I always tell my friends that when you are building or buying a house, it is more important to know what lies behind the walls, than those finishes you can actually see. I apply this same principle to proper boat management, which means spending a good amount of time in the bilges and within the depths of the hull.

I'm starting the process of slowly tracing each of the yacht operating systems and identifying critical components verses older abandoned gear. Once identified, I have begun to remove unused conduit, water/drain pipes, wires, pumps, plugs, etc.

It's very typical for a boat of this year and size to have gone through a number of refits to keep her modern and performing well. But, as the technology changes, it's a lot easier to leave the old stuff in and run new gear alongside versus taking the extra time to do things right.

It was much easier on Aghavni I when we had her out of the water under warm winter cover in Annapolis, where we stripped the interior systems and rebuilt with the help of great local tradesmen.

We are obviously actively cruising Aghavni II now as full time liveaboards so it's a delicate dance between pulling up the floors for a day and getting school done, not to mention prepping for meals!

During this process, I have also begun to deep clean the bilges which allows me to find and replace corroded parts which are showing their age from years of use (prior to failure).
It also helps to organize gear inventory and purchase necessary spare parts.

It takes an anal (wait, how about meticulous?) owner to go through this task, but I make a point to work only on compartment at a time then move on to the next one. It won't all get done in a day, but maybe in a season or two...