trishlaplaca Oyster needed a whole lotta love when we first set eyes on her in August of ’22. Her hull was dingy and her blue stripes dull. Much of her teak varnish had been blistered and peeled off from the sea and sun. Even Oyster’s double life rings were worn down to their brittle foam stuffing. Honestly, she looked haggard.
Cosmetics, however, were the last of our priorities back then. Our new old baby, we knew, had good bones and we would have to look past her flaws for the moment. Oyster is a 1974 DeFever Passagemaker, a 40 foot power cruiser yacht. She’s also often referred to as a trawler. Arthur DeFever had originally built tuna clippers and designed his later boats to be equally seaworthy and comfortable for long voyages. Many were built in Taiwan and China, but the 38 and 40 foot Passagemakers were constructed in California. These are especially known for their strength and fine details.
So way back in August, it had been far more important to get to know our sleeping beauty and learn how to run her. As you can read about in the 2022 Kickoff Blogs, those experiences and journeys truly got us off to a fabulous seafaring start.
With winter in Florida over, Jeff and I are back up Connecticut in a temporary rental close to Petzold’s Marine Center where Oyster is still “on the hard”, meaning, out of the water.
For the last month we have worked our fingers to the bone – almost literally. I am actually writing this post with a sore hand and aching muscles from all the stripping I’ve been doing! No – not that kind of stripping – get your mind out of the gutter 🙂 ! But yes, with a heat gun in one hand and a scraper in the other, I had the task of getting every last touch of varnish off of the railings, stairs, doors and more. Jeff followed up with the sanding and new varnish. The pictures may not do it justice, but it’s been a rewarding labor of love for sure.
We’ve got many more updates on the docket, too. For the sake of both pragmatics and cosmetics, Jeff just mounted a comfy new Captain’s chair this week and I insisted on replacing the ugly life rings.A new generator will be installed, along with taking care of updating the electrical system. Little by little Oyster’s getting back her smile. And we haven’t even gotten to her interior yet!
Join us next time for the big reveal!
Beautiful job. She looks marvellous darlings. 💗😎
Awww…thank you, sweetie! She’s getting prettier by the day. Sure wish we were doing the Downeast Loop where we’d be passing by you in Nova Scotia. Maybe next year. At least we’ll get to play together this winter ;-)!
I will savor your trip from afar!
Hey, you! Who knows? Maybe you’ll meet up with us somewhere. What a trip that would be! Sending you both hugs!
Wow! Congratulations, what a beautiful ship and amazing journey! Praying for safety and God’s blessing and hand upon you and your craft! Enjoy every moment! Can’t wait to hear about your journey in FL this winter!
Thanks so much, Claudia! It’ll be great if you would check in at the blog every once in awhile. Would love to have you along and get to chat together in FL, too!