2020: Our decision this summer to sell Cigano has not been easy, with mixed emotions, but we know it's time to simplify our lives while we can vs. when we have to. After all, we spent the entire 2019 summer cruising and just plain having fun. This summer, we spent some time between short sailing trips, shining up the brightwork and doing a few maintenance items. We finished the design and fabrication of the solar panel cable exit/access through the port cockpit coaming box. It works as expected and we're happy with it. Our bottom paint still looks like new. We lubricated the sheet winches this spring. Our brightwork is receiving accolades from everyone who walks by — it looks great. We're quite happy with the Epifanes varnish.

2019: Cigano received a complete bottom job done by the marina crew, sanding clean to the barrier coat, and 3 fresh coats of Petit Copper Bronze bottom paint. We installed a new Delta 22# anchor in the secondary bow roller. We added two SunPower 100 watt flexible solar panels and a Victron SmartSolar MPPT controller/inverter with solar array combiner, circuit breakers etc. We made the panels removable and stowable, deployed on the bimini with space for one more on the dodger if desired. The two-panel confiuration has enabled us to go five days or more without running the engine for battery charging. We also added a Forespar 12-22 whisker pole, used often this year. It stows vertically against the mast against a custom made rubber stabilizer at the base to make it solid and silent. We now have changed nearly every electric light onboard to LED with the exception of the backlights and tiny pilot lights in the power panel. Theree months onboard between Lakes Superior and Huron, Cigano proved herself well. In spite of our discussion about simplifying our lives and selling her, for us, she has been the perfect boat to sail and live aboard.

2018: We replaced all gel cell batteries and changed the configuration from four G27s, to three G27s and two G24s, a total of five batteries including the G-27 engine cranking battery.

2017: We hired our mechanic to replace the black exhaust hose, which was brittle and hard as rock. Where it passed through the large glassed-in conduit, in the port locker under the cockpit, it had to be pried loose. Glad to give that job to someone else. The only notable improvement is in emotional tranquility the replacement provides. A bit more exterior brightwork varnishing this summer and fall. We've switched to Epifanes conventional clear varnish — improved results over Flagship and the West Marine fast dry stuff.

We had an experience recently that is worth mentioning. In heavy conditions last season, we burried the bow several times. We were motoring directly into large seas due to a narrow seaway with shoal hazards both to port and starboard, so motor-sailing was out of the picture. During one of the big plunges, our decks became completely flooded on both sides, then the water flowed aft as the bow pulled up and recovered, filling the back porch/deck up to the caprail. On the second plunge with more water on the decks, the starboard propane locker cover latch released and the nearly empty, lightweight, aluminum propane cylinder launched out of the locker into the air, due to flooding the locker. As it was not connected, the loose cylinder nearly went over the stern rail and overboard. It is rare to motor directly into large seas, however, under these circumstances, we realized that it's essential to assure that our propane locker latch is functioning properly, and the cover is solidly closed. Secondly, it might be a good idea to secure the tank with a light line if it happens to be empty or nearly so. Remarkably, our cockpit stayed completely dry through this event.

2016: We replaced the Yanmar engine mounts - they were in rough shape, clearly beyond their useful life. We hired this job out to our mechanic who seems to have ramge of motion in body joints beyond the standard human issue. The engine runs with notably less vibration. We had the winter cover restitched over the summer — hoping for no more seam rips. The sun really does a number on threads, both on the cover and boat canvas.

2015: On the first trip from the haulout well to the dock, the throttle broke just after I hit reverse to stop. No damage occurred during docking — timing was fortunately in our favor. Replacing the cable should not have been a terribly difficult job but it was, due to all the components that had to be removed. I did the prudent thing, and replaced the shift cable as well. The project took on a life of it's own. I learned the after doing it the hard way, that the throttle lever could be removed easily by placing it in the right position, but there was no mention of that in the Edson manuals and data sheets. This was another year for some varnishing, doing small sections each year.

2014 September
I ripped an 18" seam section of the winter cover - repaired it by hand. Winterizing the new fresh water filter system for the first time was a snap. It's a well designed device. The strong track made removing the main sail difficult because the track slipped down during the process. The friction fastening method at the track bottom is less than perfect. I will devise something to improve on this over winter.

