Hey Viz. wish you the best in whatever direction your boat less life takes you!
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Re: M capsize I’ve had mine out in some pretty breezy conditions. She heels until the wind spills from the sails, of if it’s really windy, she lies on her side or thereabouts and goes to leeward in a hurry. I’m not a lake sailor. In the Florida nearshore waters, can usually see bad weather coming bu...

Re photos: I don’t have a picture. I’ll try to describe what I did. The OEM rudder has a 3/8 pin. The first year I changed that for 1/2 inch. I tried various rudders including the HDPE rudders. About four years ago, I drilled out the already oversized 1/2 inch pivot hole and placed a heavy (stainles...

Re open ocean sailing:
That is undoubtedly true. It’s nice to know the boat can do it if it has to though.

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Ok, so the ones marked “new” are the upgraded ones from BW? I’ve had my boat 14 years and am still on the original set. They are bent at the bottom. I do quite a bit of sailing. I finally put a compression stud inside the rudder pivot, which is now a half inch. This system reduced the slop, and make...

Probably not. Did he mention anything beyond bandits and the ever present bribery for anyone in authority? I’ve done some pretty rugged camping in the seventies. We didn’t have much anyone would really want and my father was a good mechanic so he was often very welcome. I’ve been saddened to see Mex...

You have to do it on the tide with the M. You have to unbolt the lower gudgions, 4 bolts. Impossible to do alone. Plus reseal with marine sealant.

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I use the title only half jokingly. While looking up the locations of some of the areas in Mexico I was drug through as a child, by my hippy parents (yes in vw vans no less) I came across this: https://i.postimg.cc/c6vz0RFy/IMG-1561.png Now for a consummate shoal water sailor, this area looks like t...

Regarding colder waters. An inflatable paddle board would be cheap life insurance. Almost no drag. A bit of a pita factor to be sure. But easy to store for people who use the boat, then leave her at a marina or other dry slip. It at least gets you out of the water and may buy you some time. How much...

I don’t think it would be possible for me to do
It alone. But if I had the part at least that’s something. I could always try to enlist other cruisers assistance. Re: Gin Clear water. Oh how I miss that!! Been too too long.

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I have a 2011 also. I’ll pick a set up. Thanks.

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Mine have the bend in them but otherwise seem to be holding up. Is it worth upgrading to the heavier ones?
Do plan on maybe an extended trip to the Bahamas.
Thanks
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My system is, harness and jack lines for off shore (too far to swim) tow a dinghy in nearshore waters which is 99% of the time. I never sail with autopilot. I rarely lash the helm. The boat will sail herself nonetheless but much less effectively. The dingy provides a way to climb back onto the boat ...

No we don’t need epirbs but the coastguard does encourage having them. Maybe I’ll investigate the satellite phone option. Thanks for all the suggestions!

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Andros is pretty remote and I may not have a set destination per sey. It might be a week or two before anyone notices they haven’t heard from me. I could probably rig a three day timer which would activate the epirb if I didn’t reset it, but before doing that I wanted to see if the concept already e...