Transforming a beaten up Columbia 29 into a seaworthy liveaboard sailboat
[This Article was published in Good Old Boat magazine, Issue May/June 2017 . The following is the unedited version]
I could find many reasons behind our decision to purchase a Columbia 29 for bluewater cruising. Her presence on many of the most popular internet lists of small-go-anywhere-sailboats was a supporting evidence of her qualities.
She appeared on James Baldwins’ list on the website Atom Voyages, that we found particularly sage on the subject of cruising on small sailboats.
Another guideline was the mantra received by Dave, one of my favorite sailing instructor and talented racer, who once told me that designer Sparkman&Stephens never failed a boat.
Third, and very important for our budget, was Tranquility’s bargain price.
Questionable decisions
Spending part of my career as skipper of busy charter sailboats gave me knowledge and experience on equipment update and ordinary maintenance of a sailing vessel.
While shopping for a boat I was aware how an inexpensive, turn-key boat is nothing but a mirage. Even few years old boats can give the new owners a lot of headache as the marine environment is pretty harsh on equipment.
In the face of this knowledge, I should have known better what a tremendous task was to bring such an old boat back to life.
Tranquility is a Columbia 29 MKI built in 1965 in Portsmouth VA. From the scant information we could collect about her history, she had been based in the New England area for most of her life and she was sailed to the Caribbean (via Bermuda) and Nova Scotia by one of her owners before she started to pass in many hands in the most recent times.
What was left of her was a boat in need of a serious rehab. We knew that if we wanted to achieve our goal of living aboard and sailing offshore, we had to pour a lot of sweat and finances into that good old boat.
At least with Tranquility we had the opportunity to start from scratch. Laying on a private yard under a plastic tent, she set off our wildest fantasies on how we would transform her in a live aboard long distance cruising sailboat.
The bare naked condition of the boat made our survey easier, and we were pleased with her general sound structure.
The hull was sound and the deck didn’t show any particular weakness. The main spars were also good, and we had already in our mind to replace the standing rigging anyway.
The line and the proportions of the design conquered our hearths and we felt the interior had a rational layout.
During a holiday trip in Italy to visit my family, Kate and I decided to make our offer.
Getting ready to work
The deal was closed during the snowy New England winter and we became the new owners of a boat with primed hull and deck, standing and running rigging laying on stands and an electric inboard motor with a dubious battery bank.
The rest of the parts had been disassembled by the seller during his refit and included in the deal, but it was only after tackling the first projects that we realized that some of them were outdated or in need of a replacement.
He had advised us not to buy the boat in the first place, but Tranquility’s call was irresistible, so he followed up trying to give us another good advice: pick your battles.
The interior was kept original, with a slightly offset teak companionway giving access to a long side galley and an ample dinette / settee on the port side.
The floor had some visible rot, probably from water coming from the mast wires entering the cabin sole. Electrical system and plumbing needed a complete overhaul.
We had to wait few more months for winter to dissipate and to save enough money before we could lay our hands on her.
I sailed to the Caribbean on a yacht delivery and kept working the winter season on big yachts on the islands. Kate was still working in NYC, preparing to leave her apartment and implement all the necessary steps to move from a life on land onto a future afloat.
The boat was moved to a boatyard and as spring came we began our feverish work on her.
We budgeted 6 months for our refit project and during this hard work time we had to learn a lot about our new boat.
We soon realized that if we wanted to leave New England before the icing winter, we would have to cut some corners and make compromises, working fast in certain departments, and definitely following the advice of picking our battles.
First refit: May 2013 – November 2013
The very first project was to remove the wheel steering system and replacing it with a tiller.
Fortunately the rudder stock was still coming through the cockpit floor as an emergency backup. All I had to do was to remove the pedestal, wheel, pulleys and quadrant, cables and fiberglass a pipe to the cockpit sole in place of the old and worn out shaft seal.
With this modification we gained more leg room in the cockpit as well as more space underneath the floor.
