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| Cockpit looking aft | Cockpit looking forward | Bridgedeck Mounted Traveler |
Here's what Malakii looked like when I purchased her in Guatemala in the fall of 2002. There's stuff all over the place in these photos, as I had emptied everything out to see what was on her. It took quite a while to get things organized...
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| Cockpit looking aft | Cockpit looking forward | Bridgedeck Mounted Traveler |
Note the arched aluminum "seat" behind the wheel, the PVC beer can holders, the PVC fishing rod holders. The two instruments on the left of the cabin face are wind speed and direction, but did not work because the instruments at the masthead were trashed.
The wooden box in the cockpit well behind the wheel pedestal is a cover for the dinghy gastank. It was always in the way, and eventually broke. I haven't yet found a good place to store the dinghy gas, however.
Also note the frayed control line on the traveler. None of the lines on the boat were frayed when I arrived. However, all of them were in pretty poor shape. I will be replacing a lot of them in the next year, assuming I get the engine running and do more sailing on her.
The instrument panel mounted below the traveler inside the cockpit well is for the engine. This is one of the worst places I can think of to mount it, since if you take a wave into the cockpit it will probably short out or otherwise ruin the instruments, depending on whether you are running the engine or not. Unfortunately, there's a definite lack of alternate good places to mount it.
There are five rope clutches on each side of the cabin top, leading to a non-self-tailing winch. There are only three lines currently rove through them -- all halyards. Unfortunately, the halyards are secondhand ones not sized properly for the boat. They are too large, and jam in the clutches. In addition, they are combination rope / wire halyards, originally sized as if the winches were on the mast, where the wire is supposed to make six turns around the mast-mounted winch. As a consequence, since they are led aft, the wire feeds through the blocks at the base of the mast and the turning blocks mounted on deck to redirect them to the clutches. Since the sheaves in the blocks weren't designed to handle wire, they wore through in some previous year. The former owners didn't bother to replace them, they just re-routed them through another block and started wearing it out. I've shortened all the halyards so this is no longer a problem, but in the end they need to be replaced with all rope halyards of proper diameter and length, or else go back to raising the sails from the mast using the mast winch. This will require acquiring another winch to mount on the port side of the mast, since there is currently only a single winch on the starboard side; or moving one of the cabin top winches back to the mast, where they originally came from.
There is also only one cleat mounted on each side of the cabin top. I don't like depending on a rope clutch to hold the lines, so I'd like to add a few more cleats on each side. Right now I use up the one available cleat when I run a jackline from the bow.
There are also two rope clutches mounted on the cover for the companionway slide. You can't see them in the photo because there is a hose sitting on deck.
Note the solar panel mounted on the upturned hatch in front of the mast. It's since been moved to on top of the dinghy davits.
If you look in the center under the companionway hatch, you'll see the GPS mounted there. It's a head-banger, but is a reasonable compromise for being able to see it in bad weather.
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| Foredeck | Foredeck | Starboard Deck |
There are two hatches on the foredeck. One above the vee berth, and another above the head / hanging locker area. The one above the head had the solar charger mounted on it when I bought Malakii. I moved it to bars mounted across the dinghy davits.
The sail covers are about worn out. The zippers need replacing, and the material, while still sound, is worn through from rubbing in a few places. Not sure when I'll get to that.
In the first photo, the long pole mounted on the starboard deck is the spinnaker pole. There are a bunch of 1" aluminum tubes tied to the deck next to it. They are general construction materials. I moved them down below to make more room on deck. On the port side is a shorter pole. Noone has ever been able to tell me exactly what it is for; it has a strange fitting on one end, and a spinnaker pole fitting on the other. I think it is probably meant for use when flying the spinnaker, but I'm not sure.
There is a small anchor locker in the forepeak. Unfortunately, it's only large enough for one full (300') rode. The former owners divided it in two by stuffing a pickle bucket under the original chainpipe, but it isn't very satisfactory when divided. Neither space is large enough for more than about 120 feet of rode and chain, and neither space feeds well. There is an anchor winch mounted on the foredeck. It's a good hand winch, but it's designed to drop chain straight down, and it's mounted way too far aft of the chainpipe to work that way. In addition, it makes it impossible to use the sailtrack mounted on the foredeck.
