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After exploring some other, less constructive ways to address my midlife crisis, I've finally found the project that's going to occupy the next few years while fulfilling a lifelong dream; I've bought a sailboat! Have I ever owned a boat of this size before? Nope, just kayaks! Do I know how to sail? Nope, no idea! Am I prepared to learn a lot and probably make some amusing mistakes along the way? You betcha!  If you're so inclined, follow along with me! First, the boat itself. She is a 1983 Hunter Marine 22-footer, and technically she would be called a sail dinghy or a sloop. A sloop is a type of boat, but it's also a type of rigging; she is sloop-rigged as well, meaning that she bends just two sails, a mainsail and a jib. She also carries a 6hp Tohatsu outboard motor. I'll primarily be cruising her under power until I learn how to handle those sails. "Power" is kind of a misnomer as she doesn't go very fast, but that's fine with me as I am just learning to steer with a tiller. So far it doesn't seem too different in technique from steering with a paddle.  Portside view. This type of boat is also sometimes called a pocket cruiser or weekender, because belowdecks it is equipped with a v-berth (bed in the bow), a portable marine toilet, a small galley setup, and a "saloon", which is a ridiculously grand name for a tiny little cabin area with two benches and a table. This is an original 1980s sales brochure for the boat. It was one of the most stylin' pocket cruisers of its day, and not only did it have a lot of flashy little touches, it was also very well-built. Early fiberglass boats tend to have over-engineered hulls because no one was completely sure of marine tolerances, so the idea was just "build it extra-sturdy just in case." That's why there are so many of these vintage 80s sailboats still around. They were built to last, and last they have. Diagram of the boat's layout, from the brochure.  She doesn't look much like the swank pictures in that brochure any more, though. The boat is sound and seaworthy and mechanically in good shape, but there're a lot of little things, cosmetic and otherwise, that need some work.  Inside the cabin, view of v-berth. She is missing the teak panel that should close off the point of the bow, as well as the teak midboard and cushion that should go over that center cutout, which is for the head (portable marine toilet.) That thing lying on the berth is the tiller. The rudder and tiller are stored in the cabin right now where the previous owner put them. I plan on leaving the rudder on the boat, since it's in a wet slip at a marina about five minutes from where I work. I've been coming over on my lunch hour and after work to get started on her, I've only owned her for about a week now.  Shot of the saloon. That little table has a second leaf to fold up for two people to dine. The rope that goes through the table is connected to the boat's keel; this boat has a "swing keel", which can either be lowered or pulled up tight against the boat to reduce its draft (the amount of water the boat needs to float.) With the keel down she drafts about four and a half feet, with the keel up she drafts 26 inches. That's a good thing, since I will be taking her up the marsh creeks around the marina and the water can get pretty skinny. Also, the swing keel means that I can beach the boat if I want and get her back floating relatively easily.  Another view of the cabin. The teak strapping on the bulkheads is in great shape, and most of the other teak is as well, it just needs a good oiling and cleaning, as does the exterior teak and the entire interior. Right now the cabin smells very fusty and mildewy from being closed up for a while with some water in the bilge. Pumping out the bilge, scrubbing it, and washing down the cabin are high on the to-do list. I want to take the boat out for overnights and weekenders and no one likes being cooped up in a stank cabin.  Probably the most pressing exterior needs that I see are that the boat needs a good bottom scraping (it's carrying a load of marine plants below the waterline) and probably repainting, and it also could really use a new main hatch and hatchboard. Right now the hatch and board (the piece closing off the companionway - the opening to the cabin) are just old pieces of Lexan cut to shape. They work fine, but don't allow any ventilation belowdecks and are awkward to have in place while the boat is in use. I plan on replacing the hatch cover with a solid one made of Starboard (a marine-rated pressboard product) and I'd like to replace the board with a a set of louvered locking companionway doors, both for security and ventilation. A closed-up boat will grow mildew in like two seconds flat.  