This morning, I am sitting in a local cafe, down in the Fairhaven area, eating breakfast and writing this post via the cafe’s free WiFi network. Now that I’ve had the Pretty Gee about two months, I can give a somewhat reasonable report of what she is like.
She is a fairly fast sailboat, and very dry. The in-board ama decks and the dodger block almost everything from coming into the cockpit, as I expected. The dodger makes the weather seem much milder than you’d expect when we’re sailing upwind. Going downwind—reality rudely sets in, as the dodger does nothing to protect the cockpit going downwind—exposing the cockpit to the wind’s full force—BRRR!
She is also a very dry boat at anchor or docked, as the cabin is very well sealed from water intrusion—no deck leaks that I’ve been able to find. All of the water that has seemed to find its way into the cabin has been my fault. Washing down the deck without sealing the hatches, leaving out the dropboards with a following sea, not putting in the speed transducer properly, etc.
Sleeping aboard the Pretty Gee is quite nice. I’ve added a few things to make the experience a bit more comfortable. A cabin fan and a cabin ventilator have both been installed, to cool the boat a bit more. A locking drop board, which allows me to lock the companionway from the inside has also been made. The morning sun makes waking with the sunrise very easy. I find her motion at anchor and dockside quite soothing.
Stowage is always a problem on a small sailboat. This is slowly getting sorted out on the Pretty Gee. Trial and error has shown me what works and what needs to be changed. A stowage plan is slowly coming together.
The amas are getting easier to deploy, as I work them a bit more. The hinges are fairly stiff when you first get the boat, but as you work them—they ease up quite a bit. It is still far easier to deploy or stow the amas with crew, than it is to do single-handed. This wouldn’t be an issue if I were anchoring out, using a mooring or in a wider slip, but for a standard slip—it is a necessity.
I’ve gotten most of the bugs out of the instruments, which makes sailing her much simpler. I still have to re-calibrate the fluxgate compass on the autopilot, but it works quite well, but is about 10 degrees off of what the ship’s compass reads. I should have that done this weekend.
I have to adjust the waterline on the boat, as the waterline, where the hull paint starts, is a bit low on the aft end of the amas. This is probably exxagerated by having the Pretty Gee in the slip with the amas stowed. This drops the amas a few inched deeper into the water than they would be if they were extended.
I hope to get some nice photos of the boat this weekend, when Brad, Cindy, Dave and I are planning to go out to Cuttyhunk. This will be the first time Brad or Cindy have been on the Pretty Gee.
I’m also getting the projects I have planned done one-by-one. They’re going a bit slower than I expected, but they are getting done. As I sail the boat more, I find that some things aren’t going to work the way I planned, and occasionally have to revise my plans. My friend Dave has been very helpful in getting alot of the work on the Pretty Gee done.
I’ll post more this weekend, but right now, I’m heading back to the boat.
Look forward to seeing those photos