The Refit of SV Swan: First Leg of My New Journey
In 2022 and 2023, I worked with accomplished sailor and boat-builder, James Baldwin, for about twenty months to refit and modify my 1980 Cape Dory 36, Swan, for offshore voyaging. Simplicity and seaworthiness was the overriding theme, and when Swan was returned to her element in the wind and the waves, it was clear that the effort was a success.
Swan was delivered to Brunswick Landing Marina in Brunswick, Georgia in April 2022. After re-stepping the mast and moving her to Frederica Yacht Club at nearby St. Simons Island, James and I began the work in earnest from the start of May. We worked for five months at Frederica and then moved the boat about fifteen miles north to Two-Way Boatyard, where we worked with the boat on the hard for another eight months through May 2023. Then it was back to Frederica, where we worked through the remainder of 2023.
James and I generally took one day off a week and otherwise worked nine to five every day. It was tough, and for me, it seemed I was always doing something for the first time, which added another layer of intensity to the experience. As we worked away, it was difficult for me to grasp that the project would someday be completed and Swan would return to the water for sailing. There was just so much to do. It was a marathon. It required persistence and patience and a conviction that the small daily advances we were making would eventually lead to the finish line. Somehow they did, and the result exceeded my expectations. Swan was been reborn as a top-class voyager for the single-handed sailor, and soon after, we embarked together on the next leg of the journey, this time under sail.
Pure Sailing with No Diesel
A key feature of the refit was the removal of the Perkins 50 HP diesel engine and its replacement with a small outboard motor housed in an integrated engine well. The well was set up to accommodate either a gas outboard or an electric outboard. For the gas outboard, I used a Tohatsu 9.8 HP motor, and for the electric, a 6 KW ePropulsion Navy 6.0 motor, comparable to a 10 HP gas motor. Before each passage, I chose which motor to use based on the expected conditions ahead, but I always carried both motors aboard. This meant that I always had a backup motor with me, which provided peace of mind when I was in remote areas.
The set-up provided excellent maneuverability in tight quarters, as I was able to spin Swan on a dime by swiveling the motor in the engine well. By removing the diesel, I gained considerable stowage space, and I was spared the deafening noise and unpleasant smell. In fact, the electric motor was completely silent, allowing Swan to glide along with no noise at all. We removed the diesel prop and designed the engine well to allow the outboard to be raised out of the water when underway, which reduced drag.
Both motors could propel the boat at 5.5 knots in calm conditions, and over the course of a 220-mile trip through the ICW between Norfolk, Virginia, and Beaufort, North Carolina, I averaged 4.7 knots at just over half-throttle using the gas motor. The gas motor also served me well for the entire 1,900-mile voyage through the Bahamas. The electric motor proved its salt on the 1,100-mile offshore voyage from Georgia to Long Island Sound and the 10,300-mile Atlantic circle voyage, which included two Atlantic crossings.
The motor set-up on Swan also made me a better sailor. The outboard was reserved for getting on and off anchor, and the rest of the time, it was up to Swan, the wind, and me to find our way.
Swan Refit Video Series by James Baldwin
On his Atom Voyages Youtube channel, James has posted a library of videos documenting the many sailboat refit projects he has completed. He made a series of videos about the Swan refit which can be viewed via the following links:
Cape Dory 36 Sailboat Refit Part I
Diesel to Electric Outboard Motor Conversion – Cape Dory 36 Refit Part II
Installing a Solar Arch – Cape Dory 36 Refit Part III
Electric vs. Gas Outboard Sea Trials – Cape Dory 36 Refit Part IV
Solar Charging Dual Bank 12V and 48v Lithium Batteries – Cape Dory 36 Refit Part V
Takacat 260s Dinghy and ePropulsion Spirit Electric Outboard Demonstration
Sailboat Electric Propulsion with Gas Generator (Cape Dory 27 & Cape Dory 36)
Cape Dory 27 Voyager Edition Refit Tour (advance to minute 20:00 for footage with CD36 Swan)
Cape Dory 36 Refit Tour – Part VI
Cape Dory 36 for Sale – Unique CD36 Designed for Simplicity & Offshore Sailing
The Swan Refit in Images
The Refit Project List
All improvements listed below were completed between March 2022 and December 2024.
