A New Chapter After The Refit
The last half year was a lot of work and the refit is ultimately finished. Wolf was lifted out of the water back in autumn last year. We worked on her for months and now, just at the start of the season she finally got craned back into the water. You can read the full blog about the refit here. Now, that Wolf is back in the water, we just have a bit of work left.
Some Last Work To Be Done
First, we attach the boom to the mast again. With that finished, it is now on to finalize some last things at the electric installation. We also discover that the VHF is not working. After some inspection, we find out, that the plug on the deck where the cable, that comes down from the VHF antenna on the mast top is plugged in, is corroded so much, that it isn’t working anymore. After more inspection of the three other plugs for all the navigation lights, we decided to change all of them. This takes a whole day. To get the new plugs I rent a bike at the marina and cycle to the next harbor a few kilometers away. There is a marine shop that has the needed parts in stock.
Who doesn’t love drilling holes in boats? I don’t like it either, but that’s exactly what I’m doing. The cable for the new Navtex antenna on the stern needs a pass through the deck. After an hour of work, also that is finished.
Our work underdeck on the electrics still needs to be cleaned up, all necessary cables to be organized, a few more minor things need to be done, and the new sink also waits to be installed in the galley. We spend a whole day and most of the night removing all the old cables that are left and organizing the new ones with cable ties. At 4 am we finally call it a day and go to bed.
Leaving The Marina For The First Time
Finally, after nearly a year, everything is finished and we can officially call the refit a success. Now all that is left is to hope and pray that the engine will turn on after all this time. It doesn’t even take a second. The engine is instantly running and does not show any signs of problems.
It is time to finally leave the marina for the first time after nearly a year of work. The engine is running, lines off…and there even is a bit of wind! 5-10 kts. Not much but enough to get Wolf going under full genoa and main. Everything works instantly and both of us, my dad and I, are back in our element. After a few hours and whopping 11 nautical miles, we take the sails down. The wind is gone anyway, and we drop the anchor.
We spend the rest of the day at anchor, making something for dinner and jumping into the water. We are just enjoying the feeling of success of this whole refit.
It definitely wasn’t always fun and was much more work than anticipated. We spent rainy and ice-cold nights working on the boat in the winter. In contrast, we tried to survive the heat over the last few days while finishing the work off at 31°C. But in the end, now that everything is working, it was worth every second.
Wolf is now officially seaworthy again and ready for new adventures!
