bruce has 250' 5/16” chain. I haven't made up the secondary rode yet, but carry 150' of spare 5/16” chain in the bilge at midships along with several 100'+ lengths of 1/2" and 5/8" 3 strand. To manage this ground tackle I splurged on a Lighthouse 1501, a major expense, so it better live up to our expectations.


 

**update 7/06** I have since redone the rodes so that the primary has 150’ of 5/16” chain + 195’ of 5/8” 3-strand nylon. The secondary has 50’ of 5/16” chain + 150’ of ½” 3-strand nylon. 200’ of spare chain is carried in the bilge. I haven’t dragged and feel very comfortable in most all anchoring conditions. The Lighthouse kicks ass but needs frequent shining (I use vinegar and baking soda) to keep it looking good.

Cushions - I replaced all the cushions on the boat. I had new foam cut and covered with ultra-suede for the interior. I replaced the V-berth cushions with a custom Handcraft Mattress system III and custom sheets. In the cockpit, I had custom cushions cut from EvaDry foam and covered in sunbrella fabric.

Dinghy – My dinghy is a Caribe L-9 (light model) which is a hypalon RIB weighing in around 115 lbs. I bought this at the Annapolis show and carried it home myself to avoid both tax and shipping charges. I'm powering it with a Nissan 4 stroke 8HP. The dinghy will be stored on the foredeck.

**update 12/05** already had to pull out the transom drain and rebed it after finding water sloshing inside the hull. Draining it in this photo. Hopefully this isn't idicative of Caribe quality. We haven't even left home yet!

**update 7/06** have to say that I wish we had a 15hp engine. Why? It’d be more fun. I can plane, but only with two people. Sometimes I can’t plane with a heavy load of laundry. The 8hp is only JUST enough.

Dodger – I definently splurged on the dodger deciding to go with a Wavestopper Hard Top hard top and Barrett Bonded Windows. Custom Canvas of Charleston did the fitting and build for me. I chose the hard top for numerous reasons but mainly for the fact that I’ve never met, nor heard of, anyone who regretted having a hard dodger aboard their boat. In fact, those with hard dodgers usually declare it one of their most useful, satisfying pieces of equipment. It provides numerous places for handrail installation and it gives us a sturdy mount for some solar panels later down the road. Even little things like putting the sailcover on the mizzen is simpler since you can sit on it!

**update 7/06** still love the hard dodger and we get tons of compliments on it. Used it to mount speakers and soon, another antenna (wifi). It’s just really nice to have.

Electrical – Dosia is powered by a total of 8 Trojan t-105 6V batteries in custom boxes. Six of these are for the house bank giving us around 660 amp hours. The other two are in series as a starting battery. The reason for this setup is that I’ll probably repower the boat sometime in the next few years. In conjunction with a repower I’ll up the charging alternator from the current Balmar 6 Series 150 amp to something more powerful that can quickly charge an 880 AH bank. Then I can just switch those last two Trojans into the house bank and add one more battery for starting. I just didn’t have time to complete a dual alternator setup or to have a custom pulley machined for a large single alternator so I set it up for future expansion. A Balmar 612 regulator, Link 2000, and Heart Interface Freedom 20 charger/inverter, separate Echo charge round out the major aspects of the electrical system.

**update 7/06** charging system is pretty good. Would be nice to have a bigger alternator but with my engine and the stock pulley this is as much as I feel comfortable installing. Have changed the belt once. Batteries will power the boat with me on it for 2-2.5 days. Without me, it’ll last almost 5 days. Want to look into solar and/or wind but it’s just not necessary yet.

Electronics – I carry the following electronics aboard Dosia:

- Raymarine C80 Chartplotter/Radar display

**update 10/06** so far, I am very happy with this unit and the Navionics gold charts it takes.

- Raymarine 2kw Radome

- Raymarine ST-60 depth (one in cockpit, one below…each

with own xducer)

- Raymarine ST6001 Linear drive autopilot with the rate gyro

option

- Garmin 276C GPS

**update 7/06** already had to send this unit back for repair. Cable and place where cable connects to back corroded away, pin broke, and unit would no longer charge. This was obviously due to the location of the mount…at the helm on an Edson arm, but I still thought it should have lasted longer than a couple of months. Will have to remount elsewhere

- Icom 802 SSB with AT140 tuner

- SCS Pactor Modem

- Standard Horizon Spectrum VHF

- Multiple SH and Icom handheld VHF’s

- Toshiba Laptops

**update 10/06** With the cooling fans on the bottoms of these things, you have to watch carefully where it sits, making sure it gets adequate airflow at all times. I had to completely take one of the laptops apart to replace a burnt out fan already.

- Nakamichi AM/FM/CD player

Engine – I'm sticking with the original Westerbeke W40 engine for now. I carry a full assortment of spares including an extra alternator and water pump. The paragon transmission is already giving me some trouble with slippage, but I really haven’t devoted enough time fixing it to consider replacing it. I replaced the old stuffing box with a PSS dripless shaft seal and I installed a new raw water filter (Groco) and fuel filter (Racor). I had the old alternator rebuilt and marinized for a spare and replaced it with a Balmar 6 series 150 amp model. I also soundproofed the engine room to the best of our ability with the SPM sound tiles from Sailor Solutions and Silent Running sound dampening paint.

