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Owner Maintenance

bluesbyrd

Chris Langton
Stargazer here, Bluesbyrd's Morgan 382, with a query for all you other boats out there.

You know how our owners are constantly referring to our age and problems related thereto, such as: "You gotta expect that the dog-house forward lizard-flange on a *30 year-old-boat like this* is ripe for failure..." ?

Well, most of these owners ain't no spring chickens themselves, and I expect that many of you have had to deal with age-related maintenance issues in your old geezer-of-an-owner, just like I have.

I'm sure that, between us, we've seen enough age-related owner maintenance issues to keep a Mayo Clinic busy for years. Therefore, we must have a lot of collective knowledge and experience to draw on to give each other advice when one of our owners requires repairs, no?

Case in point ...

Bluesbyrd, my owner, had been increasingly limping around, favoring one leg.

I had him surveyed and - sure enough! - he had a typical 66-year-old-owner problem: a worn-out hip-joint.

So, I had him hauled out last week and had the yard put in a shiny new titanium joint.

I just need to wait until the "skin" over his joint has cured before I splash him again.

Any of you other boats dealt with a problem like this in your owner? Any suggestions for problems/issues with this kind of repair down the line?

Again, with owners like ours, we must have a great deal of accumulated expertise in "this-old-owner" maintenance and repair.

If you've got an owner repair problem that you need advice on, post it here and ask other boats to share their experience!

After all, if we want to be out sailing, we've got to keep our owners ship-shape as well...

Fair winds!

Stargazer
 
Stargazer, please tell your owner to get real better real fast.

Can you post a picture of that lizard-flange?
 
As Bonnie and I grow older with our Morgan, the boat is 37, I am soon to be 66 and Bonnie is ......well that's classified, we are always on the look out for things and procedures that can extend our sailing enjoyment. One of our recent additions that added greatly to our comfort is an Espar diesel, hot water heating system. But by far the best thing we added to the boat was what we call our geriatric handles on the dodger. Handles on both sides to lend support as we move along the deck. And a long handle across the back which supplies a wonderful handhold in the cockpit. Now if we could only find and install a gizmo that would help with our aching joints on those wet mornings.

Jim
 
I think my Lizard Flange fell off a couple of years ago and I never noticed ;-)
Stargazer, I hope your Chris is able to splash soon.

I just finished my third ICW trip from Annapolis to Palm Beach, FL with my 81 year old dad. He is a damn energizer bunny and I'm convinced a huge part is attitude. He had bypass surgery earlier in the year and now watching him leap from boat to dock makes my knees hurt. And I'm proud to say we didn't run aground once this time ;-)

As usual I was hoping to stop by and say hello to Jeff in Beaufort (Pilgrim) & others along the way but schedules didn't allow.
 
Have had both hips replaced, 2003, 2005, Am still out there. Sailed Caribean 2000 to 2013. Jim, am having side hand holds added on dodger this winter. Added the back of dodger hand hold years ago. Am also considering adding stantions to shorten boarding gate to more friendly opening.

Dick
 
I'm a spry 53, on the cusp of turning 54 and I would say that several things I've noticed in the last couple of years is the sense of balance isn't what it used to be and it's harder to maintain strength without constantly working out.... add to that a shoulder joint with a tender spot so I am planning to add those handholds to a new dodger and bimini I'm having made. I plan to sail and enjoy it all as much as I possibly can. You guys that are a little further down the pike are inspiration that indeed, it can be done for many years yet to come!!
 
Hi folks!

Bluesbyrd here - back on Stargazer after total hip-replacement surgery and a stint in a rehab facility for physical therapy.

I'm still on crutches, but recovery is going very well - I'm able to take daily, mile-long "hikes" along the Sausalito waterfront.

I'd like to thank Stargazer for putting out the call for thoughts on owner maintenance (although I did have to cancel a couple of mysterious orders: a new set of sails and a hull buff-job - Sorry girl!)

I'm still trying to figure out how Stargazer got online to make that post... These modern boat electronic systems are getting pretty scary. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I punch in a course change and I hear "Sorry Chris, I can't do that ...."

On responses ....

The dodger side-handholds are a definite plus - I had them installed when the dodger was made 5 years ago. They were a low cost option and just seemed like a good idea at the time, irrespective of any age-related issues.

An aft-dodger handrail was also an option, but added a lot of expense. As a less expensive compromise, I had the dodger maker add 2 reinforced, open "pockets" along the aft edge of the dodger, exposing the frame-member where the canvas zips around it, so it could be grabbed onto. These work fine ....

The one mod I specifically made to facilitate my return to the boat during recovery was adding a bannister on my dock-steps - definitely a necessity while one is still on crutches or using a cane.

Otherwise .... access from the side-deck to the cockpit on M38s is pretty good - a step up to the coaming board and a largish step down onto the cockpit bench, but easily doable if you've regained reasonable range of motion.

Getting from the cockpit to the cabin via the companionway is not a problem at all, as there are plenty of things to use to support your weight by hands/arms.

I leave the crutches in the cockpit and just use the hand-holds and fixed surfaces in the cabin to get around.

