Pictures of Circassia

[petrel]

Brad,

Thanks for your detailed and prompt reply.

I really like the look of wood trim on the outside of my boat but because of the endless maintenance it requires am thinking of replacing the grab rails with st. steel tubing and just painting the rest like you have done. The downside of st. steel is that it is much heavier than the original wood which for my "keeping the boat lightweight" obsession is difficult to justify.
Wow, the finish on your woodwork makes it look like Starboard - nice job. For me the downside of Starboard is its weight.
I really like your Dutch Door idea. Do you also have insect screening?
I have a smaller holding tank and find it inadequate at times. 13 gallons is probably a better size for the boat. I installed mine below the cockpit sole on the starboard side to help offset the weight of the outboard motor. The disadvantage is a long pump out run which tends to leave some stuff back in the tank. If I remember correctly the head is a Simpson Lawrence 400 which works really well and has a low profile. Ideal for that "throne level" mounting. But now I am considering building my own toilet that separates the urine which can be disposed of onshore making sewerage storage more efficient.
I use only one large gel cell battery which I will replace later this season. For years most of my charging was done from two flexible Uni-Solar PV panels on the cabin top which worked extremely well. That is, until they started to delaminate. Unfortunately they are no longer available so I am now faced with having to replace them with something else. Word of warning, my constrained mounting of the flexible panels I think caused their demise. Apparently these type of panels need to be able to expand and contract with the fluctuating solar heat.
Last year I also changed my masthead navigation lights to LED and intend to replace every light on the boat with LEDs. One navigation light issue I still have is the light "splash" on the decks from the cabin side mounted port and starboard lights messing up my night vision. The T 28 has a bicolor bow fixture that probably could be converted to LED which might be a good compromise. But for best visibility for oncoming boats the port and starboard lights should probably be mounted on the outer hulls but that set up has a lot of issues. Many ideas, many projects, and not enough time.

Thanks again
Geoffrey