(Long stream of consciousness alert)
About 6 years ago I stepped up from a Flying Scot to Serenity to have a more stable and flexible boat for my growing family. Because I wasn't sure if the kids were going to enjoy sailing I wanted to keep the size relatively small and on a trailer during the winter to keep costs down. It turns out both my kids have loved spending time on Serenity and really enjoy sleeping out on the hook as well. Their mom is less of a fan as the cabin feels claustrophobic to her. As we do more of this the apparent size of Serenity seems to have been shrinking. At 6'5" it is tough to move around in the cabin with two kids and gear down there. The V berth is *just* big enough for me and that is with me wedged under the side deck. As such I have been kicking around the idea of moving up in size for awhile.
This season I ended up getting more serious about it after a chance encounter with a wood 1950s 28' Crocker. The additional few feet made a dramatic difference in the size of the cabin and in the cockpit as well. The hunt was on for all the attributes I liked from Serenity but scaled up while still trying to maximize space to keep dock and storage fees as low as possible. Good build, nice sailing, easy to singlehand, "life is to short to own an ugly boat", pretty interior (better to win over the Admiral) ,good user support...etc...etc. I was limiting my search to around the 27-30 foot range but mostly looking at 27'-28'.
I would have loved a Compac 27 but they were out of my budget. Ditto a Nonsuch which is one of my favorite boats.
First boat I looked at in earnest was an Ericson 28+. Down below those things are amazing. The double quarterberth (on some but not all of them) is really roomy and almost 7' long. V berth is decent and one settee is full length but the other is about 3/4 size. Headliner with zippers is a nice feature to run wiring and check all deck hardware while keeping it hidden most of the time. Very nice wood work with a bunch of features that try to maximize space However, the cockpit was cramped. Almost a foot shorter than Serenity and the traveller is on the bridge deck. That is a location I simply hate with young children. To easy to get fingers caught in something and that location makes single handing more difficult as the large wheel is harder to get past to move forward (you walk on the seats) and would be even worse with others in the cockpit.
I checked out a bunch of other makes including a really interesting Hereshoff Cat Ketch Corp 28'. That was very tempting (love the sail plan, interior was beautiful) but I was put off by the lack of information on the boat and it just seemed way to light for its size.
Ended up looking at a Sabre 28 about a half mile from where I keep Serenity. This one was in rough shape but it was the first Sabre I looked at. The design had what I wanted. A cockpit almost the same length as Serenity but nearly a foot wider and it stays that width almost the full length. Seats are wider too for more comfort. Later models have a T shaped cockput for my leg room/seating along the back as well. Sabre's have a strong reputation as a very well built boat that is said to sail beautifully. Down below they have either sleeping for 5 or 6 depending upon if it has the extended galley or the quarterberth. I wanted the quarterberth as it is more interior storage and in the MKIs it is at the same height as the port settee (which pulls out to a double) to give an almost 13' long berth. On the later boats the quarterberth is an inch or two higher than the settee.
Anyhow... now that I knew the model I wanted it was time to find the right boat. As they were built in Maine there is a strong concentration of them in this area. I probably checked out 10 different boats all over the place. Thought I had a deal made on a MKIII but it ended up falling through. That had the travellor in front of the hatch which might have been annoying to single hand. Earlier boats had them on the stern like Serenity. That is handy for single handing. Saw some boats listed as "excellent" that were in scary condition with the entire boat patchwork rewired with red wires going to ground...etc...etc. Just a nightmare to deal with. Checked one out with tiller steering, expecting to love it, but ended up realizing that in this boat wheel steering makes more sense. The rudder post is in the middle of the cockpit and the tiller sweep would take up the front half of the cockpit. You would steer from the front of the cockpit but the main sheet is at the rear... again not great for single handing.
Then I found "the one." A 1980 model that was being sold by its original owner. Wheel steering with the mainsheet at the rear, halyards led to the cockpit, self tailing winches...etc..etc. When checking it out it is readily apparent it had an owner that loved it and took great care of it. It's name "Chouchou" means Teacher's Pet. My wife and I are both teachers....
Made an offer and heard back 5 minutes later that it was accepted. Went to survey and as the boat is being raised to launch it an older gentleman comes over and carefully scrapes the bottom of the keel and paints it. He then touches up a few other places where the stands were before coming over and introducing himself as the owner. After we get the boat in the water the surveyor is extremely thorough and ends up raving about how smooth the seacocks are and that the boat is just very solid overall and obviously very well maintained. Talking with the owner he is a retired mechanical engineer from Electric Boat who worked on submarine propulsion and steering systems. Mechanical things that don't work properly "piss him off" so he makes sure that wasn't the case on his boat. As he has owned her for 34 years he is telling me dozens of tips and tricks on the boat.
