1. •Fewer things to break. No sheaves, wires, chain, clutches, brakes, gears etc.  A broken wire or sheave at sea will ruin your voyage. I know several boats this has happened to.
2. •Better rudder feel. I can feel the weigh on the boat with my eyes closed.
3. •Quicker rudder response. I can move the rudder full starboard to full port in one second.
4. •I know what the rudder position is at a glance, no rudder indicator needed.
5. •The monitor self-steering works better (has more leverage) and is easier to adjust with a tiller. The monitor does 99% of the steering at sea, so it does the long tricks. The tiller is long enough to be easy to wield. Adjustable tiller lines keep the tiller movement within a small range (like on tiller steered sailing ships).
6. •Way more room in the cockpit at anchor (lash the tiller in a vertical position to the backstay).
7. •We can steer from the forward end of the cockpit (under the dodger) instead of behind the wheel where it's wet and windy.
8. •We can steer from practically any position in the cockpit, in fact: sitting down, standing up, forward, aft, etc., just by lifting the tiller.
9. •Easier to singlehand. I can steer no hands, standing up with the tiller between my legs, leaving my hands for sheets, winches, traveler, or my pockets. No pedestal in my way.
10. •Easier to lash the tiller for heaving to or adjusting out weather helm. Wheel brakes WILL fail and are not trustworthy unattended when they are set.
11. •Instruments can be mounted out of the weather at eye height when sitting. Compass is always in front of you.
12. •Cheaper to repair, replace, maintain.

1. •Cheaper, less weight, less storage space, less noise.
2. •No hassles starting, maintaining, storing, lowering and lifting or cleaning up after.
3. •No gasoline to buy, fill or store on the boat.
4. •We use an Avon Redcrest with 6.5 ft. wooden oars. I can row faster than I can walk and if one considers all the time it takes for all the hassles associated with an outboard, I think oars are faster!

1. •We don’t carry boat insurance, except for liability (only) when required by marinas (US) or Mexico (we haven’t been required to carry it anywhere else).
2. •We don’t carry health insurance. Health care is so cheap outside of the US that we’ve been able to afford it out of pocket so far. For example, a doctor’s office visit in Fiji was $10. A physical, including labs and a prescription for antibiotics at the hospital in the Marshall Islands was $17. None of the pharmacies in the countries we’ve visited required prescriptions for non-narcotic drugs and the meds were much, much cheaper than in the US. For example, 30 tabs of amoxicillan 500mg cost us $3 in Fiji.

1. •We use Peter Eastman MD’s Advanced First Aid Afloat as our authority for first aid on board. In the book, he has a suggested list of supplies and drugs which we use as a guide to stock our first aid kit. The antibiotics, especially, have proved useful on a number of occasions in the Tropics.

1. •We have a close relative receive the small amount of mail we get. We arrange to have all bank statements and other documents that can be posted online, handled that way. Our relative informs us of anything important via email. Anything that requires our seeing, like income tax documents (1099’s etc.), he scans and emails to us. We handle tax returns the same way, via scanned documents to our tax person.

1. •We bank online. We use direct deposit to put money in the bank. We use ATM’s to withdraw it. ATM’s are available almost everywhere (e.g. Tonga!). For larger purchases, we use a credit card (NEVER a debit card) and pay off the card online through the bank. It’s easy. We can send checks, transfer money and perform other banking functions online. It is really convenient.
2. •Internet access is available in most towns and cities. We use a Radiolabs WiFi antenna to reach providers anywhere within a mile or two of the boat.

1. •In the tropics, we are typically able to catch all the water we need. The tall gunnels of Pacific Seacrafts make it easy. When it rains, it usually rains hard enough to rinse the deck in a few minutes. Then we plug the scuppers with rubber stoppers (clean rags will also work) and collect water from the deck just forward of the sheet winches by kneeling on the cockpit seats and scooping with a tall narrow Tupperware container that has a handle on it. Each scoop gleans two quarts or more (many times it rains so hard the decks fill to the caprail and we have to loosen the plugs). Using a large funnel, each scoop is emptied into a five gallon jerry jug. We have four jugs. Then we treat the water with bleach and empty the jugs into the boat’s tanks using a funnel lined with a clean cloth to catch particulate. It is possible to fill the stern tank by simply opening the fill cap and letting the rain flow in, but we’ve found it hard to know how much bleach to add if we do that. Also, it is harder to filter what goes into the tank.
2. •We rarely try to catch water at sea unless we are becalmed.
3. •Chlorox water treatment: 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallons.
4. •We run the water through a portable water filter to remove the chlorine taste before drinking.

1. •Cruising Under Sail (combines the old Cruising Under Sail and Voyaging Under Sail) by Eric Hiscock. If you can’t find the combined edition, get the separate editions.
2. •How to Sail Around the World by Hal Roth
3. •Sailmaker’s Apprentice by Emiliano Marino
4. •The Complete Rigger’s Apprentice by Brion Toss
5. •Advanced First Aid Afloat by Peter Eastman MD
6. •Sail Power by Wallace Ross
7. •Practical Navigation for the Yachtsman by Frederick Devereux (includes celestial navigation)
8. •Meteorology by William L. Donn
9. •Royce’s Sailing Illustrated by Patrick M. Royce

