No captain wants to hear the words “we are taking on water”, but if it does I hope you can resolve it as successfully as we did. Sadly, I ran…
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POSTS ABOUT WORKING ON THE BOAT
I just submitted the following article to be published in a How To section of a sailing magazine. As a loyal follower of ours I always like to give you…
Last month Lily had to go back to Mexico for a week and she was very excited when she got back, because she brought a Mexican flag to fly on…
We got back to Guiding Light after leaving her on the hard in Rio Dulce, Guatemala during the 2022 hurricane season on November 3rd. Once we left my friend’s house…
I wrote an article about a DIY project I completed last year where I made a new cover board for the navigation station. I am going to submit it to…
Last blog I left you as I was motoring around the south side of Grenada on my way to Grenada Marine in St David, which is on the southeast corner…
Hey everyone. Why don’t you join me this afternoon for a Live YouTube video talking about boats! I will be sitting with my best friend and we will be discussing…
I have a stainless steel marine grade BBQ grill that I mounted on a stern rail. It is attached to a bracket that is screwed around the pipe of the…
During the global pandemic I was stuck aboard Guiding Light, a Lagoon 410, in St Lucia for over a month. During that time I worked on the boat and started…
Since I have been stuck on St Lucia during this pandemic I decided it was long past time that I pull all my spare parts out of the locker I…
As I stated a few days ago, I have been blessed to be in St Lucia during this pandemic. During this time I have worked on several boat projects including…
Since I was in Trinidad for two and a half to three weeks and staying in Chaguaramas where all the yacheting facilities are, I figured I should get a few…
Today I am publishing a video blog showing me raising, sailing, and dousing my new-to-me spinnaker sail. I bought a used ParaSailor at the end of last season and set…
I had my engines replaced last off season and ever sense my starboard engine was just not spitting out enough raw water that is used to cool the engine. The…
Right after I dropped my Christmas charter off in St Vincent I realized that it was nice and sunny out, but I was not charging my batteries. After some diagnosing…
Once again I flew back to the boat at the end of hurricane season to get it ready for the new sailing season. This is the second year in a…
As of right now I am in Turkey exploring the Aegean coast. So far this offseason I have been to Chicago, New York City, Kaliningrad (Russia), Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia,…
After exploring St Kitts and Nevis I had a good weather window to make the 260 mile sail to Bequia in the Grenadines. I had a couple aboard that wanted…
Since I am leaving the Virgin Islands and will not be back in US waters for some time and my batteries were getting near the end (I already lost one…
When I first bought Guiding Light almost 10 years ago, it was a 4 cabin/4 head Lagoon 410. In order to take a shower, you basically sat on the toilet…
My outside table is white fiberglass and needs to have a tablecloth on it to give the cockpit some color. In the past I have used brown, but I was…
When I first bought the Guiding Light in May 2009 one of the first things I did was replace the old plow style anchor with a brand new 33 kilo…
I know I have not been good this last week about getting blogs out and I apologize about that. The truth is I was so focused on rebuilding my shower…
This week I have been telling you why I left the Guiding Light in Granada Marine and how they installed brand new engines. I was lucky and got the boat…
The big project I had done on Guiding Light this year was to have the staff at Grenada Marine take out the old Yanmar 3GM30 engines and SD20 sail drives…
I hope you enjoyed reading about Steve and my adventures in Tobago over the last three weeks. From there we sailed to Trinidad and explored around there for several weeks…
We are talking about boat systems & electric motors with Joel James in this episode of the Guiding Light Podcast. Joel helped me chose to purchase a Lagoon 410, and…
unfortunately the Windward Island of the Caribbean have a reputation of being a bit rougher than the Virgin Islands. I am sure that most of this is blown out of…
I have been having a water leak in my port engine compartment for a while now. As soon as it happened I figured it was the seal on raw water…
For several years I have wanted to find time so I could get around to replacing the vinyl ceiling in the aft port cabin. A combination of moisture from the shower…
As some of you know I had a cooling water clog on my dinghy engine for almost two years. I did everything I could think of to get it cleared….
