Robert Beebe's original Passagemaker Refit

Thanks! This is very helpful. Much appreciated

Please keep us posted on your progress. Pictures are always good. I saw Passagemaker when I was in Trinidad 2012/2013. You’ve come a long way.

Maybe you could start a new thread focused on you bringing her back to life? I’lll be following.

I checked your facebook progress on Passagemaker, looks like a rewarding project. Goodluck! Not that you need the luck, you both appear to be hardworkers and that is what it takes.(And MONEY).

"You may not know that we will stick with this project till the end but I do! There is no way we would walk away from this now. If you knew us personally you would understand this. This boat is going to be our home,if we don't complete the project we will be homeless and that's simply not going to happen."

Sounds like you are well motivated , so remember the rule,

90% of the work takes 90% of the time,

The remaining 10% also takes 90% of your time.

To my way of thinking the easiest solution for time and cash might be to re read Hiscock and other early sailing adventures for the simplest way to have an OK lifestyle .

EG. A fine fitting set of sun covers , that can stand in 30K of breeze , rather than a noisemaker and multiple air cond , works just fine.

I would search for a power windlass , the 3rd reset in a poor holding area , becomes a real downer.

GO SIMPLE, a hand held GPS will tell you what you need , far better than a sextant.

And remember to have fun!!

I think that remaining 10% is the part that I keep having to do over again ?

Keep it simple

I totally agree to the Go Simple lifestyle. The first boat we lived on was an old Fortuna 37 and we crossed the Atlantic from Africa to the Trinidad with only a handheld GPS, no chart plotter etc, only one battery and a manual windlass. You're right - pulling up that anchor by hand was a real pain but you sure learn the fine art of anchoring properly doing it the hard way!
Passagemaker was built with simplicity in mind and we plan to continue as such. The old Ford Lehman motor has no electronics and Chris was able to do an overhaul with the engine set up right underneath Passagemaker.

IF you are going to stay south you might consider using house trailer roof paint on the deck house.

It is flexible and may help stop leaks , but most important the better grades (box store $25 a gallon) contains ground titanium which is great at reflecting heat.

Its white so hard on the eyes , but great at keeping the boat cool.

FF said:

IF you are going to stay south you might consider using house trailer roof paint on the deck house.

It is flexible and may help stop leaks , but most important the better grades (box store $25 a gallon) contains ground titanium which is great at reflecting heat.

Its white so hard on the eyes , but great at keeping the boat cool.

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They used to call that "Miami Teak"

Ford Lehman overhaul

Divocean said:

I totally agree to the Go Simple lifestyle. The first boat we lived on was an old Fortuna 37 and we crossed the Atlantic from Africa to the Trinidad with only a handheld GPS, no chart plotter etc, only one battery and a manual windlass. You're right - pulling up that anchor by hand was a real pain but you sure learn the fine art of anchoring properly doing it the hard way!
Passagemaker was built with simplicity in mind and we plan to continue as such. The old Ford Lehman motor has no electronics and Chris was able to do an overhaul with the engine set up right underneath Passagemaker.

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The Ford Lehman is getting closer to going back onboard Passagemaker. Check out the new paint job.

Ceiling panels installed in the Pilot house

After almost 3 months of painting panels we finally got the new ceiling up in the pilot house. These are made from plywood panels cut to fit and then painted with 3 coats of marine enamel

FF said:

IF you are going to stay south you might consider using house trailer roof paint on the deck house.

It is flexible and may help stop leaks , but most important the better grades (box store $25 a gallon) contains ground titanium which is great at reflecting heat.

Its white so hard on the eyes , but great at keeping the boat cool.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion! We have been looking for some type of paint that would be flexible enough for a wooden boat. Some of the product we used already has cracked while the boat's been sitting on the hard allowing the wood to dry out and shrink. We plan to put our solar panels up on the pilot house so it won't really matter what color the paint is anyway.

Nice job, looking good! Slow steady progress.

your brother the engine rebuilder should be commended, it looks great.
You and your wife did a nice job on pilothouse overhead, also looks great

You might consider YouTube or Patreon of your project.