Bottom-line: after 2 weeks of pretty intense physical therapy, I am able to get onto, into, and off-of Stargazer with no problems at all.

The single most relevant boat feature being adequate hand-holds.

It's going to be a while before I attempt sailing again, I'll need to be pretty completely recovered for that, but returning to live-aboard status has been much easier than I thought.

For those who are contemplating undergoing hip-replacement surgery, two bits of advice:

1) Find a surgeon who will use the "anterior approach" - recovery is apparently much quicker with this method.

2) If you can manage it, get your surgeon to prescribe discharge to a rehab facility, where you will get extensive daily physical therapy.

I know most people are going to want to just go home as soon as possible, but people who go for the stint in rehab apparently recover much faster and much better than those who just go straight home. I spent 10 days in pretty much total-immersion physical therapy: four sessions per day.

If you are eligible for Medicare, it will cover 100% of the expense of such a facility for up to 20 days.

You have to do some research to figure out a good facility: they vary widely in quality, and some of them are pretty grim.

Ask around among any friends you have who work at hospitals as nurses, therapists, etc. These places pretty quickly earn reputations among health-care workers.

Hospital staff aren't allowed to "officially" recommend one place over another, but if you push a little, they are likely to say something like: "well, whatever you do, don't go to X". They know because they keep seeing patients return to the hospital for the same condition after their supposed "rehab" in X.

Cheers!

Chris
 
Thanks Steve!

It's great to be back on water!

Stargazer seems happy to have me back on board - although she is in a bit of a sulk about those sails...

I'll make it up to her ...

Chris
 
Chris
Glad to hear you survived the knife. Talking about handholds, 6 years ago when our first grandchild was born, I cut handholds at each step on the companionway steps. They work great for the kids going up and down. Bonnie and I find we use them all the time, especially at sea. Next time out to the boat I'll photo them.

Jim
 
Chris: You are totally correct on the comments on the doc and hospital recs. You must remember to be diligent on the rehab stuff. Walk hard in the pool etc.

Dick
 
John wrote:

"You guys that are a little further down the pike are inspiration that indeed, it can be done for many years yet to come!!"

The secret is simple:

"Use it or lose it!"

Ya gotta keep active, no matter what....

I had quite a shock on my first day in the rehab facility: a number of patients in there who were physically feeble and unable to manage for themselves were within a few years, plus or minus, of my age of 67.

And it was all down to one thing: attitude!

There was ample physical therapy available if they wanted it, but many of these people would routinely refuse it. Essentially they had "given-in" to the idea that they were old and feeble, and so they were.

The old saying: "You're only as old as you think you are!" is absolutely true - because it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy:

if you think you're young and strong and fit, you'll act young and
strong and fit, which will keep you young and strong and fit.

My realization in that facility that "There but for the Grace of God go I!" has shaken me out of a kind of unconscious acceptance of "limitation" that I was allowing myself to fall into as my hip deteriorated. Which, of course lead me to attempt less: the start of a self-reinforcing feedback loop, the end stages of which I have now, fortuitously, been given a preview of.

Like Dante, I've been shown what Hell is like!

So, now that I'm out of rehab, I'm signed up for a rigorous schedule of outpatient physical therapy to try to recover, not only from the surgery itself, but also the ground I lost over the last two years as my hip slowed me down.

I hereby renounce the sin of inactivity! It's therapeutic Purgatory and then Paradisio for me!

Now, if I can just find a therapist named "Beatrice" ....


Chris
 
Here are some photos of the handholds cut into Dana's companionway steps. Great for the Grandkids and well used by us older folks. They also make removing the companionway easier to get to the engine.

Jim 15-078 Dana Systems 151512-1.jpg15-078 Dana Systems 151512-2.jpg15-078 Dana Systems 151512-3.jpg
 
Hand holds and tread master.! No sliping here. Im impressed Jim.!
As all Morgans i have 2 hand rails each side of the companionway . I added a third . Dead center of the companionway, right under the main hatch . Really helpful as a grab as you come down the ladder.
 
Lee
I considered a grab bar under the main hatch where you placed yours. Though my wife and I are not too tall, 5'-8" & 5'-1", we do have taller friends who sail with us who vetoed that idea. They thought we'd need to carry more band-aids or at least foam filled head gear.

Jim
 
I'm 5'6" and my wife 5' 2" new non boaters tend to try and come down the ladder forward and the hand hold seems to work. I attached it with 4 inch SS deck screws and bunged the holes. Looks like it was born there !
 
Chris, since this is a rambling thread anyway, I wanted to chime in ...
I was in Sausalito last week getting certified as an ASA sailing instructor (at Modern Sailing). I totally fell in love with the town & sailing there ... Quite amazing & spectacular.

The SF Bay Area was the last big place in the U.S. that I had not sailed.

We would leave the dock & within minutes be where we could see the Golden Gate Bridge, SF skyline, Alcatraz, Bay Bridge. Lots of boats of all sizes. Highly variable winds & 4 knt current also made it exciting. I like blue skies, but I also love the 'moody' kind of clouds & weather that were blowing through (like Portland). One minute it'd be blue skies & the next dumping rain at a 45 degree angle because of wind. It made the sailing drills quite exciting as well.