Living on a boat means that you are in charge of everything you use including your electricity. This is done with your house battery. My house battery is actually six…
I have a Lofrans Tigres windlass that I think was originally installed at the factory when Guiding Light was built. Given that the windlass is 20 years old I am…
The Guiding Light came with a salt water pump installed at the galley sink. Actually it came with a salt water pump and a fresh water pump on top of…
A while back I did a Facebook Live video where I walked around the boat and talked about some of the different projects I had worked on that week. One…
Back in 2014 I bought a new dinghy and engine for the Guiding Light. I got a Caribe 12″ RIB dinghy and a 25 HP Tohatsu to push it. You…
Three years ago, Sam Train, a naval officer stationed in Newport, Rhode Island, asked his wife, Francesca Spidalieri, if she’d be willing to live on a boat. “She said ‘Sure,’”…
Living on a boat sounds cool, but is it right for your lifestyle? With real estate rocketing in cities like London, San Francisco, Vancouver, more and more millennials have a…
I had an old style sun screen in each cabin. They were ok, but all they were was a blind you pulled and hooked around two tabs. Replacing these will…
A bridle on a catamaran is a line that goes from a secure spot on each bow to a single point in front of the boat and attached to either…
During the summer I had the boatyard in Fajardo, Puerto Rico install two hatches I had bought to replace the almost 20 year old ones on the boat. These were…
Shane wrote about our engine problem that stopped working half way to Barbuda during our Antigua blogs. Well this time as we while we were in Nevis and motoring towards…
Melek and I wanted to see Barbuda as part of our cruise around the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean and instead of sailing to Antigua and then up to Barbuda…
A couple weeks ago, my fresh water pump was cycling every half hour or so with a quick half second growl, GGGRRRRR, so I knew I had a small leak…
During the first week of the season I looked up and saw that the mooring light (you turn it on when you are anchored or moored for the night) at…
When I got back to the boat to start the new season one of the projects I wanted to do was make the frig and freezer run better and more…
Let me start with the fact that there was nothing wrong with the old seat. The fabric was just worn out. The seat itself was a white vinyl with textured lines…
Every year I fly a different pirate flag from my mast (the USA flag flies on the topping lift in the back of the boat over the cockpit) and last…
Last season I was working in the starboard engine compartment changing the oil or something when I found a part I did not recognize. Of course I became concerned and…
A new set of cushions will run you $4000 – $6000 dollars, so it makes sense that you will want to keep that investment in the best condition possible for…
After I spent five days in Puerto Rico making sure the Guiding Light was ready after her four month stay on the hard in Puerto Del Rey, I had it…
With two weeks left in my season I had a propane tank run out of gas. Now I carry 10 pound bottles, so running out of gas happens about once…
This year I ended my charters the second week of July instead of waiting until the end of July. So last week my friend Leala, you might remember her as…
Who says FaceBook isn’t good for more than seeing videos of cats and how perfect everyone’s life is? A few months ago I saw a post shared by a friend…
Since I replaced the old mattresses, three years ago, my boat came with I have had so many people state how comfortable my beds from mattressnextday are. Some people go…
Let me introduce myself- I’m Leala- aka Mermaid-Pirate McGee. I visit and work with Shane on occasion, and sometimes write blogs for SV Guiding light. Recently Shane had some time…
The anchor windlass is a wonderful piece of equipment that makes it much easier to get your rode and anchor back on the boat. It makes cruising easier and more…
I do not own a lot of stuff. A side from boat equipment and kitchen utensils I probable have 15 t-shirts, 15 shorts, 4 pairs of footwear (I have no…
When I first bought my boat everything was rigged to the base of the mast including the main halyard. It took two people up there to raise it while someone…
When you visit a boat there are things you must learn and get accustomed to like having a cabin consist of only a bunk, small closet, and just enough room…
You must sing the title to the tune of “London Bridges” to get the humor in this potentially catastrophic situation. You see I was sailing close hauled in 25+ knots…
The last upgrade I did this off season was to replace both of my sails. Gone are the worn out, stained, and stretched out sheets of fabric I had before….