But that's yet to come. Right now Job One is getting the decks and cabin cleaned and set in order, and checking on the bottom work. I'll either have to pay for a haulout, where the boat is raised and the work is done, or pay a diver to go into the slip and scrape the bottom. Most likely it'll be a haulout, since I want to have the bottom painted as well. Other items on the restoration list: * Replacing the line holding the boom to its cleat (there's probably a real name for that line, like there are for most lines on a boat, but hell if I know what it is.) This keeps the boom (lower, moving part of the sail rig, it's the long horizontal pole in the photos with the mainsail furled on it) from swinging around and either damaging the boat, itself, or a human cranium. That's important, and right now that line looks pretty worn and untrustworthy. A swinging boom can knock you right off the boat, and when you're underway that's a Very Bad Thing. * Replacing the missing alcohol stove in the galley with a new one of the same type, an Origo 1500. * Replacing the missing marine cooler with a new 38-qt one. Probably just a regular Coleman, but I need one with a stopcock to drain water from melted ice into the bilge. * Draining and cleaning the freshwater tank. This carries non-potable clean water for washing dishes, cooking, etc to the sink in the galley, and right now it's pretty dirty and not safely useable. * Setting a boom tent. This is a large piece of marine canvas that is lashed to the lifelines (side rails) over the boom, in a sort of pup-tent fashion. A boom tent keeps the cabin cooler and also keeps rain off the hatches. The current old hatches aren't water-tight, so this will keep out leaks until I get the new hatches. * Lazy jacks etc to help set and trim and lower the sails when I do start sailing her. I will mostly be sailing single-handed, so these are conveniences to help a solo sailor work the lines. * A stern anchor. She has a bow anchor now (it lives in a little compartment at the tip of the bow) but for anchoring out overnight, you need a second stern anchor if you don't want to swing like a pendulum all night long with the tides. * Adding a solar kit for electrical. The boat was recently rewired so all of that is in excellent shape. The lights etc run off of a small marine deep-cycle battery. * About fifty gazillion other things, from a small marine ceramic cabin heater for the cooler weather to bug-buster screens for the main and forward hatches so I can leave them open without ending up with a cabin full of hungry mosquitoes. To help me in my work, I've got the good advice of the folks at the marina (they're bemused, but tolerant) and quite a few good books, including the premier one on restoring older sailboats, This Old Boat by Don Casey, the sailboating-on-a-budget guru. And I have the impetus of this:  The best view in the world, looking down a sailboat bow. Just going down to the marina along a marsh boardwalk, smelling the salt air and watching dolphins sound and fish jump, makes me happy. Being underway on the boat, my boat, taking it out on the water and feeling that freedom and joy, is more than I can easily put into words. It's the culmination of a lifelong dream. I'll be updating the thread as the restoration goes on, and it will probably be going on for quite a while. She's an old gal, but so am I. We're both a bit rough cosmetically but fundamentally sound, and I think we both still have a lot of good days left in us.  Any sailing goons out there, please feel free to kick in with advice!
bonestructure fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Aug 26, 2012 |
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Aug 23, 2012 17:20
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Nice boat! About the mildew: these days you can get a small solar powered fan, cut a hole somewhere, and mount it. Whenever there's a bit of sun, it'll ventilate the cabin, and some of the bigger ones will even heat up the air a bit before blowing it in. A friend of mine mounted one on his boat (similar to yours) and the cabin is next to smell-free these days.
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Aug 23, 2012 19:12
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Most importantly, does she have a name? If not, can we vote on one?
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Aug 24, 2012 21:02
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bonestructure posted:The best view in the world, looking down a sailboat bow. I would have to agree with this...  That's a great looking rig! Shouldn't be too hard to whip it up into shape at all.
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Aug 28, 2012 05:07
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Looking forward to seeing what you make of this. I'll probably be doing the same in a year or two!
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Aug 28, 2012 06:11
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I would love to do this. First I need to move to the coast, then acquire a boat, then have the work ethic to fix it up. So I'll be living vicariously through you!
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Aug 28, 2012 21:04
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Thanks, y'all, sorry for not updating the thread since the OP. At the moment, I have about three inches of water in the cabin of my boat thanks to Isaac.  I have gotten some of the things on my list already and have started working to make the electrical situation in the cabin safer, the boat's wiring is good but there's minor but significant stuff to fix like loose switchplates, an insecurely seated battery, etc. Things that are especially not good when you're standing in a few inches of water.SiB, that's a beautiful boat, is that another Hunter? The toerails look similar. bonestructure fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Aug 29, 2012 |
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Aug 28, 2012 23:22
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No it's a late 70's C&C 38. I do own a hunter but it's just a 146.
