


The boat that Jack built
One of the reasons we invested in the Sea Shanti was to reduce our cost of living without sacrificing travel and adventure. A boat has costs associated with it. There’s a reason people call them “holes in the water you throw money into.” But if the boat is also your home and your car, if it’s got solar and wind power and a resourceful crew, it could also save a lot of money. Or at least that’s our theory.
We purchased the Shanti for $3000. She’s a project boat, but we decided to take a hard run at her. Jack cut back on his tech work to spend long hours hard at work on her renovation. He’s responsible for every single item checked off this Honey Do list (and some that we’ve forgotten about along the way). He’s worked on this humble home on the water nearly every day.
This is his first sailboat, and he’s had to learn everything the hard way – through trial and error. YouTube, books, and guys at the marina have been his guides. He’s run into 99 problems along the way, but he hasn’t met one he couldn’t solve yet.
Done
Gutting of internal furnishing/floor
Plumbing stripped out
Electrical stripped out
Floor joists put back in
Through holes inspected
Valves and seacocks replaced
Bilge cleaned and painted
Engine room painted and cleaned
Compression post made out of old mast
Main deck sanded and inspected
Topside teak cleaned
Hull above the waterline sanded, primed, and painted
Hull below the waterline sanded, ablative anti-fouling barrier coats applied
Cutlass bearing replaced
Rudder and propeller shaft stuffing boxes refurbished
Replacing the rudder assembly
Preparing to drop in the water
Clean, paint, and build out the aft cabin
Repair, prime, and paint the deck
Build forward berths
Install subfloors
Doing
Build galley
To Do
Replace fore windows in the forward cabin
Put the rails back up
Install cowl vents
Wire up shore power/AC system
Wire up DC system
Rebuild interior furnishings
Plumbing
Repair the engine