I have now had my new cushions for an entire year and in order to get the most life out of them I want to take care of them. That…
I have to admit that I did not know that until I was looking up other ways to say that I raised the flags on the boat and they are…
For a couple years I had a faucet at the galley sink that I loved, because it had a pull out handle and was positioned above the dishes instead of…
Lifelines are metal wires encircling your boat to keep people from falling overboard and mine were old. In fact I actually had one break and I fell overboard. It happened…
When I bought my boat it had four 80 watt solar panels already installed over the dinghy davits and I could not have been more happy because it keep…
I am brand new owner of a Force 10 three burner stove and oven. Of course you might be wondering why I got a new oven this offseason. Well the…
After my hectic week in Puerto Rico getting the boat commissioned and in the water I have been enjoying the quite and relaxing island of Culebra For the…
I really enjoy what I do to support the lifestyle I have, but it is not all parties, beaches, and snorkeling as some people think. In fact once my guest…
Sometimes you need to step back and have someone else look at a project to give you a fresh perspective and another way to look at a problem. This was…
I have been very blessed since I started my charter business and have been booked fairly solidly. This means most of the time I only have 24 or 48 hours…
Even living on a boat you would be amazed how reliant I am for 110 volt AC electrical power. I did not realize how much I want this type of…
Last week I hauled the boat out of the water, stripped all the gear off of it, and strapped it down in a field on the east coast of Puerto…
So I had a great time in Peru and hiking Machu Picchu, but the one time I let someone handle my backpack they break the screen on my computer. The…
After my whirlwind trip through Peru seeing all the sites and tasting all the food, I came back and had a charter two days later. Now this charter was about…
The other week I was taking guest to the Full Moon Party in Trellis Bay, which is on Beef Island in the BVI. It is always a fun time and…
Yes, but just so you know we are talking about the rope brakes. These are devises attached to the deck that different lines pass through. They pull freely one way,…
I have a helpful hint for you. You see on the last day of a recent charter I lost total steerage on my boat, because the chain that goes around…
My kitchen sink faucet broke, because the plate on the underside rusted through. Once I got the new faucet it was a matter of 45 minutes to install the new…
I am very excited to announce that my current guest are the first to get the newly re-designed Guiding Light water bottles. I provide water bottles as a souvenir of…
I was having a tough time getting a good connection on my battery cable, so I decided to tackle the issue. A simple trick to try first is to soak…
The other day the solenoid for my propane shut off and I could not get it to come back on. I jiggled the wires and it would beep on for…
Another boat improvement I just completed is changing out five more hatches on the boat. This is a continuation of the hatches in the heads I replaced. Again I went…
The Honda 2000 portable generator is fantastic piece of equipment for cruisers. It provides power and battery charging capabilities in a small package and without the expense of a full…
For the last week my starboard engine was having trouble starting. Funny thing was that I would try again an hour later and it would fire right up. I thought…
…And when it goes out the boat suffers. On my last charter we notice a rip in the main on the 2nd to last day after we had a great…
When I was in Anegada with some guest a couple weeks ago I was raising the anchor and it stopped halfway into the process. It would still go down, but…
My boat came with three strand dock lines and I have used them for five and a half years. I never liked them because they were rough on your hands,…
My boat has a lofrens Tigres windless on it. In fact it may have come from the factory this way, but it keeps on working. So I am happy to…
On most boats propane is very important, because you can not have hot coffee with out it. 🙂 With that said my boat came with a locker to hold two…
Ladies and gentlemen, the new charter season has begun and that means it is time to put up new flags on the Guiding Light. I have an American flag flying…
If you are I would love if you help me out. You see I set up an account and have put all kinds of photos and videos for people to…
As you know I got the boat back in the water two weeks ago. During my time in the yard I got lots of projects and upgrades done on the…