There were two anchors on rollers at the bow. One, a 22 lb. danforth, is just right for Malakii. The other, a 15 lb. CQR, is way too small. I would like to replace it with a 33 lb. Bruce or CQR.
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| Vee Berth |
The vee berth is relatively comfortable. It has storage underneath in two compartments, one forward and one aft, plus drawers underneath on either side. There are bookshelves along each side, but they have no fiddles or cargo nets, so they are next to useless in their original state.
The cover at the forward end of the vee berth is access to the anchor locker.
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| Head | Head |
The head is the usual affair with a sink, all on the port side aft of the vee berth. No shower. There is a shower of sorts via a long hose from the galley sink up into the cockpit, but it's more fun to use a solar shower because you get hot water then.
As for all the *stuff* in the pictures, the former owners had every kind of bug spray and gunk known to man, and half a dozen kinds of suntan lotion, and a bazillion other things. I've managed to junk some of it, but I'm terrified that if I pitch the bug spray, I'll be attacked by hoardes of beasties I've only had nightmares about.
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| Hanging Locker |
There is a hanging locker across from the head, with three drawers for storage and a shelf above. I have the drawers full of tools and repair materials. The thing going diagonally across the front of the cabinet is a fishing rod, stuck there at the time because I didn't have a better place to put it. The silver ovals are folding steps for entering and exiting out the hatch above.
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| Salon | Starboard Settee / Pilot Berth | Port Settee / Pilot Berth |
The main cabin is the usual arrangement with a settee on each side and a table in the middle. The table folds down against the mast when not in use. There is a pilot berth above and outboard of each of the settees. Under the starboard settee is a 35 gal fresh water tank, with a little storage left over. The port settee is all storage underneath. I put about 20 gal of drinking water down there, plus more storage. There is additional storage under the pilot berths, as well as in them. Currently, sails are on the starboard side, and foodstuffs on the port side.
You can't see much in the photos because of all the stuff I've pulled out from storage and have sitting on the settees and in the pilot berths.
Note the television mounted over the port pilot berth. Fortunately, it didn't work, and I had no incentive to keep it. The dual mirrors have also been removed. Malakii had four mirrors when I first arrived. Three too many. Space is too valuable to waste on mirrors.
There were two portable coolers on Malakii when I got her. It seemed a waste of space to me, so I got rid of one. I'll probably get rid of the other one as well. Rather than buy coolers, it seems to me one should fix the ice box to work better.
The book rack with fiddle mounted on the bulkhead above the port settee is great.
If you look behind the mast into the vee berth you can see the storage drawers under the berth.
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| Companionway | Galley |
The galley is pretty inconvenient. The sink is under the bridgedeck, and you end up stooping to use it.
The ice box was not particularly well insulated originally. The previous owners added a lot of insulation, which helped. Unfortunately, they foamed in the plumbing for the sink, which means I will need to tear it out to service the hand pump at the sink. Also unfortunate is the fact that one side of the ice box is against the hull, which is dark, so it gets pretty warm. Packed with about 80 pounds of ice, it will hold food for about a week.
The stove is the original two burner alcohol job. I liked it, although a lot of people don't. I wish, however, there were also an oven. The previous owners didn't like using the alcohol stove, so there is also a two burner coleman propane camp stove. It heats faster.
Note the mirror behind the sink. Talk about impractical! I ripped it out...
The electrical panel is on the bulkhead behind the ice box. I've since replaced all the ad-hoc switches on the right side with another panel of switches and fuses, and completely redone most of the wiring. What a mess it was...
The ice box is under the gallon jug; the stove is on the right under coleman stove under the pots and pans. There is more storage for pots and pans outboard behind the stove and icebox.
Under the companionway stairs is one of the accesses to the engine. There is another to its right, another around the corner to the left on the starboard side, and yet another aft from the port cockpit locker. Adequate access, particularly for this vintage boat. The batteries (two, one house and one engine) are under the companionway stairs. The red gizmo mounted to the left of the stairs is the battery switch.
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| Nav Station | Under the Nav Station |
There is a good-sized nav station, something I like a lot. I like working with good ol' paper charts, and a lot of space makes that easier. Flares and such are stored under the nav station; there is also a small shelf for books or charts or binoculars, etc. The VHF radio is mounted above the nav station under the deck. The spiral cord leading to the right goes to a light. There is a combination CD player / FM radio under the nav table.