In between, and also to facilitate, boat work MONGO has been charging all over San Diego. Little boat is ready to rock. 'Straiya here we come.
When Sirena Gorda arrived in San Diego in October, she was headed to Mexico with nothing more than coastal ambitions in the immediate future. But as MONGO departs San Diego, she will be pointed directly for blue water... and a lot of it as I plan to sail the boat to Australia this year, beginning in a few weeks. Fortunately, her re-fit and level of preparation reflects the little boat’s big ambitions. I hauled MONGO out in Mission Bay a couple of weeks ago and put her back in the water last week. Between the time on the hard and lots of new boat bits, rigging, a new rudder on the way, communications gear and a number of odds and ends later, this exercise in serious blue-water cruising on a serious budget is beginning to look pretty feasible.
MONGO: the simple man's yacht. All up, as she leaves San Diego, MONGO will represent about a $10,000 investment. This includes purchase price of boat, haul-out, re-fit, safety gear, new rudder, wind vane, boat supplies, etc. From humble beginnings in Seattle in the fall of 2012, she has become a dialed pocket cruiser on a serious budget. I have a lot of confidence in the boat and our level of prep, and am looking forward to a great adventure!
The Haul- Out
I hauled MONGO at Driscoll’s Mission Bay, as none of the boat yards on Shelter Island allow do-it-yourself work. Before the haul-out, I bought pretty much everything that I thought I would need, as there’s practically nothing around the boat yard in MIssion Bay. Heading up there, I had a short but fairly significant to-do list:
- Drop / inspect / repair rudder.
- Prep bottom for paint
- Paint bottom
- Remove thru-hull fittings and replace for install of head
- Remove prop/ prop shaft/ prop strut and fiberglass over
Judging by the reaction of the boat yard crew, not a lot of people actually sail their boat into the slings of the Travel Lift...
After a great sail up to Mission Bay with two friends of mine and a quiet night on the hook, I sailed MONGO right into the slings of the Travel Lift