Most people think I live an amazing life all the time down here in paradise, and usually I can’t disagree with them. But putting the boat back in the water…
When I hauled the boat out of the water this year I had help from Leala, her daughter Zoe, my friend Kris, her husband Don, and her daughter Bella. It…
I have been learning how to sail aboard the Guiding Light and Captain Shane has been teaching me what and what not to do. As we were walking one evening…
I can’t believe it has happened, but last week I had to walk the plank on my own boat. I had 48 hours between two charters and took dock space…
Anegada is a delightful island on the far end of the BVI. It is flat, sandy, and developed from coral unlike the rest of the Virgin Islands which were volcanic…
Well it is official. The first named storm of the season is called Arthur. It is working its way up the East Coast. Check it out at the National Hurricane…
The other day I woke up with a charter in the Bight on Norman Island. I was busy making coffee, get breakfast out, looking over the boat, and other…
Every one has their trials in life. You know things they need to learn from. Well this summer I have been helping out Shane on the Guiding Light. We have…
Ladies and gentlemen, This is not going to be the most exciting blog you have ever read, but just like living on a boat sometimes it is not all fun…
Well it happened again. I have upgraded the Guiding Light once again. This time I added wi-fi hardware so my guest can get internet in the BVI. I found this…
Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce my new tender. It is a 12 foot Caribe with a 25 horse power 4 stroke engine that will get up and…
In January I found a toy at one of the Beach Bars in the North Sound that was so much fun. It was a 6 foot by 20 foot foam…
Besides my homemade bread for lunch and me cooking some dinners for you while on charter, a benefit of chartering aboard the Guiding Light is the fact I will pick…
Every now and then I get people aboard that really enjoy fishing. In fact I have had two different guest this year bring a duffle bag of lures and supplies…
When I got my boat five years ago some of the hatches over the heads were cracked, so I went to a regular glass company and had them cut pexiglass…
A great invention for cruisers in the last 20-30 years has been the roller fulering headsail (or front sail). This allows you to roll (or wrap) the jib around the…
Last week I had 5 days between charters and one of the projects I had to do was my scheduled oil change and once a year I like to replace…
The trampoline is the netting on the bow of most catamarans. It is where everyone heads to lay out and relax, but unlike the name implies it is not for…
I have double walled 12 ounce cups aboard the Guiding Light for everyone to use, but how do you know who’s is who’s? I started putting stickers on the cups…
Due to the environment I live in I wanted to get a new duffle bag and backpack that were waterproof. What I found was the 105 liter Shackelton duffle bag…
As many of you know, on the Guiding Light each cabin has a theme. We have the sailing room, the firefighter room, and the pirate room. Well I always had…
I finally got my new curtains up and am now ready to share my new solon photos with you. Carol at Atlantic Canvas and Sail, here at Puerto Del Rey,…
Yea! Guiding Light is floating in the water again. I was set in the water around 10am and motored to my assigned dock space, where I will be for two…
My name is Guiding Light and I want to tell you what Captain Shane did to me. Can you believe back in mid August he took me out of the…
I am sad, because today is the last full day my parents will be in Puerto Rico with me. They have been a tremendous help getting the boat ready for…
Work on the boat is progressing nicely. I have yard guys all over the boat working on fiberglass and thru hulls today. This afternoon my dad and I started working…
After a wonderful, relaxing, and yet productive time off the boat I flew back to Puerto Rico with my parents in tow. Besides enjoying their company I need to use…
so back to the boat I went!!! Of course I could not go back without new stuff for the boat. You should have seen the check in lady’s face when…
While my last several blogs, about my time in the Spanish VI and Puerto Rico, have been posting, I had several people comment through the website (remember you can leave…
Just as my mother shared things she learned while being aboard last week, I learned a few things while having my parents visit. Be careful of how much you make…
On a boat it becomes your identity! As cruisers we rarely know each other’s last names, only our boat’s name. Some examples are “aren’t you Shane on Guiding Light”, “Ahoy…
