Stone Age - My boat - My home.

Stone Age.

Built in 1973, she is a ferro cement hull and deck with glass over ply superstructure.  Solid lifelines and very safe.  For those that are scared of Ferro Cement boats, she was built professionally by the Nanaimo Foundry, Nanaimo, BC, Canada.  Solid as a rock.  Literally.  The hull will far outlast me. 
 
She is 60' LOA with a 53' waterline.  14.5' wide and carries a 9' sea draft and 72 foor air draft.  She weighs out at just over 78,000 pounds dry, 84,000 pounds wet.  (Full tanks and ready to cruise) 

She has twin Mercedes Diesels in her that are 1963 vintage.  Older than I am..  :-)  They have been very good engines, but are in need of replacement.  They still run and move the boat, but only at about 4 knots before they overheat.  It is time for new ones.
 
She carries almost 2100 square feet of sail with Genoa, Staysail and Main up.  Add the spinnaker and there is another 1800 square feet.  Her hull speed theoretically is 9.5 knots.  Fastest recorded on GPS is 13.6 knots while heading down wind with only the Genoa out.  Had some good breezes that day and didn't need any more sail out. 
 
Her mast is aluminium and towers 73 feet off the water. The rig is galvanized steel.  Hank on head sails and manual systems for raising, reefing and stowing the main.  She is old school when it comes to sailing.  Not even self tailing winches.  But she is so easy to sail, once everything is set up.  She also carries a yankee, storm stay sail along with a storm trysail.  For when things really get nasty.

She is a center cockpit with hard dodger, Hydraulic steering and a rudder the size of a barn door.  I kid you not.  It's huge. 

Down below are accommodations for 6 comfortably and up to 8 for shorter passages. Double V berth and two upper bunks in the Foc's'tle, upper and lower bunks in the port side guest cabin with a shared head forward.  8' x 14' saloon with navigation/entertainment station aft saloon on the galley side.  6'9" headroom throughout. 

Galley is port at the companion way with a dinette to starboard.  Once had 9 people at that table.   

Engine room is under the galley.  Aft, under the cockpit is an 8' x 6' shop with a large workbench, loads of storage for just about any tool you can think of (hand tools) and many power tools to make lighter work of the heavier jobs.
She carries a 3,500 watt generator along with 450 watts solar and 100 watts wind feeding 450 amps of batteries.  This allows her to be able to not have to charge for 3 days straight.  This includes a 7 Cubic foot fridge/freezer along with a beer fridge capable of holding a 5 gallon draft keg.  The beer faucet is above the galley sink.  Wasn't a good idea to put it in the cockpit.

The aft cabin is a Starboard queen sized berth with hanging locker also Starboard.  All kinds of drawers and shelves for stowing things and has 3 opening ports for ventilation.

She sailed the Pacific Northwest with her previous owners until 2004, when her curation was handed over to me and my, then, wife.  We moved aboard in November of 2004 and never looked back.  Raised 2 great kids on board and sailed extensively in the Pacific NW.

Stone Age is now lying in Calabash Bight, Roatan Honduras.  Me & her have set sights on Belize in the fall and then back down to Panama come next dry season.  Then the passage through the canal the other way and off to the south Pacific, eyes on the Philippines. 

She is going through a re-fit in order to be able to make this voyage. Once this quarantine is over and done with, I will take her back over to Belize to see and say good bye to the many friends I have there before heading back south again.  Stopping in Puerto Cortez, Honduras to use the Honduran Navy's shipyard haul out facilities and ensure she is bottom clean and ready to go.

Follow along as I take this blog through the re-fit process, which will be continuing as soon as the lock down is over and I am able to get back to her. 

Refit is going to be extensive and in depth.  from the total re doing of the engine room and battery storage to a replacement of the standing and running rig.  New winches, new sails and a total paint job above and below the water line. 

Hope you join me for the fun.  Yes, pictures wil be posted all through the process - video's too.  Every now and a gain I am going to let you in on some secrets I use to ensure this can all be paid for too.  No they are not conventional, in the box, things.  Sailors are outside the box anyway so always expect something that you may not be familiar with :-).   The internet is a wonderful thing.

Until next time people...  

Capt'n John
SV Stone Age
Home Port: Nanaimo, BC, Canada.