Will Sail for Food

So I get to go sailing on this 41 ft sailboat in trade for working on the boat. The thing is, I don’t know HOW to work on a boat, so I’m learning as needed. So far I know most of the routine maintenance stuff, scrubbing, cleaning, tidying up lines (or “ropes” for you landlubbers). And -everything- on a sailboat is there for a reason, usually an important one.

First, a few nautical terms and the everyday English meaning :

sheet = rope

halyard = rope

line = rope

outhaul = rope

lazy jack = rope

There, don’t you feel more knowledgable ?

The biggest thing I have learned about sailboats is that they almost all have an engine too! It’s used mostly for getting in and out of the marina, or motoring around if there is no wind. And if you think about it, what would happen if you came sailing up to the dock ? Boats don’t have brakes, and it takes a few minutes to get the sails down and under control if there is wind. So you kinda need some sort of motor just to get the thing parked

Here I am working on the engine. I have named it Mr Perkins. The engine is located directly below the cockpit, between the galley and the nav table.

I now know how to change oil, fuel filters, waterpumps, and belts on a 62HP Perkins diesel, as well as more than I wanted to know about wiring on a Westerbeke generator. And here I was thinking sailboats were so simple !

One of the most important parts of a boat is the bilge pump. If water gets in, the bilge pump comes on automatically and pumps it out. That’s why you see water squirting out of the side of lots of otherwise inactive boats. If the bilge pump fails, the boat will sink (eventually).