New to Forum - Nova Scotia, Canada

Hey all, my name is Jamie and I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. My wife Jane and I have recently purchased a 2002 Mainship Pilot 34 after spending years in the sailing community.
The Mainship was a bit of a fixer upper but is now starting to look up. Over the summer we replaced all of the electronics, replaced the upholstery on the bridge deck, had the injectors in my Yanmar 370 rebuilt, an amazing amount of cleaning and polishing, and a ton more stuff. None of this could have been done without the help of my wife who is an avid boater as well. How avid? Recently she spent hours cleaning the greasy bilge.
Future projects include replacing all hatches, installing davits, installing new batteries and charging system (currently two near death 8D’s), and building and installing a hardtop with solar panels.
Trawler Forum looks like a great spot to harvest info for some of our projects. Looking forward to digging in.

Jamie
Welcome aboard TF
Lots of current / prior MS owners here with a wealth of knowledge and willing to share.
Sounds like Jane is really into the boating life. Nice when you both share a passion.
My Bacchus website has some info on MS equip & systems that may be of interest.

Greetings boyo,
Welcome aboard eh?

Hello to you on Canada's sunrise edge, from out here on the sunset edge

Welcome aboard. Gotta love working on a boat.

Welcome Jamie,
It sounds like you, like me, enjoy "tinkering" on your "new to you" boat. Now, tell me, how do I get my wife to "clean the bilges"? Just kidding, my wife is great and works hard in her areas of responsibility, and the teamwork works well for us. For example, she does all of the docking and I look after the lines, etc. Works for us!
Our boat is a 2002 as well and even though it was well looked after, there were no maintenance records. Personally I don't understand that, for no other reason as to just keeping track for myself so I don't forget something important. I have basically just "started at square one". This required a steep learning curve, which has been fun in and of itself!
Post some pictures, even if it is just an avatar, and enjoy your boat,
Tom (on Canada's "wet coast")

Hey, Jamie, I fortunately got a boat in very clean condition when I bought this MS 30 Pilot II in 2015, but it needed a lot of modification before I was ready to trust it. I am not familiar with the 34, but my 30 needed the following before I ever left my home base with it:

House bank of batteries with Blueseas ACR with all the attendant rewiring.
Removal of the P.O.S. ZF Micro Commander engine control and replaced with a Morse cable control.
Fuel system mods to include adding a second Racor 500, connecting both fuel tank level sensors to a selector switch at the console, and adding capability to return fuel to either tank.
Replacing the inaccurate Faria tach with a Flocsan which includes a digital tach.
Adding an engine alarm panel with audible and light indicator for each of the six alarm conditions the engine can transmit. This replaced the single piezo alarm which gave you NO idea of what the real alarm condition is.

If you need more to-do items, just give me a shout.

Hey Jamie, enjoy the challenge of boat ownership. We did the same as you 7 years ago then last year decided the boat didn't meet our needs. All that work, but it paid off in the resale. The main thing is to have fun along the way. Welcome to the forum.

Welcome aboard. Are you on the south shore? The Pilot seems like a great boat for that area.

Welcome! You are in some of our favorite cruising grounds, by land as well as sea. You should have a blast with that boat. We used to rent one of that model to tool around San Francisco Bay , various tributaries, and the Delta.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got as a new boat owner, from a wise and honest boatyard owner, was to simply get the boat seaworthy, then cruise it for awhile to determine what is really needed, or actually not needed or simply "nice to have". A lot of stuff we were told we needed on chat rooms, or otherwise we thought we did, never got installed in six plus years of full time cruising and living aboard.

Of course now, you have all winter to putter with your new baby. What are your plans for using the boat next year?