The original Camaraderie was a 1989 Irwin/Hirsch Sloop which we purchased in 1997 when we were on a quest for a boat that would allow us to cruise the Chesapeake and the East Coast. She served us well during our first 2 years of living aboard and took us from Maine to Florida and the Bahamas in comfort and safety. Given our plans to cross oceans, we always knew that we would need a more robustly built boat down the road, and in August of 2003 we purchased our final boat...a 1987 Tayana 52 ketch...after over a year of searching. Our new Camaraderie is everything we dreamed of and we look forward to more islands and oceans with her in the years ahead!

Compared to the original, Camaraderie is nearly twice as heavy weighing in at nearly 50,000 lbs.. This makes her much more stable at sea but slower under engine power. Her 4 sail, cutter/ketch rig allows us to safely handle her in various wind conditions without being overpowered by 2 large sails. Furthermore, the "split rig" allows the main mast to be kept to 63 feet high which permits us to cruise the ICW and get under the 65 foot fixed bridges. She has a long shoal keel which draws 5'9" again letting us cruise inside the ICW. Want more specs? Here they are:

Powered by an 84 HP Perkins diesel and carrying 200 gallons of fuel.

200 gallons of water carried in stainless tanks.

15 foot beam and teak decks with double braced lifelines 

Interior consists of king sized bed in aft cabin, V-berth in forward cabin and dual pilot berths to starboard. Main salon includes curved settee and teak dining table to starboard and single berth settee which opens to a double to port.

A bit further aft on the port side is a U-shaped galley with propane oven, separate freezer and top/side opening fridge, microwave and double stainless steel sinks.

On the starboard side is a large nav station and companionway to the aft cabin lined with storage closets. 

Central under the cockpit is the engine room which has full height 360 degree access to all components including the 8.5 KW Westerbeke generator which provides enough power to run both air conditioners while at anchor! Oh yeah...it also charges the 880amp banks of house batteries stowed under the beds!

We'll post some pictures of the interior shortly...once we get our varnish work done! 

