In addition to the deck, brightwork, fuel tank, and electronics, our list of other projects kept growing. At times, it seemed to be never-ending. Here’s a sampling of just some of the ones we’ve done over the years.
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Shanti’s electronics and navigation systems were outdated. The radar was a Raytheon R11XX and the charting system was a Raytheon Raychart R601XX. Both were from the 1990’s. It still had a Loran-C unit installed (the Loran-C system was largely shut down in 2010). The knotmeter didn’t work. Her Autopilot was an Autohelm 4000, and the drive unit fell apart on us during our first year. It was time for some new equipment.
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Shanti has a lot of teak on her exterior, and much of it is varnished. When we first purchased her, we knew all her brightwork would eventually need refinishing. The varnish on most surfaces was peeling, and you could see water intrusion (dark staining) in many places. There was so much wood, however, we didn’t know where to start or how we would get it all done.
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We knew when we bought Shanti that her deck and cabin top would ultimately need some attention. They were laid with teak planks, with each plank separated and sealed with a line of caulk. The caulk was 30 years old, and the seams were shrinking in many places. We decided it was time to re-caulk. This turned out to be one of the most time-consuming, tedious, messy, and dirty projects we have ever done on Shanti.
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The beginning…

It was Sunday morning, July 5th, and we had anchored at Quarry Bay on Stockton Island. We were preparing to head back to Roys Point, the end of another weekend sailing. It was one of those perfect mid-summer mornings: sunshine, cool, and absolutely no wind. The lake was still and as smooth as glass. So we started the engine to drive back to the marina. After warming her up for a few minutes, we put her in gear to retrieve the anchor. The engine quits. We tried to restart her several times, but she simply wouldn’t.  With no wind, we weren’t sailing back.  We were stuck.
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