Divocean said:

The Ford Lehman is getting closer to going back onboard Passagemaker. Check out the new paint job.

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That's an awesome paint job! Nice to see that he painted it BEFORE he installed the hoses, and hose clamps!

I wish you the best of luck with your project although I don’t think luck has much to do with it I do wish you success however . I love the Beebe designs i wish there was a website dedicated to Boats like this i think a different forum such as YouTube would be much better than this trawler forum as even the run-of-the-mill YouTube video receives more exposure

"We have been looking for some type of paint that would be flexible enough for a wooden boat."

Oil based paint that still has lead in it works best , but hard to find.

Not that hard to create if you can find the materials locally.

Good hunting ,

IronZebra said:

You might consider YouTube or Patreon of your project.

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I'm guessing those that suggest this haven't flogged themselves to death on a big project before.

Is there any energy or spare time left to make YouTube videos?

If the answer is yes, perhaps you aren't putting enough hours in to the "real" task at hand?

backinblue said:

Nice job, looking good! Slow steady progress.

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Slowly slowly catchee monkey

Only me working on the engine

Sailor of Fortune said:

your brother the engine rebuilder should be commended, it looks great.
You and your wife did a nice job on pilothouse overhead, also looks great

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This wasn't my brother rebuilding the engine - only me working. My wife and I are trying to figure out how to keep expenses down so we are doing all our own work. Makes for slow progress but everyday something gets done.

Hose clamps

slowgoesit said:

That's an awesome paint job! Nice to see that he painted it BEFORE he installed the hoses, and hose clamps!

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Unfortunately I could only get some of the hose clamps - Trinidad is running out of stock of a lot of things and good hose clamps are one of them. I refuse to use the cheap serrated ones that rust and cut into the hoses, waste of time. So now I must wait until the new year to complete the job.

Simi 60 said:

I'm guessing those that suggest this haven't flogged themselves to death on a big project before.

Is there any energy or spare time left to make YouTube videos?

If the answer is yes, perhaps you aren't putting enough hours in to the "real" task at hand?

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My sentiments exactly! We are so tired by the end of the working day that neither of us has time to edit video. When you get your head stuck in a job it's hard to remember to stop and take those videos but we have been snapping a few pictures ?

It's been more than a year. Anyone have an update on this rebuild?

Mako said:

It's been more than a year. Anyone have an update on this rebuild?

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They have a more active Facebook page "passagemaker refit"

They've done an incredible amount of work and it has been launched.

Picture in the slings.

Nice! It is great to see her get a new lease on life.

Divocean said:

Unfortunately I could only get some of the hose clamps - Trinidad is running out of stock of a lot of things and good hose clamps are one of them. I refuse to use the cheap serrated ones that rust and cut into the hoses, waste of time. So now I must wait until the new year to complete the job.

Click to expand...

Had luck going through an import broker. After establishing a relationship I find what I needed on the internet and get it shipped using using him bypassing local chandleries. Also used island water world or Budget Marine. Although they only get shipments ~once a week if you went to them with manufactures sku they often would add what you wanted to their next shipment. Used IWW for small stuff like hose clamps and broker for big or heavy things. Guess you know this but just a reminder. You’re in Trinidad so may not be helpful but on rare occasion if really stuck would go to another island. Usually Martinique being part of France had different access than British or independent islands.
Sometimes you just get stuck. Needed a motherboard for a AC unit. Had my daughter shop it in the states and she bought it. She mailed it to friends who were going home briefly. They put it in their luggage and brought it back when they returned to their boat.

I recall reading that the boat was not equipped with a generator or airconditioning. Gotta wonder how the PO cruised her up and down the Amazon without transforming into a pile of peat moss.

Would love to read about those exploits.

Passagemaker back in the water

Serene said:

Nice! It is great to see her get a new lease on life.

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We finally launched Passagemaker but are still working on her as we make our way up d islands of the Caribbean.
It's been a really long haul - once we got started we just couldn't give up. I will post more pictures once we get better Internet connection

Hi

, great that you've made it this far already, it's been hard work for you. The text "Admiral" could be painted on the second chair, it would be perfect