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Aug 28, 2012 23:59
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SiB posted:No it's a late 70's C&C 38. I do own a hunter but it's just a 146. Multiple sailboats? Color me impressed.  That looks like a really nice boat.Things from the list that have now been gotten: * The boom tent, which is a heavy-duty doublestitched Sunbrella tarp that will go over the boom and shield the (leaking, as I now know) aft saloon windows during storms, and also the (leaky, as I knew) makeshift companionway hatches. I ordered a tiller cover at the same time in matching Sunbrella fabric, it looks nice, protects the exposed tiller from the elements, and I got a good end-of-season deal. The boom tent will buy me time to work on the leaking windows during the hurricane season without repeatedly having a flooded boat. * Bug screens for companionway and forward hatch obtained. Between these and the boom tent, working for hours on the boat is about to get a lot more comfortable. * Badly frayed boom halyard is replaced. * Alcohol stove turned out to still be there, just stuck in a corner. It looks hardly used, too. * Stern anchor obtained, though I still need to make a good rode for it. New issues: * As the storm made clear, the saloon ports are leaking like a motherfucker. Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure ordered, cross your fingers for me. Froodulous posted:Most importantly, does she have a name? If not, can we vote on one? She does have a name. Since I plan on mainly gunkholing with her, in the grand tradition of nautical puns she is named Littoral.
bonestructure fucked around with this message at 05:38 on Aug 29, 2012 |
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Aug 29, 2012 05:26
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Sounds like a new bilge pump just shot up on your list  (sorry about the weather  )
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Aug 29, 2012 07:54
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Not a new bilge pump, but maybe a new battery. Still raining off and on here.  However, I discovered the reason why my cabin ended up full of rainwater. Look, an open through-hull!  Not a good idea when a storm dumps almost seven inches of rain in an afternoon. I have no idea what it's for and I can't find the original stopper. I've closed it with an old test-tube rubber bung that I had lying around, for now. Right now my most pressing concern is getting the water out of the cabin, which is difficult because this is the current state of the electrical system. The wiring on the boat is new and fine, but it's hooking up to an old, grody, caseless car battery to draw power. This works, but it's far from ideal, especially when you're standing in a couple of inches of water touching the bare wire to a terminal because the lead rusted out.  Still, First Mate Dawg approves of my fumbling efforts.  My bug screens for the forward hatch and companionway arrived today. For some reason, Captain Angry Mosquito is cracking me up.  It's full of water, possibly going to kill me with twelve volts, and it currently smells strongly of mildew, but God I love my boat.
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Sep 1, 2012 01:47
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Forgot to mention, thanks for recommending This Old Boat. Picked up a copy just to thumb through and it's full of awesome little stuff Can't wait until I own my own little money pit.
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Sep 1, 2012 02:26
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You know what they say, boating can cost as little or as much as you want. Sailboats are more towards the "little" end of the spectrum. An outboard motor that isn't even used all of the time is way easier and cheaper to maintain than an inboard. Also, maintenance costs drop proportionally to the footage of the boat. Look for a post 1960s but pre 1990s boat with an outboard and you're golden. When you get a boat with simple mechanical requirements and maintenance needs, boat-owning becomes a lot more fun and economical. I'm glad you got This Old Boat, I have a bunch of Don Casey's boat books and they're all good. I'm going to fumble through upgrading the battery etc on mine with his awesome "Sailboat Electrics Simplified." I thought you had to have a lot of money and a lot of knowledge to sail, then I started reading Don Casey and realized that you just need a modest budget, a sense of self-preservation, and a willingness to learn. bonestructure fucked around with this message at 02:41 on Sep 1, 2012 |
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Sep 1, 2012 02:38
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Oh yeah, I am totally on board with that. I'm hoping to find something like a Catalina 22 or similar. Nothing huge, but big enough that I could overnight it comfortably. Relatively simple to maintain. I don't know for sure though. Boat ownership is at least one good job offer and a few years off. Until then I'm just skimming craigslist and dreaming edit: And sailing vicariously through the internet!
