Small, Awkward and Inaccessible

The space on a sailboat.  As much as we love living on our sailboat, you can’t get away from the challenges of working with less space, from cooking, storing food and gear, and, on many sailboats, to just maneuvering around.  “I’m passing behind you” or “While you have that compartment open, could you also get <insert name of stored item>” are common as you go about your day.  Though tough at times, we have learned to work around space issues and to appreciate the boati-ness of it 😊.

Except when it comes to project work or regular boat maintenance. This is when our patience is really tested.

Of course, space isn’t always an issue – on occasion we have to fix or build something that is out in the open, allowing lots of elbow room.  But that easy-to-access variety of work happens maybe 0.002% of the time.  Mostly, the work is behind walls, under floorboards or up in the boat arch or rigging.  Lots of times we find ourselves stuffed inside a locker or halfway wriggled between a compartment and a post (aka a rock and a hard place).  Arms are stretched to their limits, hands are cramped into a semi-workable claw and there is lots of creative talking-like-a-sailor language.  Aaargh!

But such is life on a sailboat!  And, yes, we are lucky – with Wild Horses being 47 feet long and a beamy 14 feet wide, we appreciate that we have less “aaargh!” moments than sailors with smaller boats.  Trust me though, the appreciation does not happen in the moment.  We are not that Zen!
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This past summer has involved a lot of boat work, mostly in the form of upgrades as we continue to prepare for the Caribbean.  With our one year delay we decided to split up these upgrades – tackling the many smaller ones in 2020 and leaving the biggest ones – installing our water maker and upgraded energy solution (wind power, more solar power, lithium ion batteries and higher-powered alternator) for next summer.  Lots of future electrical work requiring even more access to the small, awkward and inaccessible spaces on Wild Horses!

​Here are some of our bigger 2020 boat work challenges, in pictures.

Accessing our batteries as part of Installing our battery monitor:

Our boat engine and batteries sit behind these companionway stairs

The stairs lift easily but only this high!

Mike making the battery connection changes so our new battery monitor will work

Installing a little USB plug at the helm required us to fit into tight space behind and under the helm station:

Mike inside our starboard cockpit locker accessing the wiring to what will be our new USB plug

This is the narrow space inside the locker that Mike is trying to reach

The finished product! We can now charge the tablet that we use for navigation WHILE sailing. Amazing!

Removing our unused 4th water tank:

With the water maker we will install in the spring, this water tank is overkill and taking up needed space

Victoria finishing up the removal project. This space will become the home for our new water maker.

The big blue water tank had to fit through our companionway. A tight fit!

Other notable projects where access and space were issues: