Daniel Spurr - Spurrs Guide to Upgrading Your Cruising Sailboat

Copyright 1983, 1991, 1993, 2006 by Daniel O. Spurr Illustrations 1983, 1991, 1993, 2006 by Bruce Bingham. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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Photographs by Daniel Spurr unless otherwise noted.
Photographs on pages 31, 87, 236, and 263 by Bruce Bingham.
Photograph on page 64 courtesy Pearson Yachts.
Illustrations by Bruce Bingham unless otherwise noted.

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ONE
THE ANATOMY OF A CRUISING SAILBOAT

TWO
STRENGTHENING MAJOR STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS

THREE
A SEAGOING INTERIOR LAYOUT

FOUR
INSTALLING AND MAINTAINING SEACOCKS

FIVE
BASIC PLUMBING

SIX
STEERING SYSTEMS

SEVEN
SELF-STEERING SYSTEMS

EIGHT
REPOWERING

NINE
AN EFFICIENT DECK LAYOUT

TEN
RIGS AND SAILS

ELEVEN
GALLEY SYSTEMS

TWELVE
GENERATING ELECTRICAL POWER

THIRTEEN
INSTRUMENTS AND THE ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

FOURTEEN
BEATING THE HEAT AND COLD

FIFTEEN
PAINTING AND VARNISHING

SIXTEEN
DINGHIES

A good life takes sudden turns, and mine swerved crazily in late 1979 when I was offered the job of associate editor at Cruising World magazine. After 11 years as an administrator at a Midwestern hospital, I moved to the city by the sea, Newport, Rhode Island. My colleagues were special: founders Murray and Barbara Davis, editor Dale Nouse, and the staff: George Day, Betsy Hitz, Herb McCormick, Bernadette Brennan, Danny Greene, Lynda Morris, art director Bill Roche, and many more. We had a great time. And with their help, I learned a new trade.

I also began to learn a lot more about boats, meeting cruising legends like Eric and Susan His-cock, Lin and Larry Pardey, Hal and Margaret Roth, Tom Colvin, Robin Knox-Johnston the list is long. And assignments sent me sailing to the corners of the globe.

But nothing taught me more than moving full-time aboard my Pearson Triton. Summers were spent on a mooring in Newport Harbor, winters at one of the boarded-up resort docks. Every boat project raised questions: How to remove deck core when installing a new piece of gear? How to install wheel steering? How to take apart a corroded windlass? There were a lot of knuckle-busters and many mistakes. But it was fascinating stuff if youre a guy with a yen for adventure and a willingness to pick up a new tool. Books held some of the answers, but not all. So I wrote Spurrs Boatbook: Upgrading the Cruising Sailboat, to answer many of the questions Id asked of myself. The first edition was published in 1983. Since then Ive bought a number of old boats, each requiring rehab; after the Triton came a 1967 Pearson Vanguard, a 1975 C&C 33, and a 1975 Tartan 44. Maybe some day Ill be able to afford a brand-new boat, but I doubt it.

In 1987 I left Cruising World to cruise my own boat. After two years I returned to Newport and became editor of Practical Sailor magazine, the only nautical publication that attempts to test and evaluate boats and gear without bias. Thats because it accepts no advertising. The efforts of many other boating magazines in this area are shameful. But eleven years was enough, and today I am editor-at-large for Professional BoatBuilder magazine, and a contributing editor to several others. Plus Im taking the Westlawn Institute of Marine Technologys course in yacht design. Thats one of the great things about boatstheres always something more to learn. Most of the ideas in this book are not original to me, but shared by many others more knowledgeable than I am. Like illustrator Bruce Bingham, with whom Im honored to share these pages.