Refit Diaries: 1/03/2026 – 1/10/2026

Long time, no see! We took a break from the boatyard to spend the holidays with family and are just starting to get back into the swing of things. At the moment, Sabado is a disaster. The port forward and starboard aft cabins are both under construction, leaving the cockpit and salon overflowing with tools, spools of wire, and miscellaneous parts. We’re really struggling to make progress whilst there’s nowhere to put anything, and we can’t keep track of what’s on the boat versus what’s at the rental house.

We’ve ultimately decided to postpone most of our projects until the workshop is finished, simply so we have the space to get organized. Trying to accomplish anything while the boat is in this state has just become too frustrating. In the meantime, we’re doing what we can to prepare:

Workshop Update

Here is the current state of our port forward cabin-to-workshop conversion:

The end is in sight! We’re hoping to see the cabinetry and countertop go in next week. It’s exciting to see our vision slowly becoming a reality. The guys from Circa Marine have been excellent.

Solar 

The boatyard’s fabrication team has modified our solar arch, and the new panels are now mounted. Next, we’ll need to figure out a bracket that attaches to the panel so we can remount our stern light.

Sewing 

While we were away from the yard, my mom and I have been sewing almost every day! We’ve nearly finished reupholstering the salon cushions and completed the two line bags for the helm, along with a few other pouches I’d been wanting to make. We’re just waiting on the last bit of fabric to arrive for the final few cushions, which I’m hoping to finish while she’s still in town. She’s a much more experienced seamstress than I am, and every single cushion seems to have been constructed differently, so it’s much easier with four hands and two brains! I’ve definitely found this project to be tricky, but it’s fun to see the “done pile” keep growing.

I’m also expecting some fabric samples for our new curtains in the mail any day now, which will be my next (and hopefully easier) project. Be sure to follow us on Instagram @sv_sabado to help me choose the fabrics! 

Bootstripe 

We thought we could save some money by applying the new boot stripes ourselves, but wow, it is much harder than it looks. We watched countless tutorials, read tips online, and went into the project feeling pretty confident. Even with all four of us helping, we could not get the vinyl to lie flat or straight, no matter how slowly or carefully we worked. The material is incredibly thin, almost like cellophane, which makes it stretch, wrinkle, and stick to itself. We blamed the wind during our first attempt. So we regrouped, waited for a perfectly calm morning, and tried again. Unfortunately, even in completely still conditions, we could not get it. This long stripe is nothing like doing a logo or lettered decal. Clearly, this is a job for a professional. So if you know someone in Whangārei, we would love a recommendation. We already have the material; there is no residue left from the old stripe, and the surface is prepped and ready to go.

Cleaning

My mom and I spent some time cleaning our marine vinyl bean bag chairs, treating them with a mold stain blocker and then a UV protectant, and they are now looking as good as… lightly used. Which is pretty impressive, considering we definitely do not use them lightly. I really should have taken before and after photos.

I also did my best to restore clarity to the Strataglass panels in our helm enclosure, but had no luck. Replacing them probably won’t fit into the refit budget, so it looks like things may stay hazy until the next cyclone season. I will, however, be repairing the zipper on the roll-up doorway before we splash, because that thing is barely holding on!

Parts Update

Exciting news: our Quattro has finally arrived, and our new air conditioning units will be delivered next week! Ray and my dad were able to mount the Quattro and the isolation transformer so that we can check that off the list. Once the AC units arrive, we will heave everything we need to continue our electrical upgrades. 

The majority of our rigging components have also arrived, and we are hoping to see the workshop completed in the next week or so. Once that is done, we will be able to kick things into high gear and make some real progress (and hopefully, a YouTube video!). 

Cheers, and thanks for following along! We hope you had a great week. 🙂