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Sep 1, 2012 02:44
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I know nothing about boats but I'm anxious to keep up with this thread
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Sep 4, 2012 21:20
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Thanks, Martytoof and dreesemonkey. I got a fair amount of (gross and nasty) work done on the boat over the long weekend. All of the rainwater from the open through hull is gone, either via my very unenthusiastic electrical bilge pump or me with my manual bilge pump. That was an issue, since the cabin was under about three inches of water. Once I had it dry I scrubbed the bilge (nasty) and the spaces under the cabin soles (unspeakable) with bleach and water, the recommended treatment. I closed one open through hull with a carved-down foam practice golfball, and another with an old wine cork. I've also installed the bug screens and the boom tent, which will make the cabin much cooler and easier to work in for long periods (I sweated off two or three pounds over the weekend.) And I discovered a Hunter owner manual for my boat's year in (barely legible) pdf format online -- not the sales brochure, but the actual manual. It has incredibly useful stuff like the plumbing and wiring diagrams. This is very exciting, since I was about to take Don Casey's advice and pay an electrician to diagram the rat's nest of wiring in my boat. This weekend, armed with my new knowledge, I'm going to concentrate on working on the electrical system.   I'm also planning to drop everything the first pretty sunset of the weekend and just go for a nice long couple hours' cruise, without thinking about anything else. First Mate Dawg and I need it.
bonestructure fucked around with this message at 02:07 on Sep 7, 2012 |
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Sep 7, 2012 02:01
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Neat boat. Name it Sinky II.
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Sep 12, 2012 02:11
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I love boats, and this thread is pretty much the coolest thing ever. If you'll pardon my question, I'd really like to ask how much you paid for her. Man, now I'm starting to look at boats. Maybe some day, when I've got the money for it. 
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Sep 13, 2012 03:42
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Guess what I learned today? Dogs can get seasick. Poor First Mate Dawg, we were out on the river and not only was it windy, but then we got into the wake of a couple of big container cargo ships and Littoral started bouncing like a tennis ball. The dog had just had a big drink of water so that was pretty much all that came up, but it was still not fun for either of us. It was rough enough that I was feeling more than a little queasy myself. On the bright side, I got my shore power connected up and working, which will make it much easier to use power tools on the boat. Space Wizard posted:I love boats, and this thread is pretty much the coolest thing ever. If you'll pardon my question, I'd really like to ask how much you paid for her. I bought the boat from a fellow goon and he gave me a really good price on it. I paid $2500 for her. And boats really are the coolest thing ever, even the occasional seasick dog or flooded cabin hasn't spoiled the fun for me yet.
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Sep 16, 2012 22:42
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Man, now you've got me wanting a boat. Maybe I'll borrow my brother's some weekend, just to get out on the lake. He's got two, he can spare one for a few days (little 20' aluminum skiffs, one for bass fishing, one for duck hunting; they're pretty much identical except for seating position and paint). Also holy poo poo you paid for a boat. You know people give them away, right? And for damned good reason.
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Sep 17, 2012 03:35
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Bad Angus! Bad!
