Ceres bought on winter solstice 2017

Elixir got a big sister on December 21, 2017 and will have to share this blog with her. It was an accident. We were just kicking the tires but walked into an extraordinary situation that takes about 10 minutes to explain plus probably another 10 minutes of Q&A, better in person for many reasons. 

Ceres is a 1978 Bluewater 40 and we are its fourth owner. It is in Shilshole on L dock. 

We want to try living on board at least part time, and maybe do some winter cruising, and parties. But first we have to get Ceres back in running and living order. 

I managed to get into contact with her second owner, and Jarred's established contact with family of the first. This is very exciting, as we had very little interaction with the third owner and we're excited to get to know more about the boat and its history. The first owner was Kirby Atterbury, who had sailed the world and was larger than life according to his obituary. We are looking forward to getting more information about him.

We are new to boats without sails, and the Bluewater is especially tricky, since Bluewater was a boatyard in Taiwan, and you could get semi-custom boats through various yacht brokers. There isn't a lot of information about them.

Almost two months after purchase, and we've cleaned and organized a lot, Jarred has gone through many of the systems: freshwater, seawater, blackwater, coolant systems, heaters, and so on. The master stateroom head was a Trainspotting situation, now tolerably smelly and flushes with the push of a button, and makes a terrifically satisfying sound thanks to the new macerating pump installed downstream. I can tell you more about that in person. Jarred could tell you even more, but you probably don't want to hear it. He's also looked over electrical systems. A new cookstove is on the way since the old one just made sparks and smoke. The oil lamps work again, and even the ship's clock now chimes sweetly on the half hour again (I take credit for figuring out how to swap the batteries.) And the first thing Jarred did was install a diesel heater since it was December when we bought the boat.

Ceres as bought.

One of the first things we did was give away the dinghy. Jarred tried to resuscitate it, but it had a large hole and wouldn't hold air. It was carted off on top of a van with racing stripes. We gave the guy all the crab pots on the boat too.

During the Christmas eve snowfall four days after we bought it.

We spent about two weeks straight cleaning. The cushions had to be removed and cleaned. We washed the covers 5 times. The foam was surprisingly quick to clean up.

Bow before.

Bow (Deck B) after a good clean and some sunshine.

Looking forward. We also gave away the Shipmate wood stove pictured here. While I am a huge wood stove fan, we swapped it for a diesel heater. The Shipmate went to a nice couple who bought a bus to live on San Juan Island while they built their house. The Shipmate unbolts and separates into about 40 pieces for moving.

New diesel heater where wood stove was, nicknamed R2HeatU.

Deck C after the first cleaning.

Deck A after the first cleaning.

The view of the Olympics from Deck C.

Drawings for the boat layout.

Spare bedroom after much cleaning and some paint.

After second cleaning. Mast and boom still lying about unrigged.

One of our first meals on board. Wasn't even a meal, since we still had no heat and no stove. Just cheeseball, crackers and wine. Since then I've been cooking with a pressure cooker and a hot plate.

After third cleaning.

On Deck A after third cleaning. Mast and boom now rigged and out of the way.

First day warm enough for windows and doors wide open in early February. Buy a boat in December and it just keeps getting better after that.

Motor ran when bought, but had knocking sound and grayish smoke that puffed out the exhaust. Knowledgeable friend visits, has a listen and a look, says probably bad injector on cylinder #1.

Engine accessed underneath main cabin floor.

Jarred pulling all injectors, sent to injector spa. Compression test good.