Our New Boat, Domino
Domino is a 1993 Freedom 38. Just like our first boat, Sunshine, she was built by Tillotson Pearson in Portsmouth, Rhode Island. In this one category, choice of boat home, we have turned out to be brand loyal.
Domino has the sugar scoop transom like Sunshine, though she does not have the walk through from the cockpit. We think about adding the walkthrough at some later date, as it’s something we miss having.
Yacht Repair in Exotic Locales
We bought Domino in September of 2020 in New Bedford, MA. After doing a few quick fixes, we launched her and took her to our favorite New England town, Warren, RI, and our favorite boat yard, Warren River Boatworks, where we spent a few weeks with Freedom Guru, Paul Dennis. While there we replaced the head, installed a new Tides Marine mast track, and with Paul’s guidance, poured a new mast ring to stop a serious leak.
The Freedom 38 Rig
Freedom yachts feature unstayed, freestanding masts. The boats have no rigging other than the halyards required to haul sails aloft. They are a joy to sail and even the larger vessels can be single handed. We love not having to tune or replace standing rigging. The sail plan is large and powerful, and during our trip south we managed to hit ten knots when the wind and current were flowing with us.
Further Adventures
Domino is just six feet longer than our previous Freedom, Sunshine, but the size of a boat goes up by the cube root. Domino is wider, taller, heavier, and overall, much more spacious than her little sister. With her more powerful engine, room for more fuel and water, and even space to install a water maker, she will take us on the longer voyages we have planned.