A tiller was also preferred as an easier installation for a wind vane self steering gear, that we were intending to add in the future.
Before starting to re-installing deck hardware, deadlights and portholes, we proceeded to paint the deck and the hull.
We chose one part enamel for the topsides, so we could work a little faster. We had to put together electrical system, plumbing, and invent most of the solutions without having the chance to sail the boat first.
Some of the fixes were considered “temporary”, and they were done considering time of execution and prioritizing safety over aestethic.
The interior was kept original, mostly because we had no time to deal with it and Kate made her best to infuse some cuteness into those fifty year old surfaces.
In the galley we modified the existing layout to install a two burner propane range with oven. I had found a great deal on a second hand Force 10 stove and I took the executive decision to buy it.
Kate and I had a bit of an argument about this project as she put a lot of value in the storage area we were about to sacrifice. I was sure about the importance of a good stove for living aboard and insisted. She and I never regretted the decision.
Used and new items started to arrive from the internet, chandlery stores, marine consignments, friends and acquaintances, without much time to think.
The feeling that we were randomly slapping things on the boat started to creep on us, however we made sure before setting sail that three departments would receive most of our attention and funds: rigging, sails and auxiliary propulsion.
Inboard electric motor
One major gamble was the electric inboard propulsion Tranquility was equipped with.
I never had experience with such set up before and I felt completely illiterate.
After hours spent researching about electric propulsion, mainly on the internet, we decided to go ahead and give it a try, knowing that it would be easy to place an outboard engine on the transom if we were not happy with it.
The motor installed is a brushed system assembled and sold by Electric Yacht, with the maximum output power rated at 5kW.
The conversion happened in 2008, and we found an interesting video on You Tube about it.
The very first step was to assess the battery bank. The eight 6v golf cart batteries that came in the deal were spent and one froze during the winter.
We searched the best solution we could afford considering all the available options on the US market.
I spent the nights after working on the boat to read as much as I could on the Internet and made several calls to the major battery manufacturers and distributors.
Kate made cardboard mock ups of each each different brand and model, trying to fit the necessary power and voltage in the available space down below.
The best solution appeared to be a 48v LiFePO4 battery bank, but unfortunately it was totally out of our budget.
For practical reasons we picked 6v lead acid batteries. In case of failure of one of the batteries, a typical 6v “golf cart” battery would be less hard to find in different place of the world than a more sophisticated and expensive alternative.
Finally we purchased, transported, lifted and installed a total of more than 500 lb. of Trojan T-125 6v batteries, connecting them in series to obtain 48volts and a total capacity of 240ah.
New battery compartment were created in the engine room and under one of the settee in the main salon.
Although not ideal, the new set up had a more balanced distribution of the weight onboard, as well as a better access to key parts of the interior like the propeller shaft, that was completely inaccessible with the previous installation.
In theory and considering ideal conditions, we were expecting a range of 15 miles and a cruising speed of 3,5knots from this set up.
Cutter rig
The Columbia 29 was originally designed as a sloop but the rig of the boat was later modified by designer Eric Sponberg to satisfy the desire of a previous owner who wanted a cutter rig.
According to the drawings that the designer kindly mailed us, the rig was beefed up with external chain plates thru-bolted to the hull and backed with thick stainless steel plates.
The diameter of the shrouds was increased to 1/4 inch, and an inner forestay and two lower aft shrouds were added for the staysail.
The headsail had a roller furling system, an old continuous line Hood model, but in good working order.
The mast itself had been replaced with one from a different sailboat and had fixed steps on it.
We thought that this rig configuration was sturdy and redundant, ideal for us, and I always thought that the practicality of mast steps overtake the disadvantages (rig noise and windage).
On our side we sought the experience and the eye of a professional rigger to measure and order new cables and fittings that we later installed by ourselves.
