boat

Otra Vida is a 1991 Moody 376 bermudan sloop modified for long distance live-aboard cruising.

I bought Otra Vida in 2005 in Barcelona and since then have carried out three significant refits:

• 2006 - new engine, bimini, rigging, stove, refrigeration
• 2009 - stern arch and lifelines, wind gen, new mast and rigging, new sails, interior changes
• 2012 - complete rewiring and replumbing, interior refit, insulation and heating

The boat has a relatively shallow draft of about 1.45m when fully provisioned, and is quite sea-kindly.  The keel is a Scheel keel, an early version of what eventually evolved to became a bulb keel, and is fairly long.  The keel attachment area of the hull is extremely strong as we found out when running into an uncharted rock in French Guiana at 6kts.

The mast and rigging refit in 2009 was carried out to prepare the boat for high latitude sailing.  I replaced the in-mast furling with a slab-reefed mainsail on a new and preventitively reinforced mast with oversize standing rigging.

The engine, a 36HP Yanmar 3JH3E, has been very reliable.   Corrosion on Otra Vida´s original mild steel fuel tank resulted in a small leak in 2014 (not bad after 23 years) and has been replaced by an aluminium fuel tank. 

Following several years of generally minor but irritating electrical and plumbing problems I decided to completely rewire and replumb the boat in 2012, a sizeable project that took 4 months of daily work on the hard.  The result has been no electrical or plumbing problems since relaunch, and a much more straightforward and understandable set of systems on board.

I also have a more longstanding simplification project on the boat.  The generator that came with the boat when I bought it was removed in 2012.  I removed the watermaker in 2015, and changed from an inflatable with a 15HP engine to a rowing dinghy with a 2.5HP engine.  I will gradually move to some manual pumps and a manual windlass as the electrical versions fail.  The boat is already self-sufficient in power with solar and wind sources.

Overall Otra Vida is a comfortable boat to live on and an enjoyable boat to sail.  She remains a project boat, as I suppose all boats do, and I have some ideas on moving towards greater simplicity and reliability that will get tried out over the next years.