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Yeah, I always assumed boat ownership would be prohibitively expensive. I'm talking like "cost of a house" expensive. But all the boats I'm ACTUALLY interested in tend to go for under 10k, and most are at or under the 5k mark. I'm not really interested in anything bigger than the mid 20s. For one, I don't think I need that much space since I'll be mostly running the ship single handed, or maybe (hopefully) with a cute girl Other than that, I just find I tend to like the look and feel of small boats more. I mean I would probably be happy with a 32 footer or something, but realistically I think a nice 22 with a small gas galley, head, and padded sleepers would be ideal. I don't plan to live aboard or anything. About the only thing I'm a little worried about are the recurring costs of boat ownership, such a mooring. I'm prepared for a haul out to be eye-popping, but I'm having some trouble getting even a ballpark estimate from everyone I ask about what their recurring seasonal costs come out to. Mostly because it varies from marina to marina. I'll be doing a lot more research on this in the next year or so since it is my ten year plan to own a boat and sail the great lakes. Until then I'll have a great time living vicariously through you and the seasick pup 
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Sep 17, 2012 05:58
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HA. There's a reason why enough people want to give wooden boats away to justify a monthly magazine column. Wooden boats are the original money pits, they are awesome but absolutely ruinously expensive in terms of upkeep. Fiberglass boats like mine aren't nearly so demanding. For instance, right now the hull of my boat is a disgusting hanging garden of sea lettuce and other plants and most likely the centerboard chamber is full of barnacles, because the previous owner hadn't had the boat hauled out and the bottom cleaned for a couple of years (it should be done annually.) But I can still wait a while to have it done myself, because the worst effect of the fouled bottom is slower waterspeed. If you neglected the haulout like that for a wooden boat, you'd effectively ruin it. And yeah, Martytoof, like horses and sports cars and other luxury items, it's not the initial purchase price of a boat that costs you, it's the upkeep. Marina fees at any decent place are going to be high. I'm at the "unfashionable" marina in my area, a ways down a river from the harbor and next to commercial shipping docks, and I still pay about $300 a month for the slip with shore power. At the tony marinas in the scenic parts of the harbor, you'd pay twice that. Still, the nicest thing about my boat is that it's relatively inexpensive to maintain and work on because it's under 25 feet, and because it has an outboard engine. Maintenance on a boat jumps dramatically for every foot over 25, and it really goes through the roof if you have an inboard engine. If you stick with under 25 ft and an outboard it's really not that pricey a hobby.
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Sep 17, 2012 16:19
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Delivery McGee posted:Also holy poo poo you paid for a boat. You know people give them away, right? And for damned good reason. ^^what that guy said
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Sep 17, 2012 16:21
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That's what I figured. I read enough about wooden boats to know they're best left to people who have the time and money to work on them. I'll be going fiberglass for sure. From the sounds of it, the worst you may have to deal with is some blistering that you can DIY patch if you have some place to haul out your boat and a week to let it dry. Does cleaning your hull by hand underwater every few weeks generally help with keeping it free of poo poo, or is it going to look like a hanging garden pretty much no matter what you do? Also, I don't mean to turn this into Ask/Tell, but I'm genuinely curious: How are you setting up for winter? Are you in a tropical climate where you can have it in the water all year or do you have plans to store her for the winter?
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Sep 17, 2012 20:20
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Martytoof posted:Does cleaning your hull by hand underwater every few weeks generally help with keeping it free of poo poo, or is it going to look like a hanging garden pretty much no matter what you do? Not a boat guy, but as far as I've read from sagas like this and wooden warships, it's going to be a hanging garden no matter what, you just pull it out (or beach it at high tide, if a really big boat) and scrape it off once a season if you can afford it. You can coat a wooden ship in copper or get poison paint for fiberglass and steel hulls, but it just delays the inevitable.
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Sep 17, 2012 21:39
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Martytoof posted:That's what I figured. I read enough about wooden boats to know they're best left to people who have the time and money to work on them. I'll be going fiberglass for sure. From the sounds of it, the worst you may have to deal with is some blistering that you can DIY patch if you have some place to haul out your boat and a week to let it dry. Very true. I'm completely new to working with fiberglass and I've already successfully made a few small repairs just following the This Old Boat book. Repairs to wooden boats almost always have to be done by professional boatbuilders with the boat hauled out at a yard. That's not even getting into the nightmare of trying to insure a wooden boat (and there are very, very few marinas that will accept an uninsured boat.) quote:Does cleaning your hull by hand underwater every few weeks generally help with keeping it free of poo poo, or is it going to look like a hanging garden pretty much no matter what you do? Once the boat has been hauled out, given a good scrubbing, and had the bottom repainted, keeping it free of fouling is just a matter of lying on the dock (or getting in the water, if it's not too gross) and scrubbing the bottom with a janitorial broom once a month or so to keep the hull free of plants and crap. The boat will still need a haulout every year or so to have the bottom repainted again. Marine paint is weird, the anti-fouling paint used for bottoms doesn't act exactly like standard paint and it's really toxic, so while it's theoretically possible to beach my boat and paint the bottom myself, I don't plan on doing that. I think you asked earlier about haulout costs? Around here it runs about ten dollars a foot, so just the haulout is going to cost me about $250. The cleaning and painting are extra. I'm expecting the haulout to set me back about $700-800 total by the time all is said and done, but that's on the high side because the annual maintenance wasn't done for a few years. Once I get the boat back in good shape, I think I can get away with about $350-400 for the yearly bottom repaint. quote:Also, I don't mean to turn this into Ask/Tell, but I'm genuinely curious: How are you setting up for winter? Are you in a tropical climate where you can have it in the water all year or do you have plans to store her for the winter? No worries, I'm glad people are interested and I'm happy to answer questions. I'm in Charleston, South Carolina, which has a very warm climate, so the boat will stay in the water year-round, plus I don't have to pay for winterizing expenses like shrinkwrapping. That saves a lot of bones, I know people in colder climates pay quite a bit for that stuff.