Sails
With the limited range of our motor it became important to give Tranquility a very good set of new sails. We chose to order from Lee Sails in Hong Kong after a recommendation from a friend. We ordered a 100% furling yankee, a staysail and a full battened mainsail.
It was kind of awkward to take measurements with the stick down but with the careful advice of the sailmakers we came up with a successful set of brand new sails, that were promptly manufactured and delivered.
Once we dressed our boat with the new sails we were so pleased that later we chose again Leesails for a cruising gennaker and a storm staysail to completed our sail inventory.
In search of better weather
With the boat put together as quickly as we could, but with the most important departments covered, we had to sail away fast as our 6 months project had stretched to mid November and the South Coast of Massachusetts started to turn very unwelcoming to boaters.
With an experienced third crew member, my friend Roberto, we left Fairhaven MA on November first sailed to Block Island and waited there for a good weather window that came luckily a couple of days later when we set sail to Norfolk, VA.
From there Roberto left and Kate and I continued to play “cat and mouse” with the polar vortex fronts that were making incursions south during that winter, alternating between offshore passages and ICW runs.
With our limited range under power we had to cover most of the distance sailing offshore. After a cold but beautiful offseason cruising along most of the East Coast, we eventually found safe harbor in Brunswick, GA.
There we resumed the customization of our little boat, while also replenishing our pockets with temporary jobs.
Second refit: January 2014-May 2016
After living and sailing on Tranquility for six months we gain a better knowledge of the boat and we started to tackle all the problems we didn’t have time or money to address before.
In particular, we knew where the leaks were and what we didin’t find safe or comfortable.
The South Coast of Georgia offered year round fair weather for boat work and the local presence of James Baldwin was a good benchmark for our ideas and their realization.
Before we knew, we were landlocked in our new location, but we were motivated to keep working hard on our little vessel. The company of fellow boaters and new friends made the task less arduous.
It took us more than 2 years of part time boat work (with the last four months working full time on the refit) to reach a satisfactory point.
Since the day we bought the boat, almost everything onboard has been replaced, patched or restored.
Interior
As we stepped back to live on land it was easier for me to deal with the more dusty and destructive jobs.
We started working inside the boat, fixing an issue with the compression post and rotted floors.
Kate had noticed a little flex in the cabin sole right under the mast during our progress south. After tearing apart the old plywood floor, it turned out that the rot was attacking a hardwood beam propped across the bilge, that was the sole support of the compression post.
Digging a little more into the floor I discovered a gap between the structural beam and the bilge floor. I decided to fill the void with a solid teak wedge, that I glued with epoxy and fiberglassed on top of the bilge to prevent any further compression from the deck.
The rotted floor and other parts of the cabinetry were then rebuilt using new plywood saturated with epoxy.
This open heart surgery around the bilge was also a good opportunity to clear up some fiberglass peelings, reinforce tabbing around the bulkheads and give the bilge a final fresh painting, using two part primer and two coats of Bilgekoat.
On port side right after the companionway, the chart table area, engine room and battery storage needed a new more rational design that maximized space and weight distribution.
The goal was accomplished modifying the companionway ladder, building a new wider floor, new battery boxes to house the eight batteries for the electric propulsion and new cabinets.
Most of the job was done utilizing plywood for the panels and teak hardwood for the trims. The new chart table is bigger, with two level of storage below it and in the surrounding paneling that accomodate instruments and hide the electrical wiring.
The Jabsco Marine head with holding tank and all hose was removed and we installed a composting toilet wedged in the V-berth cutout.
We planned to build our own composting toilet, but time constraints and the need to finish other projects made us choose a commercial one.
C-head offered different sizes, and we picked a model that would fit in our V berth since we are not using it as a sleeping area.
The space freed was transformed into storage. Later during the yard period, the two thru-hulls of the old head were permanently glassed.
We have been very happy with the modification and the choice of a composting head.
Deck
On deck I proceeded designing a new layout and removing the hardware.