Galley – I replaced the old CNG stove with a new Force Ten 3 Burner propane model. The new LPG tank is mounted on the aft cockpit coaming to avoid an LPG locker install. A new Adler Barbour Super Coldmachine and large evaporator make up our refigeration system. I may upgrade to the water cooling option if needed later. There is a freshwater foot pump at the galley sink.

Head – I tore out the old Lectrasan and installed a new Lavac toilet. This is supposed to be the simplest, “least likely to break” toilet out there so it BETTER live up to it’s expectations. All plumbing lines were replaced with Trident sanitation hose and whale diverter valves. The head sink, floor drain, and shower drain all lead to a new Rule shower sump. My new 19 gallon custom holding tank was made by All-rite to our exact specs and fits perfectly in the space previously occupied by the Lectrasan with space leftover for storage on top. A new sewage deck fitting was added for pumpout although I can pump the tank myself at sea.

**update 10/06** I didn't mention it above but one of the things I've truly grown to love about the 365 is the separate shower stall. I will NEVER own a boat that doesn't have one of these things!

Paint – During Dosia’s renovation I painted the entire deck including all nonskid surfaces with Interlux’s two part poly called Perfection. I did the nonskid sections of the deck using their product called Intergrip. It became obvious this stuff was not coarse enough to provide adequate protection with a wet deck and I ended up repainting the side decks and foredeck using coarse grained pumice. I’ve been extremely happy with the results. I left the cabin top alone for now.

**update 11/06** I wish I would have made the decks ever coarser. At the time, I was worried about the deck hurting my knees if I was up there doing work. Now that I'm out cruising I think it was dumb. I'm NEVER on my knees on deck unless it's one of those extra special nights!

Plumbing – I completely redid the plumbing on the boat. I started by cutting out the forward 50 gallon water tank for conversion to storage. I cut the tops off both 50 gallon settee tanks, lined them with high density foam flooring I found at Lowes, and placed flex tanks from Plastimo inside each. My main freshwater pump is a Shurflo 3.3 GPM Aquaking. For my deck washdown I chose the flush mounted deck fitting originally produced by New Found Metals, now distributed by Jabsco. This is fed by a Shurflo Blaster pump with a diverter valve to choose either fresh or saltwater rinse. The deck fitting I installed along the side deck to allow easy reach to both the foredeck and the cockpit. All interior faucets were replaced with Price Pfister fittings. The cockpit shower is a SSI Plastics Ultimate Cockpit Stowaway shower. This shower required the smallest cutout we could find.

**update 7/06** I can’t ever get the Blaster/flush mount plug to prime the pump. I think it always get airlocked. Will have to examine this installation…maybe that’s the problem. To this day, we haven't touched the cockpit shower.

Rigging – Every piece of rigging on Dosia was replaced including all chainplates (Schaefer). I used swaged rigging simply because it was readily available to me, quick, and inexpensive. Next time, when I don’t have such easy access to a rigging shop, I’ll probably use sta-loc or norseman fittings. My furler is a Schaefer 2100 series. Most of the running rigging is New England Endura braid with some of their T-900 and Sta-set X mixed in. The traveler system I added is Harken with their track risers to clear the companionway cover. I also used a small Harken traveller car on a short length of BB track to create and easily adjustable outhaul system. Almost every winch was replaced with new Lewmar winches including the new 44ST’s in the cockpit. I laid down new genoa track (Schaefer T track) lengthening it 4-5 ft on each side from the original layout.

Safety – Safety items include an ACR Globalfix Epirb, numerous SOS lifejackets both manual and automatic with and without harness, jacklines and a horseshoe buoy on the sternrail. I added numerous harness attachment points throughout the boat. My first aid kit is the Trans Ocean Pack from First Aid Pak.

Sails – UK Sails in Charleston made a new main, mizzen, and 130 genoa for me. So far I'm extremely happy with them. I went with the 2+2 batten setup on the main with 2 reefing points figuring that if it’s blowing hard enough to have three reefs we’ll just drop the main and fly the mizzen and furled up genoa to balance the boat. I will have a new jib made soon which we’ll put on anytime a long beat into the wind is expected. Currently I don’t have any type of true storm sail setup which is worrisome. This is definently a priority and I’ll set one up as I sail the boat more and find the optimal solution. I have a new asymetrical spinnaker with an ATN sleeve from FX Sails.

**update 10/06** No problems here, but I just wanted to mentioned that I've yet to touch the spinnaker. It always seems that when the wind dies I need to (or want to) motor for electricity anyway. It could come in to use much more in the Pacific though.

Steering – I replaced the old Edson pedestal with a newer version and simplified the steering system. The old autopilot, a rotary drive system, involved the addition of a separate sheave, chain sprocket, and separate quadrant (in addition to the radial drive wheel). I removed all this junk and now use a Raymarine ST6001 Linear drive and Edson tiller arm mounted on the rudder shaft just above the radial drive wheel. The new Edson wheelbrake setup seems far superior to the old style. Windvane steering is a potential purchase for me, but I’ll see how the linear drive handles in different conditions and make that decision later.

Watermaker- I went with a Katadyn PowerSurvivor 40E simply because of it’s compact size and the price I could get it for. It doesn’t produce as much water as quickly as I'd like, but with it low power usage and our relatively large battery bank, I can run it for hours on end with no problem.

**update 7/06** it would definitely be nice to have a faster watermaker. This one is okay because of it’s size but IT IS SLOW. With a larger unit I could make multi gallons when I am charging the batteries anyway. Maybe next time!