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Sep 17, 2012 21:48
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Delivery McGee posted:Not a boat guy, but as far as I've read from sagas like this and wooden warships, it's going to be a hanging garden no matter what, you just pull it out (or beach it at high tide, if a really big boat) and scrape it off once a season if you can afford it. You can coat a wooden ship in copper or get poison paint for fiberglass and steel hulls, but it just delays the inevitable. How badly the bottom fouls and how quickly depends on a lot of different factors. One of the major ones is whether the boat is kept in fresh or salt water (salt water is destructive to everything on a boat), and another is the climate it's kept in. Around here where it's not only warm most of the time but where much of the water is part of an estuary saltmarsh\wetlands ecosystem, there's an astonishing variety of marine plant and animal life that's abundant and fast-growing, and it all wants to live on the bottom of your boat. In colder waters that's not so much the case, and bottom painting is more of an every two or three year thing rather than annual.
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Sep 17, 2012 22:11
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bonestructure posted:Marine paint is weird, the anti-fouling paint used for bottoms doesn't act exactly like standard paint and it's really toxic, so while it's theoretically possible to beach my boat and paint the bottom myself, I don't plan on doing that. Bottom paint is the only can of anything I've ever seen with the warning "Fatal if inhaled". I really need to get a supplied air respirator setup running if I want to do more painting.
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Sep 18, 2012 04:43
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Is bottom painting legitimately something you can tackle yourself? How does that work if you have your boat up on stilts? Obviously you can't paint where it's stilted. Do you just paint most of the bottom except for those squares where the boat is sitting, then somehow ... move the boat ... and go through the same sand/prep/paint on those four or so areas or what? I've watched a lot of youtube videos on fixing up sailboats (yeah I'm hooked on the weirdest poo poo) and I just can't understand this one thing.
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Sep 18, 2012 04:50
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Martytoof posted:Is bottom painting legitimately something you can tackle yourself? Yep, anti-fouling a boat can be done yourself. When my parents had their boat, I remember them getting it taken out and put on stilts in the marina and spending aaagggeesss cleaning/sanding/reapplying anti-foul. I have no idea about painting where the stilts are though, must have stayed at home on those days. It must have worked, as we never had to dive to clean it during the year and it was never that bad when it was next taken out. (Only had to dive to untangle seaweed from the propellers!)
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Sep 18, 2012 08:23
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I don't feel like quoting all the posts but As someone who works on boats for a living: Did you get the boat professionally surveyed? You probably should have in case there is something wrong with the structural integrity of the boat. You will need one to get insurance most likely. I've witnessed a boat sink and the new owners not get a cent from the insurers because they didn't fix the defect list from the company. Do not scrub the bottom of your boat if you have soft antifouling on it. The more you scrub it, the more of the toxic good stuff disperses into the water and the growth will come back even quicker. Get your boat antifouled every year for copper based paint. Every 8 months for aluminium. It will save you costs on labor and materials. Don't be cheap and do it once every decade. No one likes those people. If your boat goes fast, use a hard antifoul. If your boat goes slow, use a soft antifoul. You can place another pair of shores or stilts to support your boat after you've painted the bottom. Then remove the old ones to paint behind them. Have fun in your big boy bathtub! Learn how to tie knots if you don't know already. (Just learn how to tie a bowline.)
