Drift Away: Drift Away's New Hat

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Drift Away's New Hat

Back in the olden days of yore, when I was a kid in the 1950s, my mom liked buying a new hat. That was back in the days when people dressed up to go out to dinner, or to church, or even shopping. Mom would put on her new hat, white gloves, pretty dress, and drag me off to downtown Troy NY to shop for the day. We took the bus because she didn't drive. But I digress.

Our old lady boat, Drift Away's new hat.

It's being held on temporarily with zip ties. I'll need to mount the new radar raydome up there and I'll need to fold the bimini back to get to it. Once that's done, I'll lace it on proper and nautical-like.

I have no idea what that forward antenna is for just outside the bimini frame. Maybe for the Magnavox Satellite Navigator that I tossed, or maybe the SSB, whatever. My TV antenna now sits atop it nicely.

Today we fiberglass over the teak decks! YAY! We'll miss the nice look of teak, but won't miss the leaks, and once the leaks stop I can start replacing the water damaged paneling down below. Or, we can go as far south as Guatemala where I hear excellent craftsmen work for only $5 a day, and we can replace both the paneling and the teak decks.

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Drift Away Specs

Drift Away is a 1980 Cheoy Lee 46' LRC (long range cruiser). She has twin 120 HP Ford Lehman diesels, 15 kw and 7.5 kw generators, and carries 800 gallons of fuel and 400 gallons of water. She cruises at 8 knots and has a top speed of 9.5 knots, plenty fast enough for this old sailor.

She is somewhat unique in that the inside helm staion is on the main level, along with the galley and saloon. There is also a helm on the flybridge. The lower level has three staterooms, each with a full head, plus the engine room.

Drift Away sat on the hard for many years before we bought it from an estate. She has suffered considerably from neglect, but we are amazed at all the things that work, like the two Ford Lehmans, and the Naiad stabilizers. There was and is much work to do, but we will return her to ship shape condition. Eventually. As long as it doesn't interfere with having fun.