We were quite busy & I totally spaced the fact that you & some other Morgan 38s are based there.

I'll be back with my wife, maybe even on our boat. We would love to buy you lunch & maybe meet Stargazer too.

Cheers,
Mark
 
Hi Mark!

Yes, the Bay Area is a living and sailing paradise!

And residing on a boat is a very affordable way to live here, what with the rents for land-based residences in the Bay Area going through the roof these days.

It was about this time of year in 2011 that I took a "Heavy Weather Sailing" class from Modern Sailing. An excellent course with an excellent instructor (Stan Lander, ex-Coast-Guard).

I don't think they would have let us out of the Bay on our trip to Monterey if they had known just how heavy the weather was going to get.

It was extremely heavy! Survival sailing heavy! I certainly got my money's worth out of that course.

I learned a great deal about heavy weather sailing by direct experience, but especially about how to stay calm, cool, collected, and keep the boat in control in the face of what, to a novice, appears to be "Abandon Ship!" conditions.

Stan was a very confidence-inspiring instructor - seeing him stay cool and in control showed me that I could do it too.

In fact, he let the students deal with almost everything, and only took the wheel once when we almost broached after an accidental gybe in very heavy following seas and wind, coming back into the Bay with the tide against the wind over the infamous SF Bar. Exciting!

Sorry to have missed you last week, but I've been on the east coast for the last couple of months, taking care of my aged, saintly Mom.

Do check in next time you visit the Bay Area - an invitation I extend to everybody else on this forum as well.

--------------

And, since you revived this thread, I should just report that, 4-months into recovery from hip-replacement-surgery, I am totally recovered - not only recovered from the surgery itself, but also much better than I was before the surgery.

I had let my deteriorating hip slow me down and limit me more and more over approximately 2 years, without fully acknowledging it, until it became too disabling and painful to ignore (the old "frog in slowly heating water" story.)

Many people had told me that I would kick myself for not having had it done earlier, and they were absolutely right!

I can't believe how much better I feel now, nor how much pain I had actually been suppressing before, which is now totally gone.

So, if anybody else out there has been considering having this surgery done, stop considering and just get yourself to a good hip-replacement surgeon and get it done, if that is his recommendation.

Best way to find a good surgeon is to ask local physical therapists who work with hip-replacement patients which doc *they* would pick to replace *their own* hip, since they've seen how well the patients of various docs have done.

And, if you can get it, get yourself discharged into a rehab facility for a week or two, where you will get physical therapy several times a day, rather than just once or twice per week - I believe it made a huge difference for me.

If you have Medicare, it will pay total expenses of a rehab-facility for up to 20 days, if your doc prescribes it.

Cheers!

Chris
 
Chris - very glad to hear the hip is 'better than before'. That's excellent!

Ha! Yes, Stan was our 'Instructor Evaluator' and I thoroughly enjoyed him. It was a little dicey when we were out (double reefed), but no where near survival conditions. Some of the other candidates were ready to cancel it and head in but Stan was calm as a cucumber & full of great advice. I really enjoyed listening to how he explains things to people ... indeed, a great teacher. I'd love to take the Heavy Weather or Advanced Coastal Cruising from him.

He found out I was from Alaska and he had some wild stories from his days in the USCG up there ... we were both in Kodiak back in the wild 1980's.
 
Chris
After thoroughly enjoying your "owners Maintenance" thread and hearing of your successful medical solution, I sat back to reflect on the many sailors that we hold as friends. Many are our age, mid 60s, many are well into their 70s, some are into their 80s. Mostly they are all still sailing, maybe not as hard or as far as they once did. But I think it's the fault of these damn plastic tubs that we fawn over, work on, throw money at, and love that keeps our backs strong and our minds clear. So I think there is a strong case for your "Owners Maintenance" that proves that it's our messin' around in boats that helps keep us young. Thanks!

Jim
 
Jim

Amen!

Sail!

Doctor's orders!

It's good for the mind as well as the body: anything that puts you in the present moment is good for the mind.....

I don't know if any of you have read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, but everything he says in that book is doubly true for sailboats.

And I say this as a 50-year motorcycle rider ...

Pirsig's second book "Lila" has him in a sailboat, but that book so completely missed the point of his first book that I just pretend he never wrote it.

If you haven't read ZAMM - just do it!

Get your hip replaced and read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - you'll be a new man! ... or woman, as the case may be.

Chris
 
I'm 69 two days ago had a knee replaced 8 years ago , i climbed phone poles for a living ! Than 4 years ago i was washing my wrap around porch slipped on soap and beach water and my heal touched my butt.. if any of you have had a knee replacement thats just impossible ! Well my feamer bone broke right after the metal part that goes inside the bone to hold the joint ! So they cut me again put in a plate and screws and off to rehab i went. Yup know when its about to rain.
We getting ready to go cruising to the exumas hopefully by april first or so . 3/19/16
 
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