Been off Nostr lately as we’re in full refit mode here or as us “Bitcoiners” call it we’re doing some proof of work. Been eight weeks of refit and we’ve got another eight weeks of grinding and sanding this old girl until we’re back in the water and floating again. Here’s a few pics from the last few weeks as proof of our POW 💥 #sailstr

In the video below we’re laying up some carbon on the P-bracket that supports the propeller shaft. The last few weeks have been hard. Twelve hour days grinding and sanding, fibreglassing and repairing this old girl to bring her back to life and revitalise her isn’t easy. But everything worth having in life is never easy. It’s these moments and these times that make the good times even better. I know in six months time we’ll be enjoying a sunset and looking back on these days with fondly or at least I hope so! 😁⛵️

When people tell us we’re lucky to live a simple and easy lifestyle on a boat it reminds me of people that say you were lucky to get into Bitcoin early! There is no luck we all make our own luck it’s called “proof of work” and below is a video of the “proof of work” that provides us with this lifestyle. We’re presently doing a three month refit of the boat to bring her back to life so she can continue to safely carrying us around the world’s oceans for years to come. Nothing in life is free never forget this. They are the laws of nature, play by them and you’ll have a far more rewarding life.

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Big days here prepping the boat for the work to start. It’s an entire process getting things ready. We need to do everything in order prior to unstepping the mast. Engine needed to be pulled out. Centerboard was removed. Dinghy removed and put onto a cart so it can be wheeled around. Then it was time for the mast to be removed. From there the boat was put into a shed and all the deck gear and hardware was removed. Everything we have onboard, spares, provisions and all our belongings were removed and stowed for the next two months. The bedding and all the cushions had to be removed and stowed. Now after one week on the hard we’re ready to start the serious work of rebuilding the saloon roof. Along the way many other small jobs will be carried out that we hope will come together and make Spirit XL an even more awesome home and world cruising trimaran than she already is. Amazing how easily they can move a 54x35ft 8t trimaran around 😁

Busy here prepping for the real work to start. After the engine was out it was time for the mast out. After that we’ll be moving into a shed to begin the big rebuild of the cabin and some of the deck. We’ll be replacing the balsa core deck and cabin with a high density foam and using epoxy and fibreglass to strengthen and hold it together. Plan is to widen the cabin while we’re at it and to raise it the width of the core material.

Boats are amazing they have the ability to take you to amazing places and to create wonderful memories however they need love and this requires time and energy. So in others boats are no different to everything else in life, if you want a good an easy time you need to put in the effort to maintain your boat and that’s what we’re presently doing onboard our trimaran Spirit XL. She’s having a two month spa on the Gold Coast in Australia. She’s been a bit neglected over the years and the plan is to change that and to breath some new life into her. The first step was hauling her out of the water. The next step was removing her engine, which my amazing father is going to cleanup and paint while we rebuild some deck areas and the cabin top. These areas are made from fibreglass that has a balsa core. Balsa is a great material very light and stiff but it’s also a great material at absorbing water and unfortunately a lot of that area has rotten core. The next few months are going to be hard work but a lot of fun 👍😁

Up up and away it’s haul out day!! Time to give this old girl some love. She’s just carried us over ten thousand miles across the Pacific so we feel she’s more than earn’t it. Really looking forward to making some sweet changes and upgrades along with the normal maintenance.

Out of all the places we sailed to in 2024 the atoll of Raraka in the Tuamotus and the Island of Maupiti in the Society Islands were our favourite. Raraka for its remoteness, pristine clear water, wildlife and peaceful environment. And Maupiti for the spectacular views, wonderful hikes, views, swims with Manta Rays and lovely locals. When you tune into the real world and turn off the TV you see that we are living in a magical wonderland surrounded by miracles. Below is a picture of Raraka and Maupiti can you gives which is which? #nostr #sailstr

The pictures below are a pretty cool comparison of our old boat Spirit and our new boat Spirit XL, can you guess which is which? 😁 Little Spirit as we like to refer to her was very basic as she was a purebred race boat. She was 40ft in length with a 34ft beam, light weight at 3t and had zero cruising comforts when we bought her in 2010. That all changed when we refit her in Australia back in 2014/15. Little Spirit had two single berths, no head (toilet or shower) and a very basic exterior galley (kitchen). Spirit XL on the other hand is design to performance cruise in comfort. Compared to little Spirit she feels like a villa!! We have the ability to sleep four people in cabins and six people comfortably. Shes 54ft in length with a 35ft beam and weights just under 8t. We have two heads one forward and one aft so everyone gets their own bathroom so to speak. Little Spirit was powered by 500 watts of solar that was stored in 320Ah of 12v lithium batteries. That little amount of solar powered our onboard electronics, fridge, watermaker and electric cooker for over 5 years just from the sun! ☀️ Spirit XL has 1,300 watts of solar that supplies more than enough power for all our onboard needs. That power is stored in 2 x 400Ah lithiums batteries. The main power draw we have onboard is for desalination, which is another name for water maker or the process that’s used to make fresh water from salt. In basic terms it’s really just a very high pressure pump that forces salt water through a very fine membrane/filter and out the other side comes the fresh water. This watermaker uses around 1200 watts to make 70 litres of fresh water per hour. Our daily usage between two of us is 30 litres so it gets run for roughly 30 minutes a day. The other large power draw items are the fridge and the freezer they both draw around 1-3 amps @ 24v. To have an easy life on the water one must understand the difference between needs and wants as they’re two different things. Understanding the difference is crucial to a simple and easy life. #sailstr #sailing #boating #boatstr

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Putting the sails away today. We’re about to head into a boat yard for two to three months refit work. For the first time since purchasing Spirit XL over a year ago we’ll be hauling her out of the water. We’ve got a fair bit of work to carry out to get her back to new. This work will be untaken over the next two to three years at two to three month periods each year. At the moment our main goal is to prep the boat to go ashore. To do that we have to remove everything as we’ll be making a huge mess and the dust will get into every nook and cranny. But first we remove the sails and all the lines that control them. Halyards, sheets, out hauls, topping lifts and lazy jacks will all be removed prior to the rig being taken off the boat. Today started by removing the mainsail and the staysail and by doing what’s called “flanking” and “bricking” the sails. This is in preparation for them to be stowed while the works carried out onboard. This isn’t something you decide to do this is something the weather allows you to do. As it’s my wife and I onboard we like to make things safe and as easy as can be so that means no more than 5kts of wind. You also want no rain as the entire point is to put the sails away dry so they don’t get mouldy. This is our mainsail being flaked. It’s 65sqm in size and is as the name suggests it’s our main sail and provides a lot of power. Timelapse always makes it look so easy 😁

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What’s it like living on a boat? It’s definitely not for everyone. Life here is very free but with that freedom comes a lot of compromises. For one we don’t have endless electricity or water. We have to make our own using solar panels and a water maker or desalinator. This is good as on one hand you become very aware of power usage and being efficient and this also applies for water production and usage. To save water we use some of the world’s most efficient showerheads and also have a similar attachment for the end of our taps. These fittings aerate the water and make it feel as though you’re using more water after when in fact you’re using around .625 or 2lts per minute, which compared to the normal 10lt per minute shower head save you a lot of water. These small efficiencies are what we aim for when living on a boat as it’s all about using less while trying to do more. It’s why we love #Bitcoin as it’s also about freedom and being efficient with the storage of your time and energy. It’s also about where to focus that time and energy, how to spend it and how to use it. In the end it all comes down to Proof Of Work. If you’d like to know more about the fittings we use they’re made by a company in the US called Bricor. www.bricor.com