2014 August
After having used the StrongTrack over about 20 days of cruising we are declaring it a 100% success. The mainsail goes all the way to the top by hand, even downwind we can raise the sail most of the way by hand. When the halyard is released the sail drops like a rock into the lazy jacks.

2014 July
We installed a Nature-Pure QC2 system by General Ecology, a drinking water filter with a dedicated tap. Until now, despite our inline filter, we have had issues with essence-of-fiberglass flavor in our tap water so we carried a 2 gallon drinking water dispenser on the galley counter and several large containers of drinking water stored in lockers. This new filter/tap works perfect with no flavor whatsoever dectable in the water. We are completely satisfied and now have an extra bit of valuable counter space.

May - June
We rebuilt the single-speed mainsheet winch and the three halyard winches on the mast. The Barient replacement pawls in the kit from Lewmar are marginal at best - the spring-notches/slots are shorter/at sharper angles forcing excess spring pressure on the pawls and several of the pawls were poor castings, with voids, and are pitted - junk from China? We installed old pawls, still in fine condition, and replaced new springs only. We installed a Tides Marine StrongTrack mainsail track system on the mast. The StrongTrack went up and fastened easily - the sail modification is done and the first shakedown cruise leads us to believe that this was a very good choice - easy up, super easy down. I will give a full report on it later in the season. At splash time in late May, the engine was slow to start - after the past frigid winter which is still in evidence with much ice on the lake - I assume the Yanmar had ice in its veins.

2013 - Icom VHF crashed after a few years - won't receive. We went back to Standard Horizon with an AIS this time. This required a trip up the mast with a new AIS compatible antenna. We will repair the Icom and reinstall it as a backup. After several tel conversations and associated voltage measurements, we finally convinced Raymarine to repair our intermittently functioning windspeed instrument.

2012 July
It appears the mast collar rebedding was a success - the water flowing down the outside of the mast in the cabin has stopped. Our illusive three-year continuing problem with the alternator has been resolved. Voltage tests revealed an excessive drop (>0.75 volts) between the negative side of the batteries and the main alternator negative lead. Carefully cleaning every connection (again) of corrosion and checking for tightness did nothing. Further searching finally revealed a faulty crimp on a major negative cable from the alternator to the back of the engine. The problem was only detectable after cutting away a shrink-tubing insulator covering the wire jacket and crimp fitting. The wire would have long since fallen out of the crimp, but the shrink tubing was heavy and stiff enough to intermittently make a good and sometimes marginal connection by holding the wire against the crimp lug, also making the connection feel fine and visually appear fine.

2012 June
Mast is up and interior wiring is underway. I cut the Spartite collar insert into pieces and we are using 6 of those in lieu of mast wedges because it fits the space absolutely perfectly. The mast collar has been rebedded - it was visibly obvious that water was traveling under the collar and running down the mast and probably into the headliner. This would explain the dripping we would notice from beneath the middle port onto the settee on the port side - the direction Cigano lists.

2012-Apr/May
Mast work is now complete. As long as the mast was down, we did most everything - added a halyard and a wind instrument, replaced the incandescent AquaSignal tricolor/strobe with an OGM LED, replaced masthead sheaves and axles, and rewired the entire mast including a new heavier VHF coax cable. The original sheaves were plastic and are replaced by aluminum. The sheaves and axles are held in place by gravity and the downward tension of the halyards in tapered v-shaped slots as well as a cover plate. The masthead structure is welded to the mast and slopes upward towards the stern at about 15-20 degree angle. On top of that is a cast aluminum cover plate that keeps sheaves and axles in place and provides level surface for mounting Anchor light, etc. It fastens with two legs forward inserted in slots in the masthead and two machine screws at the aft section. There is also enough space on the level part of the cover plate for the mounting base of a wind instrument. Because the OGM LED fixture is short compared to the original AquaSignal fixture, a two inch riser was fabricated to accommodate adequate visibility from aft. There are sheaves for four halyards forward and two aft. We may add an asymmetrical spinnaker at some point. Our sailmaker thought we wouldn't need a mast crane but I'm not so sure.

2011-Sep
Mast down this fall for masthead sheave replacements and a new halyard, which we may use for an asymmetrical spinaker. We'll upgrade some lights and wiring as well. Both deck light and spreader floods need attention. May add wind instruments. The mast is a heavy duty beast requiring 5-6 of us to carry it with difficulty.

