We arrived at Terceira and rushed to get hauled out but thought nothing of it really. We had a family reunion to get to in the states and needed a safe place to leave Wisdom while we flew away. We thought we would spend a few weeks in Terceira and then start sailing through the other islands to visit during the winter. Then after a few months, we would sail off to mainland Portugal.
HAHA!
We ended up staying there for 10 months! While on the hard, we decided to take on some refit projects that we had been discussing and always saying “we will tackle it later”. Well, now was later, and we decided to start the small projects.
One project was to strip out and rebuild the head, the other project was to strip out and rebuild the galley.
The head was just the tip of the iceberg, during the strip down process, we discovered a lot of rot in the bulkhead and therefore the “cosmetic refit” became a structural repair. The galley, thankfully was not a structural refit, and remained as a cosmetic refit.
The shower floor was lowered about 6 inches, allowing me to stand up in the shower for the first time in 7 years! The shower area was expanded and the storage lockers were made more usable for our blue water cruising lifestyle.
The galley countertop was switched from plywood and formica to butcherblock mahogany. The sink was switched out from a rusting stainless steel double sink to a very large single composite granite sink with an integrated drying rack. The stove was also switched out for a gimballed stove/oven.
All these modifications made cruising and living aboard so much better, but it took a very long time. I anticipated about 2 weeks for the head, but it took 6 months! The galley managed to remain on schedule and was finished in about 3 weeks.
By the way, we also had our topsides spray painted.
When all was said and done, we launched and just didn’t want to leave! We spent 8 months working on the boat, and then lingered for an extra 2 months before we realized that we were about to fall into the same trap that has snared so many cruisers we had met there. The common story is: “I pulled in for a few weeks, and now 10 years later, I’m still here!”
We finally made the conscious choice to set sail and head on for our voyage towards mainland Portugal.
