Pilgrim was previously used by its owner as a taxi/shuttle for his friends and family to travel to and from Stonington, Maine and Camp Island, an island off the coast of Stonington in Jericho Bay. The directive from the owner to BBY: upgrade Pilgrim to make her more user-friendly with the hopes of opening up opportunities for her use profile. The owner had a long history with Pilgrim and had grown attached to the boat, but he and his wife were getting older, and Pilgrim was growing less comfortable and harder to operate. The owners were experienced boaters and thought they could extend the life of Pilgrim and extend their time aboard by upgrading Pilgrim with a refit through BBY. 

After lots of discussion, planning, research, and materials, the owner and Nick Bellico created a plan. They decided to repower her with a modern outboard; redesign and build a new cockpit; upgrade the helm and passenger seating; and upgrade the helm station. Next step? The BBY service team got to work!

They removed the Volvo stern drive engine and installed a new Yamaha 350 outboard with digital controls on a stern bracket. This required the transom to be rebuilt to accommodate the stern bracket. Installing the outboard on the stern bracket provided additional benefits, such as opening the cockpit significantly and minimizing the engine noise while running. Taking advantage of this, they then designed and built a new aft cockpit to accommodate new additional seating and storage while maintaining access to the necessary systems below. Helm and passenger seats went from simple folding platforms to custom STIDD chairs with custom upholstery work. The service team also built a new butternut helm station to accommodate the electronics upgrade, which integrated the engine data into the new Garmin MFD. Next steps- a New electrical system was built to accommodate the new outboard; they upgraded the battery and charging system; and the installed new remote battery switches- all to ABYC Code. To finish, Pilgrim received a new paint job from the stern bracket to the transom into the cockpit, blending into the rest of the boat. Careful consideration was given to weight distribution and waterline adjustments throughout this process. Upgrading from a diesel engine to a gasoline outboard requires quite a bit of safety consideration, such as fuel tank capacity, location of fuel tank and system, and converting or isolating all electrical equipment to ignition-protected equipment. 

Note: It is important to remember the responsibility falls on the boat yard to manage these refits in a way that meets the owner’s expectations, schedule, and budget while maintaining the quality of installation to code and managing all safety factors. 

Upon completion of all this work, BBY put Pilgrim through many sea trials to prove the refit was successful before turning her back over to her owners. The team needed to feel confident that she would be “turn-key” for them.  The owners picked up Pilgrim from BBY and went on to have a new experience and full season. All of the BBY team was thrilled to see Pilgrim transformed from an old work boat/taxi into a beautiful, comfortable cruising picnic boat. The owners reported they are now using Pilgrim in a completely new way. They can now cruise Downeast Maine sitting comfortably with multiple guests aboard, engage in conversation while operating, and have confidence in the controls- all in style!