1. •LOA: 34' 1'
2. •LWL: 26' 2.5"
3. •Beam: 10'
4. •Mast Height above WL: 44' 3" (no appendages)
5. •Draft: 4' 11"
6. •Ballast: 4800 lbs. (standard keel)
7. •Hull speed: 7 knots
8. •Blocking height to pull rudder (wheel): 13 inches
9. •Blocking height to pull rudder (tiller): 31 inches
10. •Rudder length: 68-1/2" (shaft length)
11. •Rudder flax packing: 5/16"
12. •Hull Identification Number (HIN) Example: PSC34146K789
13. (PSC=Builders Code, 34= Model, 146=Hull Number, K7=Month, 89=Year)
14. Month Codes: Jan=A, Feb=B, Mar=C, Apr=D, May=E, Jun=F,
15. Jul=G, Aug=H, Sep=I, Oct=J, Nov=K, Dec=L
16. •Bootstripe Color: Tartan Green by Sterling Paints
17. •Gelcoat: Champagne by Spectrum Color
18. •Mast & Boom: LeFiell Manufacturing (Santa Fe Springs, CA)
19. •Year vinylester resin was first used in PSC hulls (osmosis protection): sometime in 1988.
20. •Cockpit Winch Sizes (Lewmar): Sheet = 50’s, Halyard and Stays’l = 44’s (3)

1. •Engine mounts (3JH2E) Yanmar p/n's: 124772-08341 (tension 100 starboard),121370-08351 (tension 150 port)
2. •Oil Filter: Wix 51568, Fram PH5046 or Yanmar 119305-35150
3. •Impeller: Yanmar 129470-42532
4. •O-Ring for Impeller: Yanmar 24341-000600
5. •V-Belt: Yanmar 171087-42280 or Goodyear 17456
6. •Propellor: 3-blade 17” x 10”
7. •Propellor shaft: 1” x 36”
8. •Cutless Bearing: 1 x 1-3/8” x 4” (Morse "Bloater")
9. •Shaft Coupling: Buck Algonquin 50-MCY00410
10. •Coupling bolts torque: 22 ft./lbs. but only if 304 s/s 3/8" fine thread used.
11. •Shaft Packing: 3/16”
12. •Hose between packing gland and shaft log: Buck Algonquin: 80ho175
13. •Prop anode (zinc) complete with nut: Electroguard PN-2006-R (3/4” - 10 RH nut)
14. •Prop anode (zinc) only: propeller nut anode Camp “C” (1” - 1-1/2” shaft)

1. •45 pound CQR with 240 feet 3/8” HDG high test chain (G4)
2. •FX-16 (10 pound) Fortress with 20 feet 5/16” HDG chain and 200 feet 3-strand nylon line
3. •Muir VM-500 manual windlass.

1. •Icom M802 HF marine radio (SSB and Ham: we highly recommend getting a general class, or higher, Ham license.)
2. •Icom M304 VHF
3. •Icom M72 submersible handheld VHF (in ditch bag)
4. •Furuno GP5 GPS (Two old Lowrance handhelds for backup). (We have a sextant and tables for backup. I navigated with a sextant for the cruise in the 1970’s and 1980’s. I used H.O. 229 then but use H.O. 249, Volume I, now. It’s cheaper and easier.)
5. •MacBook with GPSNavX chart plotting software (free US charts)
6. •ACR GlobalFix EPIRB
7. •Simrad AI50 AIS (stand alone)
8. •Sony Stereo

1. •All Coast Guard required items
2. •Plastimo four man liferaft in valise stowed in starboard cockpit locker.
3. •Avon Redcrest dinghy which is also our tender, no engine (6.5 ft. oars)
4. •Ditch bag with flares, watermaker, food, signal mirror, UW flashlight, handheld VHF, horn

1. •Main Halyard: 96' (7/16")
2. •Jib Halyard: 97' (7/16")
3. •Main Sheet: 63' (1/2")
4. •Jib Sheet: 52' (1/2)
5. •Traveller: 14'' (5/16")
6. •Staysail Halyard: 68' (7/16")
7. •Staysail Sheet: 36' (3/8")
8. •Reef Line1: 61' (3/8")
9. •Reef Line2: 66' (3/8")
10. •Running Backstays: Each is 50’ T-900 with a spliced in solid thimble.

1. •Jibstay: 41' 1.25" (Swan’s is 41’ 3.5” due to mast rake).
2. •Backstay: 43' 5"
3. •Uppers:    39' 5'
4. •Forward Lowers: 20' 1.75"
5. •After Lowers: 20' 3"
6. •Forestay: 27’ 10”

1. •The mast is raked about as much as the fore and aft width of the mast.
2. •Swan’s rigging is 9/32” 316 stainless steel (9250# breaking strength), except for the jibstay, which is 5/16” (10,600# breaking strength).
3. •We tune with the forestay (staysail stay) slack. Then we tension it lightly (about 300 pounds) after the rest of the rigging is tuned.
4. •The uppers are tensioned to about 650 pounds tension (Loos guage).
5. •The forward lowers are tensioned to about 700 pounds.
6. •The after lowers are set to about 350 pounds.
7. •The backstay is set to about 650 pounds.
8. •The jibstay turnbuckle is set so that when the backstay is tensioned to about 650 pounds, the jibstay will be about 870–900 pounds (5/16” wire) and there is about 2” of aftward bend at the tip of the mast.
9. •When the forestay is finally tensioned, it will cause the forward lowers to ease to about 600 pounds and the after lowers to tighten to about 450 pounds. The bend at the mast tip will also increase slightly.
10. •When sailing with the staysail, the running backstay tensions the forestay and helps straighten its luff.