Oso seems to be a solidly-built boat, originally designed for ocean voyaging.  But the boat has been mostly sitting at the dock for the last several years, and any boat that doesn’t sail regularly quickly develops a list of deferred maintenance. 

Changing all of the halogen lightbulbs to LED to help reduce power consumption
After many, many nights safely anchoring Madrone with our trusty spade anchor we decided we wanted the same type of anchor for Oso too. Here is Oso’s new 121 pound (55kg) spade anchor sitting nicely in the bow roller

So the first order of business after moving aboard is starting on a long list of projects to get the boat back into fighting trim.   With a boat this large and with this many systems aboard, there is no hope of working through the entire list before we leave Norway.  But before embarking on a multi-day passage and a couple of months of cruising, we at least want to get a few critical things working well.

Heading up the mast to replace the wind speed/direction sensor and install a new tricolor light
It’s a long way up there- Mike looks tiny at the top of the mast!!
We used the old wind speed cable attached to the new cable to pull it through the mast. Angie’s got a lot of old cable on the deck in front of her after successfully pulling the new cable through

While we replaced the standing rigging on Madrone ourselves, Oso’s rig is quite a bit larger and more complex.  So we hired Oliver Machell of West Coast Rig and Sail to make and install all new wires to hold up the mast.  He did a great job – on-time and (nearly) on-budget, with great communication throughout the process.

After Oliver replaced the rigging this is the old rigging ready for recycling. The wires and terminals are much, much bigger than Madrone’s!

Not all of the instrumentation aboard the boat was fully functional, so we installed a new wind speed/direction sensor, the start of a new, more modern electronics system, a new anchor light and navigation lights, and, most importantly, a new depth sounder. When anchoring in a new place, it’s really, really helpful to know if we’re about to run aground!

Installing the new depth/speed transducer

Over time, diesel tanks tend to accumulate a little bit of water, both from what’s already present in the fuel itself and also from condensation.  Anaerobic bacteria can grow at the interface between the diesel and the water, and the result is the generation of long strands of black slime in the fuel tank. 

Getting ready to filter/clean the diesel by transferring the diesel from one tank to the other through a Racor filter

Once the boat starts moving around in ocean waves, that slime can get sucked into the fuel system and quickly clog the filters, starving the engine of diesel.  The best solution to this problem is a manual cleaning – we empty one diesel tank into the other, before cleaning the inside of the tank with paper towels.  Then, we reverse the process in order to clean the other tank.

Empty diesel tank with slime and crud in it
Angie hard at work cleaning the crud out of the tank and making it squeaky clean again

Oso is not yet in perfect condition, but it’s a good start!