Two self-steering systems installed for coastal and offshore sailing:
- Pelagic autopilot
- Monitor wind vane
New propulsion and engine well added:
- ePropulsion Navy 6.0 electric motor
- Tohatsu 9.8 gas motor
- Integrated engine well built into the cockpit stern
New dinghy and outboard added:
- Takacat 260S inflatable catamaran dinghy
- ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 electric dinghy motor
Safety features and equipment replaced or added:
- Stuffing box and hose for rudder shaft (both replaced; stuffing box shifted above waterline)
- Dyneema lifelines
- Rainwater collection system
- Jordan Series Drogue
- PRO 5MP fire extinguishers (2)
- Revere Offshore Commander four-person liferaft
- Orion Blue Water Alert Locate signal kit
- Electric bilge pump
- Handrails (replaced and re-bedded port and starboard handrails on coach roof and re-bedded ceiling handrails in the main cabin)
- Manual bilge pump
- Smoke alarms (3)
- Jacklines
- Knockdown-proof latches for all seven floorboards below deck
- KiwiGrip non-skid deck paint
- Lightning ground plate and wiring
- Multiple new watertight compartments (see below)
- Seacocks (ten seacocks reduced to two in total; the ten original were sealed, and two new Groco seacocks were added in easily accessible locations)
Anchors and rodes replaced or added:
- Primary anchor and anchor rode:
- Rocna 20 (20 kg / 44 lbs)
- High-tensile galvanized steel with anti-corrosion zinc coating
- Chain: 150’ x 3/8” HT (=G4)
- Rope: 110’ x 5/8”
- Second anchor and anchor rode:
- West Marine Traditional 26 aluminum anchor (11.8 kg / 26 lbs)
- 33’ chain
- 110’ rope
- Third anchor and anchor rode:
- Guardian G-37 steel anchor (8.1 kg / 18 lbs)
- 23’ chain
- 110’ rope
- Anchor snubber
All electrical wiring, panels and batteries replaced and other electrical equipment added:
- All electrical wiring (AC and DC)
- Electrical panels (2)
- Renogy RSP200D 200W solar panels (2)
- Ampere Time 12V 200Ah LiFePO4 battery
- ePropulsion E175 48V LiFePO4 battery to power the ePropulsion Navy 6.0 electric motor
- LiTime 12V 50Ah LiFePO4 battery (back-up 12V battery)
- PowerSmart 2500-watt gas-powered portable generator
- VTOMAN 600W LFP portable power station
- Battery monitors (48V and 12V)
- Victron Orion-Tr 48/12-20A (240W/) Isolated DC-DC converter, voltage regulator
- Voltworks 1500W pure sine wave inverter
- Victron Energy BlueSolar MPPT 100/30 charge controller
- 48V MPPT boosts (2)
- NOCO Genius GENPRO 10×1 12V battery charger
- ePropulsion E battery charger 30A H
- 12v cabin fans (3)
- Cabin lights (2)
Navigation & communications equipment replaced or added:
- Garmin GPSMap 943xsv chart plotter
- Digital Yacht AIT2000 class B AIS transponder
- Standard Horizon GX6000 fixed mount VHF/AIS receiver (back-up AIS)
- Standard Horizon handheld VHF
- Garmin InReach Mini 2 satellite communications system
- Raymarine depth sounder
- Airmar depth sounder (back-up)
- Navigation lights (bow & stern running lights)
- Tricolor and anchor light
- Plastimo Contest compass
- Tablet with Navionics (back-up navigation)
All running rigging replaced; blocks and related gear added or replaced:
- Halyards (main, genoa, staysail, spinnaker)
- Topping lift (back-up halyard)
- Sheets (main, genoa, staysail, spinnaker)
- Boom vang
- Harken MKIV Unit 1 furler
- Mainsheet blocks
- Staysail blocks
- Reefing blocks
- Preventer & blocks
- Lazy jacks
- Whisker pole mast car
- Tides Marine Sail Track for mainsail
All standing rigging replaced:
- Intermediate shrouds (2)
- Lower shrouds (4)
- Backstay
- Staysail stay
- Upper shrouds (2)
- Bobstay
- Forestay
All sails replaced and/or newly added (Rolly Tasker):
- Staysail
- Asymmetric spinnaker
- Mainsail
- Genoa
- Storm jib
Deck fittings newly added or replaced:
- Dorades (Buchan 316 stainless steel low profile cowl vents with deck plates) (2)
- Staysail winch (1)
- Stern chocks
- Lofrans Royal Horizon manual windlass
- Drogue chainplates
- Tower-in-a-Box solar arch
- Dodger (custom made by Topstitch)
- Midship cleats
Boat exterior was fully repainted, aside from small sections on deck:
- Transom & topsides paint (two-part paint)
- Bottom paint (anti-fouling paint)
- KiwiGrip non-skid paint (90% of coach roof, side deck and foredeck)
- Cockpit paint (two-part paint)
- 2000E epoxy primer inside all lockers (cockpit and below deck)
- Cetol on all teak
All lockers above and below deck were reinforced, new watertight compartments were added, and all were finished with 2000E epoxy primer:
- Two new lockers in v-berth (watertight)
- Chain locker (watertight with drainage valve)
- New rudder-shaft compartment (watertight with drainage valve)
- Port & starboard cockpit lockers (watertight with drainage valves)
- New port berth lockers where waste tank was housed
- New locker where diesel was housed
Plumbing fixtures and hoses were replaced or added:
- All plumbing hoses, fasteners and faucets
- New dry head (converted from standard marine head; waste tank removed)
- Sump box with pump for head sink and shower
- Manual sink pumps (replaced electric pumps)
- Drainage hoses for chain locker, cockpit lockers, rudder shaft compartment
Other rebuilds and improvements:
- Portlights (eight of ten bronze Spartan portlights rebedded)
- Reversal of cockpit-sole slope and addition of stern scuppers for aft drainage
- Extra ballast (200 lbs)
- Tiller (converted from wheel)
- Formica counters in galley
- Floorboards in cabin sole (four new hatches)
- Plexiglass companionway dropboard
- V-berth sole rebuilt
- Flooring in v-berth and galley
- Main cabin table rebuilt
- Linen closet upgrade
Other new equipment:
- Mast Mate mast ladder
- West Marine premium bosun’s chair
- Lee cloths
- Alpicool X30 Portable Fridge 12 Volt Refrigerator, 32 Quart, 12/24V DC
- Sogeman 36″ X 72″ Mosquito net for companionway
- New dock lines (10)
- New large ball fenders (6)
