The World Cruise of Veleda IV
Background to the cruise - Aubrey Millard
We have gone through many soul-searchings in the process so far. The first was the boat. Would Veleda be suitable? We like her and feel comfortable and safe in her. She has taken us safely through some horrendous storms. We sailed her up to Thunder Bay two years ago and felt quite comfortable (no cabin fever). She has all the amenities we need and is small enough to be handled easily by the two of us, and can be single-handed as well. We thought a few thousand dollars would put her in good shape for extended cruising. So we had her surveyed for recommendations for upgrades for such a trip. The few thousand dollars was rapidly expanded to over half her purchase price! GULP! Should we buy another boat with the extended cruising capabilities built in? - or pay the money to upgrade Veleda? We decided to upgrade her
Preparing the boat
In agonizing through this situation, we had a shift of our mental set. It was no longer "Can we get our money out of her when we sell?"; but, "This is our home, our safety, our dream." So we started last winter with a soda blasting of the hull to reveal old osmotic blistering. It had been repaired and was stable, so in the spring after first launch we filled in the blisters with epoxy putty, the put two coats of epoxy primer on the three coats of Woolsey bottom paint for salt water use applied. The first coat of bottom paint was red, and the next two were blue. Thus if I see any red on my bottom, it is time to touch it up.
The engine! She had a good Yanmar 2QM15 (15 horsepower) diesel, but it was twenty years old, had raw water cooling, and had already spent a year or two in the Caribbean with her previous owners. So we put in a new Yanmar 3GM30 (30 horsepower) which has a heat exchanger, far more suitable for salt water. It was installed by E&C marine in the middle of the winter. Charles Gallimore also agreed to set up my old engine in his shop to run it up for any interested buyer. He sold it for me within a month. He came down the week after it was launched and set up the alternator and took me out for her first sea trial. Everything went well. It felt like a power boat. We had a separate larger through hull opening for the designated water supply, as previously the water intake was for both the engine and the galley sink. We had a backhanded compliment about VELEDA when he complained while drilling the through hull opening, that the fibreglass in the hull was so thick! This is one of the reasons I have a confidence in the Ontario 32.
Other upgrades included a new electrical system. We put in four deep cycle golf cart batteries that nicely fit under the cabin sole on top of the keel bolts and have a separate engine start car battery. We upgraded to a 100 amp alternator with a "smart" regulator to permit the batteries to be more rapidly and fully charged. We also installed a 30 amp marine charger as we have never been happy with the standard car battery charger system. We put in a Link 10 Monitor to enable us to keep track of our power usage. Judy has done a tremendous job in rewiring almost the entire boat with marine grade wire as opposed to the household wire originally used. I'm glad she can squeeze into those cockpit lockers and other hard to get at places.
The final electrical addition was that of an alternate power source. We investigated the pros and cons of solar versus wind generators, and even considered water generators and simply carrying a Honda gasoline generator on board. Our decision was to go with the wind. We were impressed with the material we saw on a wind marine generator and are presently installing it. We have been told it does not make much noise or vibration. We have yet to try it out.
After having gone to Newfoundland last summer, I was on a boat with a full enclosure and realized how advantageous it was. As Judy is sensitive to the cold, we decided to go for the luxury of a full enclosure made by Genco. The price was reasonable, well under $3000.00. We also decided to go with mast steps, the solid triangular kind to give us firm footing when aloft.
Other repairs and upgrades include repairs to our trilight, new rail mounted port and starboard steaming lights, replacing stanchion bases, a newer second hand genoa, new name letters, a used car stereo with a ten disc CD cartridge, a new cable for our old Benmar self steering mechanism, additional insulation around our refrigerator, new see-through deck plates for our fresh water tanks, and many other minor repairs and upgrades. I have kept close track of the costs, but I am afraid to add them up! However, I will continue to monitor our expenses as we get under way and as we are travelling to various parts of the world. After all, it is our home, our safety and comfort, our dream, our retirement. Incidentally, another major decision was what to do with our house. We sold it! This has allowed us to afford the repairs and upgrades necessary to embark on such an adventure. It has also relieved us from the worries and responsibilities of renting the house out while we are away. At present (May and June) we are living with Judy's parents until we move on board VELEDA the end of June, then we are off on July 3.
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