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.

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.

She's comin' out of the water. Pardon me, 'scuse me, coming through!
03/17/2026

She's comin' out of the water. Pardon me, 'scuse me, coming through!

It's been a while, I know. More drama before things get better. Two Fridays ago, our docks were hit by a major series of...
03/14/2026

It's been a while, I know. More drama before things get better. Two Fridays ago, our docks were hit by a major series of thunderstorms, many of which produced tornados. While we didn't get a tornado, we did get some very high winds that broke the dock. Astraeus came out unscathed, thank God, but we had to move to a temporary slip last weekend and today we're getting ready for haul out. With nowhere else to go, it's the best option, and as long as that's happening we may as well drop the mast and do some work. The electrical on the mast stopped working a couple years ago and something has always made the main very hard to raise, so we'll tackle those issues. Next step with the engine is pulling it and taking to a machine shop... or replacing it. Neither are cheap options, but... that's life, right? The picture is Astraeus all stripped down and ready for haul out. She looks sad and naked. This is the first time I've had the sails off of her.

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