We found Camaraderie on the Internet on the Hudson River and went to look at her in June 2003. While we fell in love right away, it was apparent that she would need much attention (hard labor), and $$'s to put her in great shape...not something we had planned on! Nevertheless, the price was right and we felt right about the boat after surveys proved her sound. Good buddy Mosby West and friend Jay helped me bring the boat down offshore to Deltaville VA and there we began the job of re-fitting. Jeff and the "crew" at the Deltaville Yacht yard became family over the next few months as we survived hurricane Isobel and countless hours of hard labor and skilled labor as the boat of our dreams took shape...Thanks guys we appreciate the hard work AND the pride you take in your crafts! 
Additions, Upgrades and Fixes made to Camaraderie:
Added underdeck hydraulic Autopilot (Simrad/Robertson to enable us to steer a course without being at the wheel. We are most happy with the performance of our second mate who doesn't mind being out in bad weather while we snuggle under the dodger!
Added radar / chartplotter (Raytheon SL72RC). We were happy with the same unit in the past and the chartplotter is neat1 
Added Balmar 100 Amp alternator to engine to provide high output recharging directly from engine. 
Added a 2500 watt inverter (Heart Interface), so we can run AC  power at anchor off the battery bank without having to run the generator. This gives us the ability to charge cell phones, computers, shavers etc. and also run a hair dryer or small microwave briefly. Jan can also plug in her keyboard and serenade the anchorage. Me, I like to watch my new plasma TV in peace and quiet! Also added Link20 monitoring system to track battery state of charge and energy usage.
Purchased life raft cannister and had our raft inspected and re-packed (Achilles 5 person). Checked out the  Epirb (ARC) battery too.. An Epirb is a water activated radio beacon that alerts rescue services via satellite that you are in trouble and provides your exact position constantly. We wouldn't leave without one!
Added new 55 lb. Delta Anchor for everyday use with 300 ft. chain anchor rode and purchased Fortress storm anchor and 300ft. of rope/chain rode for an added measure of safety.( We also have a 60lb CQR for dual anchor situations). Survey did not reveal a bad windlass and rotten fastenings, so we dug all that out and put in a new vertical Maxwell 2200 windlass and reinforced the bow and anchor locker area. 
Had Bay Area Rigging install a new Shaeffer furling mainsail boom. I wanted this for safety at sea in such a big boat and also to let us put up the main and go sailing without having to do 20 minutes of preparation. Charlie and John get high marks for meticulous work! 
Cleaned out fuel tanks through inspection ports. Unlike gas, diesel fuel gets funky over time...algae begins to grow in it and water mixes in as it condenses out of the air inside of tanks and sits in the bottom of your tank on CALM days.  This is not a problem if you're a trucker going through a tank in a day or less...but us sailors like to make a tank last all year! Then...just when the bad weather hits and we need our engine, all that stuff on the bottom gets stirred up ...the fuel filters clog!! When we inspected our filter after the trip from NY, we were aghast at the crud and amazed we hadn't had a problem. Which led me to...
Installed dual Racor filters to allow me to instantly switch from a clogged filter to a new one! 
Installed SSB radio and Pactor Modem. While we'll use the SSB to talk to others and to get voice communications over long distances, the primary motivation in getting one was to enable us to receive weather faxes and e-mail over our computer. One thing we learned on our shakedown cruises is that it is better to wait for a weather "window" than to hope for the best. A short course on weather map reading and some software gives Cap'n George a 4 day weather outlook anywhere we sail. Our Pactor modem lets us send and receive plain text e-mails at sea and in ports without cyber cafes.
Replaced all worn hoses...lots of 'em!
Replaced windlass and mounting which were broken and rotting respectively. This is our second most important piece of equipment annd we are most happy with our new Maxwell 2200 windlass. 
Replaced aft air conditioner pump.
Rebuild and re-fiberglass Genoa winch base and bulwark. Repair/re-glass and re-finish forward bulkhead, mizzen chain-plate knee and aft cabin bulkhead which had all suffered water damage.
Seal propane locker
Decided to fair and Epoxy Barrier coat bottom to prevent blisters and then paint with two coats of anti-fouling (CSC Micron works great in the tropics!) 
Remove existing non-functional bow-thruster system and glass hull. (Got rid of several hundred pounds of metal and freed up storage space. I don't think we need a thruster to cruise!)
Re-plumb salt water system & washdown system to eliminate heater unit.
Our sails were either shot or tired so I purchased new Genoa (got it from New Zealand through the Internet!) and refurbished staysail and mizzen sail (Sail Care out of PA does great work!)
Reconfigured battery system to provide one HUGE 880AmpHr. bank of four 8D cells for our electrical needs...plus a small starting battery.The wiring and switchhing needed lots of troubleshooting and replacements as the years and numerous "patches" had taken their toll. 
Installed new radar/chart plotter (Raymarine as on Camaraderie), as well as new depth sounder and GPS and VHF radio at the helm.
Installed personal electronics below...added Philips LCD flat panel HDTV and Panasonic combination stereo/CD/DVD system & VCR...for those rainy days! (From circuitcity.com of course!)...and a TV/VCR for the bedroom!
Added dodger/bimini and full cockpit enclosure from the folks at Ship's Tailor in Deltaville. You can see their work in the picture above. 
Replaced all cushions & seating (Thanks Willy!) and mattresses (www.yourdesignmattress.com) and installed custom blinds.
Re-certified & pack life-raft and install canister on boat.
Purchase complete spares for engine & generator for extended cruising.
Sanded and re-varnished (actually 2 coats of Cetol + 1 coat of Cetol gloss on all the rails),  every square inch of the deck and rails in 90 degree heat! (Whew)

Finally, we painted the hull a deep flag blue with Awlgrip paint and put the new name on her. (Note- this requires sanding and fairing the hull and 2 coats of primer before the blue).Frank at Deltaville Yachts is an artist with paint and fiberglass and we've gotten a continuous stream of compliments on Camaraderie. While Frank did the outside, I sanded down all the interior teak and holly flooring and added several coats of new varnish-like stuff called "ultimate sole". I found it at the boat show and it is amazing stuff...grips your shoes like rubber but shines like glass! 

There's probably a few other things I could talk about here or go into more depth about but I think that's enough for now! Specs and pictures of the original Camaraderie are here.If you want to know more in depth about anything just drop me a line.