I wanted to restore the beautiful teak that was on the fore hatch, companionway, sea-hood, and the lazarette hatch.
Even if they served us during our maiden trip it was clear they would not last much longer.
The fore hatch and the lazarette hatch were rebuilt from scratch with new teak and plywood, while later I salvaged some of the still solid teak of the companionway and the sliding hatch and using new wood for some too worn out parts.
Luckily most of the solid teak had weathered but maintained its strength and beauty.
The old toe-rail also was made with teak that needed a lot of work. The protruding fiberglass bulwark was covered with three strips of teak forming a horseshoe cap. Age and stress had splintered and ruined the wood that needed to be replaced.
After purchasing cheap teak (beware, there is no such a thing!) I decided it wasn’t good enough to keep it bare, so I opted for a mixed approach: I glued a sandwich of teak strips to the fiberglass bulwarks with thickened epoxy; the wood was kept in place by more than a 100 fasteners while curing and later was covered by two layers of fiberglass tape. Fairing a painting with two part marine paint completed the job.
The bulwarks are a nice feature on the Columbia 29, as they give a secure footstep when the boat heels. There were few places where the bulwarks became an obstacle though, and that was mainly the bow, where anchor roller, bow stem and bowsprit where, and the corners on the top of the transom.
To improve those areas I cut off 1 1/2 inch of bulwark with an angle grinder and created a surface glassing solid teak scrap pieces on the deck.
At the bow it created an easier surface to install the anchor roller and the new retractable bowsprit to fly light air sails; on the stern I had a better place to attach the two bow cleats.
Cockpit
I built an integral fiberglass tank under the cockpit floor, accessible through a sealed aluminum hatch and made with plywood bulkheads, fiberglass and epoxy.
The new tank has a capacity of 32 gallons bringing the total fresh water supply to 57.
The outside lockers (lazarette and cockpit locker) were also improved: made watertight and isolated from the rest of the boat.
New cockpit locker drainage channels, fabricated using fiberglass on an improvised mold, were added with a built in inclination to allow water to drain even when the boat is heeled.
Painting
After the projects on deck were completed it was time to paint the deck with two-part marine paint. We chose Perfection by Interlux, Oyster White color.
The choice of the two-part paint is due to its superior adhesion and strength compared to the one part paints we used before that was already peeling off.
The heavy traffic and stress that the deck supports require a more tough coating. A left over from a friend’s boat project provided the fire red paint that we used for the toe rail.
After the paint job was completed we proceeded reinstalling all the deck hardware, including the new staysail blocks moved inboard, the new retractable bowsprit designed by me, a new 60W solar panel mounted on a tracker (to be oriented perpendicular to the sun at any given moment).
Boatyard time
The final part of the refit happened in a boat yard in St.Mary’s GA, not far from Brunswick.
The liveaboard-friendly yard allowed customers to use the shop and many of their tools, expanding the amount of work we could do on site.
We took care of the projects we could not do while in the water, plus all the unexpected collateral work that arise every time you touch something on the boat.
In particular, we fixed few stress cracks in the rudder area with a fiberglass layup, better sealed the stern tube that passes through the deadwood, replaced the tiller head for a new one with a square key in it, installed the Norvane Self Steering wind pilot, permanently glassed the thru-hulls for the marine head, replaced the propeller for a new one, and much, much more.
After two maintenance coats of one part paint on the topsides and new ablative bottom paint we re-launched Tranquility and started again our life afloat.
The list of projects we realized is extensive, I hope this recap and the pictures give a brief summary of what happened.
Of course there are few more projects that we set aside for future completion or that will linger into the “Never list”.
It is now time to sail rather than do boat work and we hope we set the clock back enough to enjoy some quality cruising time aboard for a while.
Our little boat has now all the qualities to keep us safe and happy at sea and we feel incredibly fortunate to have realized our dream of transforming her in our unique small bluewater sailboat.
For a detailed list of the projects mentioned in the article visit the Columbia 29 refit page