During the end of the hurricane season I had my old cloth bimini replaced with a fiberglass hardtop as I wrote about at the beginning of November. I love the…
This week I participated in the USVI boat show, where I had the opportunity to talk to 30 or so different charter brokers. Each one stayed aboard for 20-30 minutes…
Hello everyone! I am Captain Shane’s brother, Vance. Since Shane’s charters are in the Virgin Islands I had the unique opportunity to visit St Maarten as I was asked to…
My brother and I just pulled into Cruz Bay on St John after an overnight motor sail from St Maarten. I finally left the shipyard even though they had not…
Well here I sit in a St Maarten shipyard with my boat still on hard ground. I left the boat here for over a month and a half with the…
Well everyone it is Thursday and I am heading to Miami at 600 knots, so I must be on an airplane or setting a new sailing record. TJ and Patrick…
Hello everyone this is Shane again and this week I had to use my National Park Service assigned spot for the first time. Tropical Storm Isaac passed within a hundred…
Hello my name is Chris. Audrey and I hopped on the Guiding Light for the 8th and 9th day of our 10 day honeymoon in St. John. Being a boat…
During my time in The Bahamas I had the honor of flying a flag which flew over the Maryland State Capital and was presented to a past crewmate as a…
If I did not already know it then the island of St John let me know this week. You see Sunday I had a day charter with some returning guest…
Everything takes longer in the Caribbean. I ordered a terminal for one of my lifelines three weeks ago. At the end of two weeks I called and then a few…
Lately people have been asking me if I have air conditioning aboard my vessel (mostly from the brokers trying to sell the charters to future guest, but also individuals looking…
This blog is to help inform all those newly licensed or wanting to be licensed captains out there. For Americans the US Coast Guard is the issuing and policing agency…
It is great when things come together. My friend Jasmeet was about to jump on a cruise with his wife and another couple. Just days before they boarded he started…
I met with the ladies at Flagship Charter Service, which is a charter clearing house where they can get me represented with several brokers. They liked the boat, but said…
Joel and I have been overwhelmed with the amount of wildlife here in the Virgin Islands. When we were in St John we walked from Francis Bay to the Annaberg…
When Joel talked about coming out my original plan was tospend a week or so exploring the Turks Island group with him and then making a passage to the Virgin…
This week I hung out in Sapodilla Bay (see 1st photo) while the winds blew out of the east at 20-25. I had a relaxing time while I climbed Sapodilla…
I left Rum Cay on Sunday at 8pm with the idea to sail a close reach in 10-15 knot ENE wind to Samana Cay and arrive at 10am-noon and have…
Every Sunday Nipper’s, on Great Guana Cay, has become famous for their pig roast and I wanted to try it. The only problem was I in Green Turtle Cay still…
Thanksgiving in the Bahamas! Do they celebrate it here? The answer is no….and yes. It is not a Bahamas holiday, but the Americans still celebrate it and I had a…
I arrived back to the boat on Monday night and the rest of the week was spent doing “dirty” work like painting the rudder post joint to help prevent the…
After spending the first half of the week changing the oil, replacing some rotten wood under the hot water heater, and taking care of rust on the rudder post (I…
Yesterday the marina I am staying at had a nautical flea market, which was perfect since I had just gone through my entire boat and was ready to get rid…
First, I would like to say happy birthday to my middle brother Aaron!!! Second, West Marine rocks!!! They are a national chain, so I have been able to buy something…
Right now I am waiting to have the cassette (set of gears) replaced on my bicycle because two sprockets are broken, I’m also waiting for my friend because I want…
So on Tuesday I got the monthly dockage invoice and it said I used 776 kilowatt hours in the last 30 days and owed $125 in electrical charges. Of course…
I am happy to be BACK ON THE BOAT!!!!! During my last week in Dallas I spent the time getting my USCG application ready, taking care of other paperwork, and…
This week started with Paul and I reattaching my galley sink, which had come loose. Once this project was completed we moved to Slaughter Harbor (nice weather anchorage only) between…
I started this week in Rock Sound, Eleuthera waiting for some unsettled, rainy weather to pass, so I removed the temporary boost pump I installed on the water maker. I…