When the original owner purchased her he took delivery in the same town I keep Serenity in and sailed her to his home. I closed on Chouchou today. Friday I will be sailing her the 50 miles back from his home to my dock. Chouchou will be on the return leg of a trip she started 33 years ago. That is exciting.
After I get ChouChou home I have to pull Serenity and get her prepared to find her next journey. This will be sad, my daughter keeps telling me "but I love Serenity."
Some pics....
Will miss the bronze portlights....
(https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5587/14508119904_cab6aa83d1_b.jpg)
This is a neat trick on the Sabre, the entry way to the head/sink and V berth is staggered off center to starboard and as you pass the first bulkhead the walkway cuts back to port. They did this to hide the compression post. The port side of that doorway is directly under the mast and is a teak compression post for added strength.
(https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2919/14322876699_27f693b482_c.jpg)
Looking back, steps/cover is off of engine as par of survey.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3847/14529589563_2deedebd6c_c.jpg)
Another nice trick.. those wood panels besides the companionway give access to the wiring and the back sides of instruments mounted in the cockpit coaming. The one under the companionway is for access to the engine gauges.
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3884/14323031677_a6ec4e3575_c.jpg)
Shawn
Pretty boat. Looks dauntingly large for single handing.
TG
Congrats on the new boat! I think you will find single-handing her to be more convenient and easier than a smaller, outboard powered boat. A wheel, preferably with an autopilot, the inboard diesel, and self-tailing winches on the more stable platform of a larger and heavier boat, all add up to easy sail raising and dropping. The Sabre will also sail circles around most boats of her size- you are going to love this boat!! Good luck and enjoy!
Tim,
"Looks dauntingly large for single handing."
I have been thinking the same thing, but I thought the same thing about Serenity and that ended up being easy after I got used to her.
What is really going to scare me out (for awhile) is docking her. Having the pedestal mounted controls should help with that though (easier than looking/reaching backwards at the Tohatsu) and the Sabre pivots *wonderfully* on her keel at low speeds. Serenity has a lot more slip when pivoting at low speed.
Shawn
Congratulations Shawn, certainly we will miss you around here particularly the very thoughtful enhancements to Serenity, the Sabre is a great boat and it makes sense for your current lifestyle.
Also thinking of going larger. When I bought Arion, my intention was to tow and travel regularly to new cruising grounds thus the choice of a transportable sailboat. While I've done that a bit, I find that it is happening less and less. At 67 I find that physically taxing and logistically difficult. When I complete a planned move to the Gulf Coast in the next 12 months, then a boat in the 27-30 foot size range will probably be targeted. A good sailing boat that can still be single handed with standing headroom, wheel steering, diesel inboard and an enclosed head (for the Admiral) that will stay in the water all the time ready to step on and go. I'll handle the new cruising grounds by chartering.
Congrats! Sabres are great boats and the way yours is set up singlehanding should be no problem. If she doesn't already have them, lazy jacks are a real boon to singlehanding as is a jib downhaul. Although Kailani is relatively easy to trailer, she stays in the water most of the time. Brackish is right. At some point(for some of us) trailer sailing becomes more taxing than relaxing.
Peter,
Thanks, I am hoping you are right about single handing. This will be the largest boat I have ever sailed. The tillerpilot in Serenity is extremely handy when single handing. Where I really need it is in raising/lowering/changing the head sail. Chouchou has roller furling so that aspect of single handing her will be easier and will hopefully offset the lack of autopilot. The main has lazy jacks to help flak it too. Chouchou does have self tailing winches as well, Serenity has winchards that I love. The PO has been single handing her for the last 5 years or so as his wife was no longer able to go sailing with him.
Nice to hear she is going to sail well. We just had the genoa out on the sea trial and she was doing 4 knots in about 10 knots of wind. With almost twice as deep a keel and the shrouds more inboard I'm expecting her to go to wind a bit better than Serenity. Will likely have the opportunity to test that out on Friday.
Thanks,
Shawn
Craig,
Yup, already has lazy jacks and the jib is roller furling so no need for the downhaul. The PO actually rigged a downhaul for the main so that he could get it down completely without having to go up to the mast. I left that off while rigging her for now but may give it a try later on.
