A Star To Steer By

A Star To Steer By A Star to Steer By is a sailing blog. We are currently lake sailors in Oklahoma with dreams of retiring to a liveaboard boat soon.

With our current boat, Astraeus, come join us as our friends, family, and fellow sailors race, cruise, and learn together.

In retrospect this morning, Joel told me that unless we're ready to splash very soon, we should wait on the paint. He sa...
06/12/2026

In retrospect this morning, Joel told me that unless we're ready to splash very soon, we should wait on the paint. He said the ablative paint doesn't seem to do well if left out of the water too long after application and he's seen it peel. Since our dock is still being repaired (the whole reason she's out of the water) and I've still got other work to do, he suggested waiting to paint - but noted it will only take us about 2 hours and another 3 hours to dry, so we could even paint in the morning and splash in the afternoon. Now, someone's going to disagree with this idea, but hey... yiu don't hire an experienced person and ig ore that kind of input when it really doesn't hurt anything to wait. So we'll wait. Now onward to other projects!

It's the dreaded sanding to prep Astraeus for a fresh bottom coat. She has three layers of barrier coat and had three co...
06/11/2026

It's the dreaded sanding to prep Astraeus for a fresh bottom coat. She has three layers of barrier coat and had three coats of bottom paint on her in 2021 when she was last out of the water. Not a single blister 5 years later. Fresh water is pretty easy on us. But since it'll probably be another five years before her nethers see daylight again, we'll fix her up nice and clean. Since I've never done this, I hired Joel (pictured), who did the last bottom job, to teach me and make sure the job gets done right. Of course, we're also fixing that little crack in the keel before the paint goes on.

For the record, Joel taped the waterline and sanded the keel. I did the whole starboard side myself. Now for Port side... once my shoulders stop burning.

Oh, and I've become a smurf. Help! Haha.

More progress, if small. Rain kinda dampened the plans for much else. Today, I tackled replacing the zincs on the drive ...
06/06/2026

More progress, if small. Rain kinda dampened the plans for much else. Today, I tackled replacing the zincs on the drive shaft. I use zinc as a general term here, these are actually magnesium for fresh water. The old ones were certainly old, one of them just crumbled and broke as pictured. Two new ones installed and I cleaned the prop while I was under there. I also made arrangements with our on-site boat service to teach me how to repair the keel and put a fresh coat of bottom paint on. I want to learn, but I can mess up building a plastic model, so it's not something I want to risk messing up. Anyway, that's coming either next week or in July. The month of June holds a crazy schedule, so I probably won't have much to add until July.

Well, the mast has been rewired after numerous tries. Everything works and I finally got the antenna installed that's be...
05/31/2026

Well, the mast has been rewired after numerous tries. Everything works and I finally got the antenna installed that's been floating around the boat for 3 years. Not that we use marine radio much around here, but it's nice to know I have the antenna if I want it... without climbing the mast. One project down, ninety-nine to go! Haha.

Ah, finally some progress. Not as much progress as I'd like to see, but progress nonetheless. All the mast lights work n...
05/23/2026

Ah, finally some progress. Not as much progress as I'd like to see, but progress nonetheless. All the mast lights work now. Still have to tie all the wiring into the deck connector at the base of the mast, but everything works and the masthead is back in one piece. That was a challenge, complete with the biggest wasp nest I've ever seen under the masthead.

Starting into a project when you realize you have no idea what the objective is, so you can't possibly accomplish a goal...
04/12/2026

Starting into a project when you realize you have no idea what the objective is, so you can't possibly accomplish a goal, is always fun. Well, the crack in the keel has been sanded down. This is the pretty side. The other side where I started is rough. I thought I was supposed to be grinding into the crack. Live and learn, I guess.

Port side is done, too. Did find this surface crack on the port side of the keel, but it's not deep. Looks more like a g...
03/21/2026

Port side is done, too. Did find this surface crack on the port side of the keel, but it's not deep. Looks more like a gouge... although, I have no idea how. Well, some minor things to work on, but it shouldn't be too bad.

I'm out pressure washing the hull today. Starboard side is done! She looks pretty good, although I did find a minor crac...
03/21/2026

I'm out pressure washing the hull today. Starboard side is done! She looks pretty good, although I did find a minor crack at back of the keel joint.

The mast is down and Astraeus is on the hard. Forgot my pressure washer this morning when it was 26 degrees out, but we'...
03/17/2026

The mast is down and Astraeus is on the hard. Forgot my pressure washer this morning when it was 26 degrees out, but we'll get her washed up this weekend. The bottom looks like its in great shape, so at least that's not added to the workload. Plenty to do this spring. Maybe she'll be back in the water this summer, if I'm lucky. May have a line on an engine replacement, too.

She's out! Land whale? Overall, she looks to be in pretty good shape, just dirty after 5 years in the lake.
03/17/2026

She's out! Land whale? Overall, she looks to be in pretty good shape, just dirty after 5 years in the lake.

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