2011/Aug
Yanmar instrument panel type B is chirping occasionally with increased frequency. Oil pressure and water temp are okay. Tracked the chirp to a sail drive seal alert - we don't have a sail drive. I tried to isolate the wire in the engine room but I moved the wire harness and the noise stopped, so the conclusion is that the installer left the connection/plug exposed and it was grounding somewhere on the engine body. The alarm may restart at some future time - I will fix it then.
Refrigerator drain clogged. City water pressure failed to clear it. It required 120# of compressed air to clear the clog.

2011/Jul
Attempts still continue to solve the problem of intermittent reduced output from alternator. Whenever we consider or discuss engaging an expert, it magically cures itself.

2011/Jun
Rebuilt the Monitor wind vane. Pilot shaft chain and many plastic parts (bearings, spacers, washers, etc.) were all replaced due to UV degradation.
Varnish touchup.

Shut-down solenoid: Engine mounted electronic fuel shut-down solenoid began working intermittently for a few days then not at all. It appears to be original Cabo Rico equipment. 12 volts were detected at connecting-wires so solenoid needs replacement - not a Yanmar part. For the time being we tied a cord to the fuel shut off lever and pull it from the back door of the engine room for shut-down.

2007/Jul
Electric Bilge pump: The automatic activator of the bilge pump was not working. While tracking that problem down, We discovered that the brass/bronze hose-connector-tubes on the pump body were so corroded that when I applied just a little twist on the hose, the connectors snapped off cleanly. A call to Jabsco revealed that for some reason they do not sell these very inexpensive brass parts separately, but rather, you have to buy the entire base assembly which costs over $200. The Jabsco representative could not explain why these parts were not available. I made my own pieces out of thin-wall PVC and fit and fastened them with stainless steel machine screws tapped into the bottom of the base. We also replaced the pump drive belt and the vibration dampening rubber mounts.

Furuno Radar (original eqpt): Not working - While inspecting drive belt in radome, a broken wire was discovered that was so thin it could not be manipulated with the available tools without fear of additional damage. More trips up the mast will be needed. A new radar is in our future but we have to settle on our primary nav instrument/display manufacturer for easy system integration.

2007/Jun
Manual Bilge Pump: Pump was stiff last year and this spring it was nearly impossible to get more than a single cycle of the handle before it locked up. We found a 180 degree bend in the hose inside the cockpit coaming that caused a very tight kink. Replaced a 3 foot section of non-flex hose with flexible, connected with a double ended barbed fitting. Problem solved 06/09/07.

Primary Winches: Cleaning & rebuilding winches. Installing new springs/pawls, grease, oil, etc. With no records of work done by previous owners, it is possible that these have never been rebuilt. They were filthy and pawls were very stiff to the point of not grabbing.

*Fuel starvation problem: Our Racor fuel suction-pressure gauge shows very elevated pressure. The engine shutdown one time coincidentally 300 yards outside the harbor entrance. Subsequently, fuel filters were changed several times as well as the strainer. Pressure still climbs too high, If we apply two or three squeezes to the in-line primer, the suction pressure drops to near 0, then slowly builds again. We replaced Yanmar fuel lift pump which didn't help. The engine runs fine but suction pressure is still high. We tried bypassing fuel diverter valve and in-line primer and completely cleaned Racor housing/assembly. We switched from 2 micron filter (which we were told was too tight) to 10 microns. Gauge pressure is still higher than it should be but engine runs fine. Some folks are suggesting we should just put a big piece of black tape over the gauge.
D&J's Helpful Hint. Disposable diapers make great absorbent rags and can be closed up with the built-in tape to contain fuel or oil or whatever.

Canvas Winter Cover

2007/May
Canvas Cover: Cigano spent her first winter on the hard. We bought a cover from Fairclough Sailmakers last fall and so far despite some chafing problems, we like it a lot. Photos and info about the cover.

Interior finish: We noticed that over winter, our dinette table had bits of tiny crazing which was not there before. The only thing we can assume is that the moisture from summer, and especially the from the previous years in the humid Gulf of Mexico, could not easily find a way out from under the varnish. When winter's freeze hit there was still moisture trapped there and by expanding, it caused the finish to craze.

2007/May Wilcox Critenden Skipper II Head: Cleaned heavy calcium buildup from all waste chambers and installed complete rebuild kit - a huge improvement. We can now see why some call these the king of marine toilets.