Thanks,
Shawn
Brackish,
Thanks, I will certainly miss Serenity and enjoyed working on her and tweaking that platform. Definitely want to figure out cabin heat and solar for Chouchou as well as likely updating the battery distribution/charging system. Maybe pressure water as well though the foot pumps are pretty easy. I want to spend some time with that to see if changes are needed there.
Funny you mention the head... an enclosed head was a requirement for the same reason for me as well. That is actually one of the first things I have to deal with on Chouchou. The pump is leaking and most just swap out the entire thing for a Raritan as I guess the original head wasn't great. While I am in there I'll also be changing out all that hosing. That will be a $^#%y job. :)
Shawn
Great move, Shawn; my friend Jeff who has had com-pac 16 and then 19, and then P-23 has a Sabre 28 that I've been out on. It's a great boat. He can singlehand or have crew, and I am glad to see how well it took recent storms we had as well.
BruceW
I think that I have the exact opposite of you guys. I just sold my Catalina 30 that I had owned for 8 years.
You will be able to single hand the 28 foot boat with no issues. I did so on a tall rig 30 for years. The best thing you can have is an autopilot. After that, everything else comes easy. I would rig jacklines as well for safety when the wind gets up.
Shawn, when I had my Columbia 8.7 (29 feet) I was able to single hand it even though it was not very well set up for it. It didn't have roller furling, self tailing winches, lazy jacks, cockpit led halyards or wheel steering, all things in my view that make single handling much easier.
Since you are going to have to do some work on the head anyway, you might look into composting models. My view is when I move up that would be the way to go to avoid the messy and expensive pumpouts. Composting head for longer cruises, using that as the platform with Wag Bags for day sailing.
"I just sold my Catalina 30 that I had owned for 8 years."
I spent a bunch of time thinking about the ideal size for my needs. Not sure one exists. While I'd love a 35' I can't afford it, and wouldn't want to maintain it either.
Somewhere along the line I read a post that the idea boat size for you is the one that 50% of the time you wish it were larger and 50% of the time you wish it were smaller. My balance there has been slowly shifting over the last couple of years. Hoping the Sabre restores balance. I considered 25' footers but considering the extra costs (loosing the trailer and adding winter storage and now paying for hauling/launching) it didn't seem like a big enough increase in size. Plus most 25' with standing headroom look a little out of proportion IMO.
Definitely would like to have an autopilot. I want to work out the charging/solar situation there first and then when funds allow will strongly evaluate an autopilot.
Thanks,
Shawn
Brackish,
Thanks, I'm actually pretty confident in the single handing aspect of the boat. As you said it is already well rigged for it. I'm just the type that until it is done and proven remains cautious.
The part that concerns me more is docking it. My dock can have some current there (and a low bridge a couple of hundred feet away) and in this boat I will need to back it in. The bigger keel will let me pivot better but will potentially mean the current will grab me easier too.. though the displacement may offset that. Because of Sabre's offset props I believe this boat already tends to back in the direction I will want. At least this year the slip is going to be tight with my neighbors Pearson 23. I'll hang fenders on both sides and take it slow. The diesel with controls at the wheel is going to be very helpful there and I'll be able to get the spring line on just as the boat is entering the slip. With Serenity I go in head first and the spring line isn't on till the boat is 2/3s of the way in. If I am heading in a little fast (to deal with wind/current) and miss that spring line it is a mad scramble to climb through the rear stanchions to get the Tohatsu into reverse and throttle up to stop us.
Next year the owner of the dock is going to move me to a larger slip if one opens up.
I've considered composting heads but I think the Admiral would be disgusted by the idea. Esp. if I added wag bags to the mix, I tried that on Serenity... it didn't find favor. ;)
As far as pumpout there is a station a couple of hundred yards from my dock. In RI pumpout stations are federally funded and are not supposed to charge more than $5 for the service.
Shawn
Congratulations, I've always thought the Sabres were really nice boats and you look to have found a great one (not surprising with a ME as the original owner).
On both 28's I owned (Newport and Precision) I found the easiest way to put her in a slip by myself was to lay her alongside the two pilings at the end (perpendicular to the slip) bring the lines aboard, and warp her back into the slip. As long as my neighbors didn't overhang the pilings and I'd prepositioned the lines to the end pilings, this worked well without the drama of roaring engine and the risk of a transmission becoming jammed. The owner of one of the marinas I used commented once that I was the only slip occupant who didn't make her hold her breath waiting for the crunch when I came back to the marina (she was a licensed towing captain). It may not work for your situation, but it may be worth trying if only against the day that your transmission does give up the ghost.
