Now that our Refit “To-do List” is complete, I thought I would share all the improvements made to our Taswell 43, Mahi, in less than 5 months.
Because our list is so long, I have broken it down into the “exterior” of the boat and the “interior.” Yesterday, I covered the exterior modifications for Mahi. Today, I cover what improvements completed on the interior:
- New Zeno custom berth mattress. Extra plush and hinges.
- Upholstery replaced with sunbrella fabric.
- Custom “Mahi” painting commissioned.
- Navigation station chair recovered in sunbrella fabric.
- New electric toilet in forward head.
- All new sanitation hoses in forward head.
- New electric toilet in aft head and hoses.
- New vented loop in aft head.
- New macerator for discharge at sea.
- Replaced fuel fill hose.
- New Air Conditioning Circuit Boards twice.
- Wood repair in main salon and in small places around interior.
- Trash Compactor removed.
- Flat Screen TV/DVD installed in main salon.
- New Bluetooth radio installed in main salon.
- Side windows (4) replaced.
- Side windows wood repaired, stained and sealed.
- All hatches received new handles, and where needed, rubber gaskets.
- New screens in all port side windows.
- New refrigeration compressor.
- Interior electrical wiring repaired and brought to code.
- Electrical panel reorganized and brought up to code.
- Water tank ascending units replaced- 4 tanks.
- Water gauges replaced- 4 tanks.
- 7- Calframo Bora fans added to interior.
- Barometer replaced.
- Fire extinguishers re-certified.
- Propane leak fixed. Joe discovered a small leak back at the tank fitting, so immediately replaced it.
- New wiring run for new equipment.
- All lights changed to LED bulbs.
New Electronic Equipment:
- Iridium GO!
- AIS
- Garmin Chart plotter GPS Map 7610 xsv
- Depth sounder replaced
- VHS Standard Horizon
- Bitstorm Bad Boy Wifi Booster
This concludes our refit list of jobs completed over the last 5 months. We are ready to leave, once the weather cooperates. Here in Florida, you must wait for a favorable southerly wind, which is actually rather rare this time of year. The hard part is to be patient, which is the right thing to do. With Ethan on board, we want to make his first passage a nice, fun experience.
Washing Dishes by Hand– Yes, everything must be washed by hand. Plus, you do not have a garbage disposal, so no dumping food scraps down the drain. If you plan to sail, you must also dry and stow the dishes so they don’t fly around and hurt someone.
To cook, you first have to turn on the main propane valve inside the starboard stern lazarette, then turn on the gas at the main circuit panel inside the boat, then a switch next to the stove, and finally, you light the burner or oven using a lighter. There are no gauges, so you have to get a feel for cooking temperatures by trial and error.
In addition, you want to use a type of toilet paper which will easily dissolve because they are less likely to clog the pipes or holding tank. There is actually a test you can do- place the toilet paper in a clear glass, and if it dissolves rapidly, you can use it with a marine head. Costco toilet paper does not pass this test, but Scott’s Single Ply toilet tissue does.
Sleeping– Sleeping quarters are tighter than at home. Make that a lot tighter. We have a centerline queen bed on Mahi, but you have to take care and not bump your head while in bed. You also have to climb up into bed, which is always good exercise.
Ready to head across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas, but first must wait for a favorable weather window. With Ethan on board, we want to be as safe as possible, plus provide a comfortable sail for all crew.
Where to Stow?
I am currently experimenting with organizing each bin by the week. For instance, the first bin will hold all the Week 1 dinner items, and any leftover space will hold Week 1 cereal or snacks. Next bin, week 2 dinners, etc. Will let you know how this works out.
We also have a vacuum packing system on Mahi, which we purchased at Costco. I use this for storing dry items such as rice, flour, sugar, plus meats for the freezer.
packaging where you can. This includes getting rid of cardboard boxes, and labels. Not only does it save space, but cardboard is said to sometimes carry cockroach eggs and labels will disintegrate over time.
