Initial Improvements

I didn't do much to Ama Mama after I first bought her because I was too busy with a new baby, and she was doing what I wanted her to do any way - having fun day sails. However, I knew that eventually she would need some updates. Some of the items I addressed early on included:

New Wing Nets from multihulnets.com - the wing nets that came with Ama Mama when I purchased her were extremely "tired" and almost dangerous. So, this was one of the first upgrades that I pursued. The old ones were easy to take off, and the new ones were just as easy to slide into the ama attachment rails. While I was at it, I replaced all of the net lashing line.

Lazy Jacks - Ama Mama does not have a boom lift or a rigid vang. So, when I drop the mainsail, the boom and main sail fall all over the place making it extremely difficult to sail into the dock. I purchased the Harken small boat lazy jack system from West Marine and installed it myself. This was and continues to be one of my best investments to date. It makes sail handling soooooo much easier.

Roller Furling Screacher and Bow Sprit - due to her relatively heavy weight and under canvassed design, Ama Mama is a bit of a dog in light air. So, I had Kame Richards of Pineapple Sails in Alemeda, CA make me a screacher back in 2004 before I moved to Texas. However, I didn't have time to install it until I did get to Texas. By the time I finally attached the tack to the bow and raised the sail with the original spinnaker halyard, I realized that Kame had cut the sail too long. So, I ether had to put the tack out on a sprit pole or raise the halyard. Given the placement of the standing rigging, I didn't think raising the halyard was a good option. Instead, I fashioned a small sprit pole out of a stainless BBQ boat mount pole and a spinnaker pole end fitting. What would normally be the poles attachment to the BBQ pit was placed in the anchor bow roller assembly with a button release pin. A little unconventional, but it works. This sail is an awesome reaching sail and can add several knots to the boat speed in the right conditions.

Note the eye bolt in the picture above. This was where I originally tried to attach the screacher tack. The anchor bow roller assembly is the rest of what you see here, and the sprit pole was attached with a pin through what would normally be the anchor rode roller axle.

Small Battery and Auto-Pilot - since I was going to be doing a lot of single handing, at least until Alex was older, I decided to install an Autohelm ST 1000+ along with a small AGM battery that I would bring home and charge after each use. It was evident that the previous owner had done the same because the tiller connection pin, and the autopilot base mount hole were already installed when I purchased her. While this was a good idea, the way that I originally installed the set-up failed for two reasons - too much water getting into the electrical connection and too much water getting into the aft compartment where the battery was mounted.

This picture shows the autopilot tiller connection point, the autopilot body mounting socket in clear Plexiglas, and the autopilot electrical connection socket all in alignment on the aft deck. Not a bad set-up except for one thing - in a hard sail there is way too much water splashing up on this area of the boat. As water-proof as these connections may seem, they are not. When I rework Ama Mama for the Bahamas this set-up will need to be reworked for success!

New Bimini, Cockpit Cover, Main Sail Cover, and Dodger - the bimini and mainsail cover that Ama Mama came with when I purchased her were fairly beat up from UV and wear and tear. By the time we arrived in Texas, we definitely needing a new mainsail cover for the Texas sun. However, more importantly I wanted to resurrect the bimini as shelter from the Texas sun / heat. We did not use the bimini at all in Northern California, but in Texas it would be critical to stave off sunburn and keep cool. Also, Ama Mama was now being stored at Keller Marina on Lake Travis, and there were lots of trees making a mess of the cockpit. So, I hired Bartlett Sails to make a brand new bimini, cockpit cover, and main sail cover. Not long after, I had them add a dodger so that we could go sailing when it got cold on the water in the winter.

The picture above shows the bimini cover and the dodger to the right.

PLEASE NOTE - ADDITIONAL PICTURES WILL BE ADDED TO THIS POST IN THE FUTURE. SO, COME BACK IF YOU ARE INTERESTED TO SEE MY FINAL SET-UP.