Enjoy Chouchou...it looks like you have a winner!
Hi Jon,
Thanks, I was thrilled to spend time with the owner and see what kind of condition he kept Chouchou in.
Your method sounds very useful and one I will use... next year. This year I have a piling on one side and a Pearson 23 on the other. What I am thinking about doing is running two lines from the front of the dock to that piling at the end of the finger pier. Then come up alongside as you suggest and use those two lines to warp her back in. Might be able to do it with just a single line as well. I will also have a spring line at that piling to keep her from going to far back in.
Thanks,
Shawn
Update to this... it has been a crazy 5 weeks or so.
I went down to Groton on June 27th to bring Chouchou home. This was about a 40-45 mile trip. We left the dock without incident and cleared the harbor and raised sails. Boat handled beautifully and the steering is *very* responsive. Small movements on the wheel turn the boat quickly. She will just about pivot in her own diameter at speed.
As we were clearing Fisher Island the wind picked up so we rolled in a little of the genoa as a first step in reefing. This helped balance the boat but the wind continued to increase. After a bit more we were getting white caps with bigger gusts so we decided to put in the first reef on the main. Fired up the Volvo, rolled in the genoa completely and rigged in the first reef point on the main, then proceeded to unroll some of the genoa again. At this point I'm already loving the roller furling. Water speed was right around 6 knots.
Had about 2 hours of good sailing then our new course put us right into the wind which at this point was also falling off. Our VMG was only about a knot. We were trying to get back before night so we fired up the Volvo again (started instantly) and motored. Cruising along at about 1600rpm we were making about 4knots in the water. This was pretty uneventful other than larger waves that would hit us on the bow and slow us down to about 1.5knots until it recovered.
We ended up motoring for about 7 hours with the engine just purring along. We started/stopped it a few times trying to sail when the wind became a little favorable. Upon motoring into my home port (about 1/2 mile from my dock) we throttle back and the engine immediately died. Cranking it over and it wasn't firing at all. I had brought an anchor/rode with us (what was on the boat is junk) so we dropped anchor. We were a few hundred yards from docks. The RI Environmental police happened to be passing by on their boat and they took my father aboard to bring him to the dock. Father came back in his twin screw Bertram. He picked me up to bring me back to my dock as I had to move Serenity to a mooring until I could pull her. Serenity felt much smaller after being on Chouchou for 9+ hours. After getting Serenity secured we went back to Chouchou. My father was going to hip tow me to the dock but after we talked about it awhile we decided that probably wasn't a good idea as he had never done it before. We ended up calling Sea Tow who was on scene very quickly and got Chouchou to my dock safe and sound. That was a $300 bill, glad I paid the $28 extra for towing insurance. They reimbursed me for the tow. Luckily I remembered on a raw water cooled engine if it won't start to close the seacock before cranking it much. If you don't do that you can hydrolock the engine as the water pump will fill the water lift muffler back into the exhaust valve. Without a running engine there is not enough exhaust pressure to blow the water out the exhaust pipe.
Next day I was down at the dock trying to get the Volvo to run. The Volvo is a mechanical fuel injected diesel engine that also comes with a decompression lever and a crank to hand start the engine. It requires no electricity to run as it doesn't even have glow plugs. As there is no ignition system diesels are pretty basic to trouble shoot... does it have compression? Does it have fuel? I swapped out the two different fuel filters and attempted to bleed the system. You have to bleed the main fuel filter from the lift pump and the first bleed screw on the fuel injector pump is bled from the lift pump. I was getting some fuel at this point and was attempting to bleed to the second bleed screw on the injector pump which must be done by spinning the engine. Was getting some fuel there but couldn't get anything to the injectors themselves. From there I pulled the tank sender and removed a mesh prefilter that was a little clogged. This improved the lift pump efficiency but didn't change anything with regards to bleeding the system. I kept hearing about how this took *a lot* of cranking to bleed the system so I kept retrying it with no results.
From there I started with a lot more research. I knew I had fuel to the injector pump but none out of it. Checked fuel cutoff (diesels shut off by stopping fuel flow) and throttle linkage but both were fine. At this point I was starting to suspect a bad fuel injector pump. Luckily the exact model happened to appear on ebay and I won the auction for $100.
