Our Thoughts On Steel So Far

Anchored in Rodney Bay St Lucia

It was nine years ago that Sim and I jumped on that plane and flew out to Antigua to start our cruising life on Alianna. She was a sorry sight and it took us a while to learn her ways.   I can’t believe it has been so long.   And now here we are four months on since moving aboard Wandering Star and we are still in the learning curve stage, the meets and greets as it were; becoming familiar with all her little idiosyncrasies, her creeks and groans, her smells and her ways.  All our senses are on constant high alert; what was that noise, is it a halyard too tight, or a water tank too full. Does the engine sound right, what’s that gurgling sound?  These are questions that will one day be as familiar as we are to each other.

So what have we learnt so far? 

Steel boats are  noisier than similar fiberglass boats, especially those with swim platforms. But we have got use to that now. Sailing, she seems to slice though the water. Noise echoes down the boat.  You have to trace it like wiring or plumping and work our where it is coming from.

We keep tabs on any rusty spots but at the moment these don't seem too bad. 

She sails pretty well; any inadequacies are on our part – not hers.

We have some  aluminum paint blistering but this is cosmetic and not structural and we will deal with small areas at a time.

All in all we feel quietly comfortable in our steel boat.  She is strong and sturdy.

Wandering Star

In the mean time while we waited on weather in St Lucia to continue our journey south we tackled some non invasive jobs on the boat.  Sim has repaired leaks in our dinghy by a new method that I read about awhile ago on the internet, I forget where I apologize.  But it goes like this. Find your leak in the usual manner of running a soap brush over dinghy until you find air leak (which will bubble).  Clean area and cut a small patch to just cover hole and then cut a larger patch. Sand these and the area to be patched lightly with 240 or so grit. Deflate dinghy slightly and apply smaller patch with super glue and hold it in place until it sticks.  Wait for an hour or so just to be sure.  Clean up any excess glue with acetone, inflate dinghy then apply second patch with a two part dinghy glue. Et voila. So far so good – the patch is holding and we didn’t have to wait 24 hours for it to cure. And while Sim was been tinkering on deck, checking rigging and cleaning stainless I have been making window covers to provide some shade below.

Newly repaired dinghy.

New window covers to keep it cool and shady below.