OUR LADY -GRAIN DE SABLE- ON ANCHOR IN GOMERA ISLAND

SPECIFICATION:
MANUFACTURE: INEGRA FACTORY, BARCELONA
MODEL: PUMA 38 KETCH, 1976m
LENGHT: 11.7M
BEAM: 3.6
DRAFT: 1.8M
DISPLACEMENT: 10.5T
ENGINE: SOLE DIESEL MINI 48
FUEL TANK: 110L
WATER TANK: 2X160L

Here she is - our elegant lady s/y GRAIN DE SABLE!!! We call the boat - "her' and 'she' because for us she is our home, our life style...everything. And call her 'lady' because she is older than we (built in 1976) and can't be just girl anymore:)

We were looking for her long time, at least for us it looked long...around three years. Checking hundreds of website of boats for sale and looking looking looking. Any boat was good enough for us. Of course we were limited a lot by our budget ( yes, sadly, we are not millionaires:) and by our preferences. We wanted good, strong, seaworthy, spacious enough to live for many years, two mast and center cockpit boat. Also we wanted to find her somewhere in Europe so that we could come quickly to see her and to buy. And so Grain was just what we were looking for!

Of course she had lots of things to repair (more than we thought) and lots of equipment we needed to buy but still for us it was just a super boat:) When you like something a lot since a first glance there is not too much to decide...you want to have it! Like love from first glance. With all her pluses and minuses we felt in love with her and now she is ours!!!

S/Y GRAIN DE SABLE is Puma 38 foot cc (center cockpit) ketch, built in 1976 in Barcelona, Inerga factory. She is two mast, long keel and thick fiber glass haul boat . She has lots of place and light inside so fitted perfectly for being our first real home!!!

BUT HOW DID WE MAKE HER TO BECOME OUR REAL DREAM HOME? 

We were lucky to buy her for really low price and have her in Poland, Szczecin.  It was close (300nm) to Lithuania, and believe, it was much more cheaper for repairing than in western Europe or Spain. 
So in beginning of March, when the ice melted and the weather was more ,,,,,but just more or less 'normal' for working outside we arrived to Szczecin. Together came Egoi parents to accompany us and to help us in the first week to settle down in Szczecin. We bought two Polish super non stainless steel bikes ( go and return from rented apartment to the marina) and started an intense work. We took an advantage of being in country where you can find everything cheaper than anywhere else in Europe and in two months became beloved clients of Castorama, Jula and Leroy Merlin shops :) There are some many things for boats you can buy in ordinary shops instead of expensive yacht chandlery stores:)  

WITH THE PREVIOUS OWNERS THE DAY WE BOUGHT OUR FLOATING HOUSE!

And so after spending two cold but really great months of working and preparing our boat in Poland, in the end of April with the help of my Father we sailed her to Lithuania. 
Cold, very very cold (Egoi almost changed his idea of sailing some day to Antarctica) three days passage and we arrived to Minge harbor in Lithuania:)

WHERE IS THE SUN, DOLPHINS AND COLD BEER????...not yet, not yet...

 Than another two months in Minge. Again....working every single day in preparing our Grain.. Fortunately house of my parents and hot delicious dinners made by my mother was just 5 km away. Also our friends and people from Minge sailing club offered us their help. We were very lucky. And of course my father (and his super car-Opel Corsa) without whom probably we were not here in Canary islands now. Thanks to him and all of these people finally in the middle of July we were able to sail!!!!

IN THE SLIP OF MINGE HARBOR. WAITING TILL THE STERN OF THE BOAT WILL BE LIFTED....

​SO WHAT WAS DONE DURING THESE 4, 5 MONTHS?
A LOT!

​TECHNICAL JOB:

Reinforced rudder structure, anchor chain room and windlass, galvanized anchor chain, changed windows, installed  new arc at the stern of the boat, new moving backstays, baby stay and moving jib stay, built new auxiliary rudder and wind pilot, installed new manual water pump in the kitchen, cleaned fuel tank, fixed engine cooling system,  changed one mast stay, bought new main sail, genoa, mizzen sail and storm jib, Gps, pactor II, handheld VHF, Jacobs toilet, sewed new main sail and mizzen sail covers, made new cushions inside, build new shower room and installed new shower, moved electric panel to other place and build new chart table and captain sea, changed old owen to new one( got it like present:)) and repainted and varnished almost all interior walls and furniture. 

DESIGN JOB:

(images speak better than words or how in 4 months we became an interior designers, carpenters, plumbers, electricians and etc:)

THATS HOW WE FOUND IT:

 4 MONTHS NON STOP WORKING

AND THE RESULT!!!

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