While waiting for that to arrive I started to prep. for pulling Serenity as I was just borrowing the mooring for a week or two. Installed new trailer lights on the trailer and greased the bearings. I went to move my truck over to the trailer to test the new lights and lost the trucks brakes on my steep driveway. Both front and rear brake lines burst from rust. I was really glad that happened on my driveway and not when towing Serenity home... would have been ugly! I ended up having to borrow a vehicle to get Serenity back home after I had it pulled.
Back on Chouchou I was trying to figure out how the injector pump comes out. Turns out there is an inspection cover on the rear of the engine. That cover also holds the water pump that is driven by the same shaft as the injector pump. Couple of major problems here. Access is a total nightmare. Barely see it and can't get to it at all from either the front of the engine or when crammed down in the starboard seat locker. The other problem was the water pump had one of its seals go back so it was leaking raw water onto the inspection cover. There was major corrosion on two of the bolts that held that cover on. That cover had to come off to remove a nut that holds a gear on the injector pump shaft. Luckily the pump was leaking onto the cover, if the weep holes on the pump had become clogged it would have force the raw water into the crankcase through the second oil seal on the pump.
I ended up having to take apart a bunch of the galley cabinets and the sink to get more access to the engine up front. For the cover I was able to remove 4 of the 5 bolts relatively easily but the last one took a bunch of work. I ended up having to buy a Milwaukee 0375 close quarters drill and left hand bits to try and drill it out. For access to the bolt I ended up in the seat locker on my back with my feet straight up drilling down the length of my body. Took several hours but I eventually got it out. And whoever built the engine 34 years ago used anti-seize on the bolts so the bolt finally came out clean without damaging the threads.
After much struggling I finally got the replacement injector pump installed. Now I could bleed to the injectors. When I finally got them bled properly I could hear the injector firing from the pressure. Reconnected the cooling system and tried to fire it up. Was getting white smoke from the exhaust but it wasn't starting. After thinking about it awhile I realized my timing might be off. Diesels control "ignition" timing by altering the timing of the fuel injection. You do that by rotating the fuel injector pump. I moved it one direction and had no difference. Going the other direction the RPMs were accelerating but not quite enough to catch. Moving the pump as advanced as possible the engine fired up. As the seacock was still closed I wasn't getting any water pumping out. Quickly shut it down to open the seacock and started it again. Still no water.
The water pump on my engine is a Johnson pump but they haven't made this exact version of the pump in a long time. Rebuilt kits for it hasn't been available in a long time and when they were it was $90 for the kit and about the same for a replacement cover that can wear from the impeller. A newer model replacement pump is $300. Somehow I lucked out and the local marine consignment store have a rebuild kit (oil seals, shaft, cam, bronze bushing) for my exact pump sitting on a high self. Not only that it also had a replacement cover (mine was badly worn from the impeller)... all for $20. A machinist made a jig and a tool to use with his press to change out the bronze bushing in the pump. Only charged $20 for that and then I replaced everything else in the water pump.
After reinstalling all this I tried firing it up again. Still no water. Turned out one of the hoses had cracked under the hose clamp, a gasket on the strainer was bad and the connection from the tranny to the water pump (tranny is cooled from the raw water pump) was also sucking air at both ends.
After working through all that I fired up the engine again.
This time, finally, the engine fired right up and was immediately pumping water. And pumping more water than it had been previously. The worn cover was reducing the pumps efficiency as it was leaking internally.
Last night I was able to put the interior back together the interior. Probably made 5 trips to the car getting the vast amount of tools out of Chouchou.
In theory the first sail with the family will be Saturday. *Fingers crossed* all goes well.
Up to this point I've probably spent 50-60 hours working on her and was getting *extremely* close to reinforcing the transom and hanging a Tohatsu on it. Outboards are vastly easier to work on.
Shawn
P.S. During this whole process I was also swapping out the head as its pump was leaking and everyone suggested to just replace it as the original wasn't very good. Also replaced all of the sanitation hoses, they were *nasty* and had an odor once a little water got into the system.
Whew!
The guy I know who has a Sabre 28 has some head smell issues; he has been replacing a hose, I think.
Hey Shawn:
Good post on the trouble shooting of your diesel. Good logic.
I can appreciate starboard cockpit lockers. Fortunately on the C -27 they are huge and engine access sounds much better.
Enjoy sailing.
regards charlie