We bought our current boat 7 years before we retired. We had figured on putting it on the hard for a 3-5 year refurbishment. We had it on the hard for about 6 years. Then in the water working and doing shakedowns. We retired and spent 6 months (wintering) in the Bahamas working out more systems, making sure they were the way we wanted. Then sailed up to the Chesapeake adding a hard dodger and doing yearly maintenance. Last fall down to the VI's and then now Antigua. If took me a full year to get some systems sorted out; the EMON from Ample power being one as my wiring for the new systems needed some reconfiguring for the EMON to work, changing the config of some of the water pumps and rerouting some of the plumbing. I still have to redo the head plumbing in the aft head as an issue just recently cropped up.

Our boat was 30 years old when we bought it and you can see on the blog and website what all we did. Some say we gutted her (not to far off), and refubished her from top down, inside out. Our saying is we don't have a new boat; it's better than a new boat. Good luck, the adventure begins.

Fair Winds