I’ve made considerable upgrades to Madsu in order to make her a proper cruising sailboat.
Her previous owner kept her on a small fresh water lake; she was well taken care of, but not equipped to be a salt water pocket cruiser.
I’ve chronicled some of the work done on Madsu on my personal website. Since Madsu.ca is meant to display photos and only short bits of text, it isn’t practical to move that information here.
However, I realize that one of the reasons you are here may be to get some ideas on how to customize or upgrade your own boat.
So, here are links to relevant posts that you might find useful:
- Madsu’s new bow and stern navigation lights
- Deck organizers and rope clutches
- Lift in, Spring 2009
- Benefits of a good buffing
- How Long is Summer – a short video of Madsu under sail
- Solar Charging the Mobile Phone
- Turn That Thing Down – the freshly painted mast ready to go
- Madsu Upgrade Slideshow – just what the title implies, also embedded at the end of this page
- Masthead anchor light ready to go – a bit of customization required
- The Masthead – getting started
- Mast wiring conduit installation
- Painting the aluminum mast
- Painting the boom
- Outhaul Exit customization
- Internal (boom) outhaul build
- Installing new Andersen ST winches complete with nifty backing plates
- The New Winches arrive
- New 150% foresail from North Sails
- Trouble with the recoil line on the outboard
or search all the posts on my blog related to Madsu.
I try to source most of my parts and rigging at Martin Marine in North Vancouver, with side trips to Steveston Marine and West Marine.
Standing rigging and lifelines by: Pro-Tech Yacht Services Ltd., North Vancouver (thanks Pip)
Keel work and other heavy lifting by: Performance Yacht Services, West Vancouver (thanks Jordan, Murray, Bev and the gang)