By The Way 

We do go sailing quite often.

General Information

Background

Our boat is a 1979 Columbia 8.3 meter sloop that we purchased in 1987. The name that came with the boat is La Yu which is usually translated as "hot sauce", a peppery sauce. We kept the name and proudly display it on the transom.

Interior Arrangement

These views of the interior of our 1979 Columbia 8.3 are from the company sales brochure. They should assist the reader in orientation for the various items that are described. Some details in the plan have been revised to reflect the changes that we have made in the head, saloon and galley areas.

We bought this boat in 1987. It had been well maintained by the first owner and we had no big issues with boat. The fact that this boat has always been in fresh water and our limited sailing season in Michigan have kept this boat young. Slowly, we began to notice things that needed attention or could stand improvement.

“there is nothing. absolutely nothing that half so much is worth doing as messing about in boats”

Kenneth Grahame

Wind in the Willows

Re-relocation of the Batteries to Starboard (Nov 2013 - April 2014)

We had noticed for some time that the boat had small “list” to port. We partially corrected this by keeping the fresh water tank nearly full. We attributed most of the list to the fact a majority of the heavier equipment is located to port. This includes the head, holding tank, stove and batteries. We reviewed various options for equipment that might be easily moved from port to starboard as well as fit in the available space on the starboard side. The batteries were found to be the best candidate. There was some under utilized space beneath the starboard cabin settee. We measured the space and found that if we pushed the fresh water tank forward approximately twenty inches, there would be just enough space to accommodate the two batteries. This space is located forward of the galley sink, below the settee cushion bunk board and along the face of the settee facing.

This picture shows the relocated water tank, battery and tool space. There is a new bulkhead between the aft end of the tank and the battery-tool area. The athwartship aluminum stringer, which consists of two angles that are riveted together, is to support the bulkhead as well as the bunk boards.

This next picture is a close up of the finished battery and tool space. This also shows the fore and aft, aluminum stringer that supports the small bulkhead between the battery and tool spaces.

This picture shows the modified bunk boards, before painting. The middle access cover is for the water tank inspection and fill port. The two, aft, access covers are for the battery and tool spaces.

This project did meet the goal of curing the list-to-port. Moving over one hundred pounds of equipment about four feet to starboard did have a significant effect. Also, we gained a tool storage space that moves the tools to starboard at least a foot. We have yet to use the storage space that we gained in the “old” battery compartment.

{Lessons learned: 

1. Careful measurements and mockups, with full size pieces, like cardboard batteries, save much of the “cut twice” phenomenon.
2. Take the effort to get exact dimensional data for the parts that you plan to use. We obtained detail drawings from attwood Marine Products, for the battery trays.
3. We were fortunate in gaining a new spot for the tools that is secure, easy to access and moves the weight to starboard.}