This week was a slow week waiting for my new Honda 2000 generator. It has taken longer than expected to get it, but as of Friday it is now on…
I spent most of this week in George Town. This is the hub of cruising in the lower Bahamas. Right now there are between 275 and 350 boat in the…
Ok everyone, this week was about hanging out in the best community in the Bahamas (in my limited opinion), BLACK POINT. As I said last week the Texas Navy moved…
Well here we are at the end of another week. I am anchored in between Big and Little Major Spot waiting for a front to pass tonight. This anchorage is…
On Sunday the Fosters and I hung out at Rose Island and went to the beach, snorkeled the reefs, and explored with the dinghy. We headed back to Nassau around…
On Sunday I met a representative of the Seven Seas Sailing Association in order to pick up boxes of books donated for schools in The Bahamas. I originally stated I…
The constant chop at the exposed anchorage in Titusville was starting to get on my nerve, but I had to wait until a battery temperature sensor arrived. On Thursday I…
This week I finished up my annual haul out and I think it was successful (although expensive). I had the bottom scraped and painted, the sail drives serviced, replaced three…
Last week I continued to hang out with other boats anchored in Spa Creek (Annapolis) (specifically Sabbaticus, Ultra, Knot Tide Down, and Romantsea). I worked on a boat tour video…
For the last two weeks I have been hanging out with the other boats in my anchorage in Spa Creek. This is a great place as it is in the…
Well I have been in Annapolis for the last two weeks relaxing and working on the boat. I have fixed my water maker, the ceiling in one of the cabins,…
Well this week found me stuck in Newport, RI with the gooseneck pulling away from the mast. Chuck, the rigger from Rig Pro, could not get to me until Tuesday…
This week was all about traveling north to Nantucket. We sailed 40-60 miles a day and stayed the night at Ocean City, NJ, Manasquan Inlet, Fire Island Inlet (very pretty),…
My buddy boat decided to get a slip on Monday, so we had access to the swimming pool, which was very nice. The raw water pump came in on Tuesday…
We made it to Elizabeth City, which is supposed to be the “harbor of hospitality”. The area is very nice, but if there were two other boats with us the…
There was a lightning strike close to the boat in Ft Lauderdale and it fried the old chart plotter (a GPS and electronic map combo) antenna. This is why you…
Chase went with my friend to Ft Lauderdale so he could see a friend and find some quick work. That left Melissa and I alone on the boat and 70 miles…
My friend decided to join us on Monday in Naples for the rest of the week. We had an amazing beach with more seashells than you could imagine. We also…
I have been working on the boat the last two weeks. I had the yard I am staying at help me with an oil change (oil, filter, fuel filters, and…
I have completed all the projects I had started, sold my car, and am ready to leave the Houston area. The personal injury attorney Kansas city mo have proven experience…
I spent New Years around the dock. There was a benefit for one of the sailing clubs, so I went to that for New Years night. They had a band…
I am back in Dallas for the Christmas holiday. The fiberglass guy started last week and should be done by the time I get back to the boat. The frig…
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I spent the week with my parents in Dallas and then came back down in order to get a lot of projects started…
I spent the last week in Washington State with my brother and his family. It was great spending a week with my nieces and nephews, Aaron and his wife, Emily. …
I spent the week in Dallas with my Nieces, nephews, and little cousins. It seemed like all they wanted to do was swim and have me throw them around the…
I spent the week in Dallas with my parents as my dad recovered from his surgery. Everything went well and he was home by Friday afternoon. Amazing. I have finished…
I flew to Washington, DC for work this week. I was out in Reston, which is a western suburb. It was a productive week at work, but nothing too exciting. …
Last Sunday I had a going away party and wanted to thank everyone who showed up to say goodbye and see pictures of the boat. The last person left at…
After resolving a few issues I accepted the boat for a closing on May 8th. I have been dealing with getting insurance, a slip in Houston, people to sail back…
I am now under contract for a Lagoon 410. Hopefully a survey (like a home inspection) will be done next week so we can determine the condition of the boat. …
Joel and I spent a long weekend in Ft Lauderdale looking at different models of boats. We drove up to Ft Pierce and all the way south to Key West. …