This post is about how we added the lifeline netting on board Mahi. Lifeline netting is an important safety feature on a sailboat when you have young children and/or pets on board. Full disclosure- this was the first time we had put up netting on our boat. If we can do it, so can you. 
Lifeline Netting– I talked to several helpful cruisers about which netting stands up best to the harsh UV tropical sun. After careful research, I went with the 
Other Supplies: Long Zip Ties– These are used temporarily to organize and space the netting out, also to add tension where needed.
Hardware: Lifeline Hooks– 
Snap Hooks– Sailrite sells plastic snap hooks, however, we purchased stainless steel ones. These will be used for the lifeline netting gates. We also used shackles and cotter pins for the gates as well.
Hot Knife- We used the Hot Knife from Sailrite, however, a wood burning tool or soldering iron could work in a pinch. All ends of lines and netting were cut using the hot knife.
Netting Bottom- Joe came up with his way of tensioning the bottom of the netting. He worked on three stanchions at a time with a long piece of technical line. Starting at the middle stanchion, he tied about 1-2 clove hitches using approximately the middle of the line. Taking one end of the line, he wove it in and out through the bottom of the netting towards the first stanchion base. He used the Trucker’s Hitch to apply tension to the netting and bring it as low as possible. He repeated this with the third stanchion. If you have another stanchion on your boat, start with several clove hitches, weave the line in and out through the bottom of the netting, then end in a Trucker’s Hitch to apply tension. You may also decide to follow the Sailrite video.
Hooks- We added the hooks where needed along the bottom, usually one inbetween each stanchion. Sometimes we added an extra hook if we wanted the netting out of the way of a cleat. 5200 was used in each screw hole to avoid any leaks.
gates. On board Mahi, we have three gates.
On our boat, this inward bow would prevent our lazerette from opening, so we simply candy cane striped it to the corner stern pulpit rail. You can see the finished striping in the image shown and how it effectively controls the netting. Now we can easily gain access to our lazerette.
hardware.
interfere with the anchoring system, so we stopped the netting at the bow pulpit. This left large gaps where Ethan could easily fall overboard.
Our friend, Carl, was born and raised on the Caribbean Island of St. Vincent. We have shared many yummy meals with Carl and his wife, Cely, over the years. Carl once came over and showed me how he made his Caribbean marinade recipe, which is below.
When you are planning to cruise by sailboat, it is helpful to finally set a deadline. From experience, I can easily say that if you do not set a deadline for taking off, you and your boat will never leave the dock.
Cruising plans are always fluid, but right now we plan to go from Ft. Lauderdale to the West End of Grand Bahamas Island to check into the country.
To get ready, there is so much to do! I have been provisioning and figuring out where everything is stowed on the boat. This is harder than it seems because space is at a premium. Joe is busy installing the new Iridium Go! Sat phone and the new wifi booster. Joe also bought a new smart phone that interfaces with the Iridium Go! product. I plan to write a future post about our satellite phone and how we get weather files.
I am happy to report that Mahi once again has refrigeration!! It is so much easier to live on board when you do. Our compressor had failed, plus the relay switch. Also, we needed to up the power from 15 amp to 20 amp service. Works great!
Cooking with our propane Force 10 stove is a breeze! Have learned the settings to control the pressure cooker, too. Here is a tortellini meatball soup cooking away under pressure. This dish is yummy!
The cushions are now back on Mahi. On my “to-do” list are to sew up some cushion covers out of the turquoise microfiber fabric you see in the pictures. Right now, I just tucked them under until I can get to that job.
Here is the navigation station with the new chair installed. This is across from the salon settee shown above. This gives you an idea for what our main salon looks like. Actually, we have changed out some electronics since this photo was taken, also covered the empty hole with black starboard.
I leave you with a cool pair of Mahi glasses that my sister bought for me. They match the boat perfectly, don’t they? Cheers from Joe and Carla