The "Tango Project"

The upgrades and maintenance are almost complete.  Micky and I are cleaning and polishing the boat for her first guests. 
I thought it would be the time to list all the stuff we've done.
I removed all the old gate valves and untreated wooden backers on truly suspect thru-hulls and replaced all of them with fiberglass-backed true seacocks.  All are bronze with Groco ball valves.
The engine sea water feed was a special concern.  It was a very weak 1/2-inch valve sitting on top of a undersized thru-hull by about 2 threads with a very restrictive elbow on top.  It contributed to the engine overheating if run hard.  The replacement is a Groco bronze seacock, properly backed with fiberglass in 3/4-inch.  I fed it to a Groco bronze 1-inch water strainer and then ran 3/4" hose all but the last foot which runs through an adapter to 5/8" hose to accommodate the Johnson water pump.
The water pump has a new impeller.
The engine and mounts have been painted in every place that I could reach and all the belts are tight.
The hull was stripped of all the old bottom paint down to the gelcoat.  The keel was ground to bare metal and then given three coats of Interlux 2000 epoxy primer.  The hull got two coats.  We laid on 3 gallon of black Trinidad Pro bottom paint at $235/gallon.
The transom was sanded to get the old names (Instead and Malana) off since they both were still visible.  The ladder was repaired and the ladder mounts given internal fiberglass backers.  The davits were reinforced with 1" stainless steel tubing transferring the down force to fiberglass doublers.  Finally the transom was given a fine finish of five coats of Rustoleum Topside paint over their primer.   Eyecatcher signs did the new name in Pacific Blue vinyl.
The electrical system is basically brand new.  I removed the two Group 27 cheapos and installed four GC2's from Sam's Club in great roto-molded boxes in the aft lazarettes.  The batteries are charged by the existing Airex wind generator and solar panel.  The Sunsei solar panel charger is now properly mounted.  The batteries are protected by two 300-amp Class "T" fuses mounted under the aft cockpit seat.  They feed three "Power Post" junctions mounted in the port laz.  The accessory positions on the posts feed the two holding plates for the refrigerator.  All the main DC power cables are new Ancor 4-gauge cable with new ends properly crimped.
The Xantrex ProWatt SW inverter is mounted on the back wall of the engine compartment, directly fed from the Power Post and remotely controlled at the Nav table.  It feed two dedicated outlet pairs in the cabin.  One is in the v-berth for our CPAP's and the other is mounted on the forward wall of the circuit breaker panel box inside the slider.  It can be used for charging mobiles or if we sleep in the main cabin.  I've got an auto switch to install that will allow all the new outlets to switch off inverter power within 80 milliseconds if the main AC comes on.  I'll install that when I wire the microwave outlet.
The whole battery system is monitored by a Victrex BVM-602s monitor with the shunt in the port laz and the monitor at the Nav table.
All of that work was facilitated by the 18" by 32" access port that I cut into the center web of the aft berth.
Also in the port laz is the compressor for the new Engel holding plate in the Reefer.  Two plates allows me to choose between cold and battery efficiency.  I'll work out the details later.
All the cabin lights in the overhead are now Superbright LED's units with two bar lights.  One in the galley and the other in the vanity.
The vanity countertop has been relaminated and the entire head/shower gutted and sealed.  We still have to design and install a furniture structure to hold the new shower head.  The Jabsco toilet is gone replaced by a used Wilcox/Crittenden.  The holding tank now has an inspection/cleanout port to allow for getting the plaster and tampons out of the tank.  Sometimes yachting is an ugly sport!
The air is cooled by a Cruisair C-5000 in the front hatch with the cloth hatch bag snapped to the deck.
The cabin house has seven new Bomar/Gray ports and I had Boatgeorge (Jorg) replace the four tinted plexiglass windows with two longer and thicker windows giving the boat a much sleeker look as well as making the windows basically bulletproof!
I pulled out all the old electronics and installed a new Garmin 740s system with an 18HD radar and XmWx weather and radio.  The 740 is tied in to the AIS-300 VHF radio with AIS (Automatic Identification System).  That allows me to see not only the name but also the speed and direction of AIS-equipped vessels.  Since all the heavy commercial traffic is required to have AIS, life is good.
The 740 is also tied into the fuel gauge and will graphically display at the Chartplotter.  I'm not seeing the depth yet, but a call to Garmin Monday will sort that out.  Probably have to buy another adapter!
Phil Cox supplied new 1/4" uncoated Stainless lifelines with heavy duty Johnson fittings.  Pretty.  Just like putting pearls on a lady!
Finally, I moved the Edson wheel mount from "Jazz" to "Tango".
There's still work to be done, but the heavy lifting is over and we can see the end result of all our work. 
Was it expensive?  Since I figured $100k for a well-equipped boat down here I think I'm way ahead.  I got the basic boat for a steal, she's structurally sound and looks good inside and out.  The repairs and replacements are not unusual for 26-year-old boat.  In the end I've got a modern well-equipped, capable cruiser for around $35k, it's equipped exactly as I choose, decorated as we want, and a thoroughly known quantity.  You never get back full value for upgrades to a house and certainly not to a boat, but I'd get a reasonable amount if I got the normal retail of $25k and I would hold out for $30k all day long.
I really think that delaying going cruising to save up for the "perfect boat" is a big mistake.  Buying an affordable older boat, spending money for upgrades, and equipping it your way seems to leave a lot more in the kitty for other things.