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Sep 18, 2012 10:38
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No survey, because the boat is too old and the price was too low to make it worthwhile, and also because I bought it from a friend who has owned it for several years, so I personally know the boat's history and what kind of shape it's in. It's insured for just replacement value ($2500), plus liability if I damage other boats etc. Big girl bathtub.  I've got the bowline down and I'm learning some other knots. Some are really pretty and decorative, it's been interesting studying up on them.Edit: Oh hay I left the flyscreens on the hatches last night and now it's storming. Guess I get to try out that new bilge pump! Even more edit: Thanks to the boom tent and the rain shedders I made out of teak battens, no water in the cabin after this morning's rainstorm, even with the hatches covered only by the screens. That's good news. bonestructure fucked around with this message at 22:44 on Sep 18, 2012 |
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Sep 18, 2012 14:45
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Awesome thread so far. Great work just going out and buying a boat! Can't wait to see more progress on her Good boat threads are pretty sparse on sa
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Sep 19, 2012 06:46
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bonestructure posted:No survey, because the boat is too old and the price was too low to make it worthwhile, and also because I bought it from a friend who has owned it for several years, so I personally know the boat's history and what kind of shape it's in. It's insured for just replacement value ($2500), plus liability if I damage other boats etc.
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Sep 19, 2012 07:50
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The rigging definitely needs some help, but I knew that when I bought it. I've already replaced the badly-worn halyards, but the shrouds need it too. The winches and the mast and spreaders are fine, and the suit of sails is almost new, they were just bought last year.
bonestructure fucked around with this message at 23:31 on Sep 19, 2012 |
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Sep 19, 2012 23:26
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Spent most of today doing unglamorous boat stuff like replacing the squashed-flat fenders with new ones. The t-dock I'm on is facing the breakwater, which is great if you're bad at docking like I am, but hard as hell on fenders because of the constant wash from the nearby shipping channel. Fenders, btw, are just inflated hard-vinyl cylinders that hang from side cleats on the dockside of your boat to keep the nearside from bashing into the dock. Also finished scrubbing out the second bilge, which I only found thanks to the Hunter plumbing diagram above and which is under the deckplate in front of the head. It's all still worth it for this.  I love my bote.
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Sep 23, 2012 02:16
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Go-juss view
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Sep 23, 2012 02:20
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I recently started looking at stuff like this so finding this thread was great. It sounds like you haven't had to do any heavy repairs or anything but do you mind telling me what it has cost you so far? Also that looks like the best view in the world.
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Sep 27, 2012 17:53
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Oh hey, boat people. I live aboard a Catalina 30 in A few years ago I bought a sailboat pretty much on a whim, having never been on one before. She was a 1965 Wayfarer Excalibur for sale on eBay, and right before I left for work one morning I threw a bid on her thinking surely a bunch of people would pounce in the 30 minutes left on the auction. When I got home, what do you know, a congratulations email. So, having never sailed before I got my friend Greg, who sailed a lot in high school, to be my coach. I read as much as I could, and tried to learn the names of everything. We went to the boat for the first time, and met the previous owner, who had owned her since 1969. She hadn't been used in several years, and you could tell because she had quite a beard going. We swabbed the decks, cleaned the cabin, I dove in and knocked as many barnacles off as I could (OMG IT'S A NIGHTMARE DOWN THERE  ) and took her out for a sail.The mainsheet (the line that controls the trim of the mainsail) parted as we were sailing past the St. Francis Yacht Club. I'm sure they enjoyed the show. So that got replaced. The outboard motor was a source of constant amusement - I replaced the spark plugs and wires, the fuel pump, rebuilt the carb, and it was still a finicky piece of poo poo. We replaced most of the running rigging (the rope) and spent many hours scrubbing nooks and crannies. But she was a great boat, her design was like a mini Cal 40, which is legendary. The bug had bitten, and I decided I wanted to live aboard. However, it's rare to find a 26' sailboat that's spacious enough to live on, and the Excalibur certainly wasn't one of them. So I sold her, just about breaking even between what I paid and the money I spent on maintenance, which was nice. I spent many hours browsing Craigslist, and found a killer deal on the Catalina I'm living on now. I've lived aboard for almost two years now, and I've learned a hell of a lot about sailing and boat maintenance. You have to be an electrician, a plumber, a rigger, a diver, a fiberglass fabricator, a diesel mechanic, and wear many other hats to be self-sufficient on a boat. I'm loving it.
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Oct 1, 2012 04:45
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| # ? Jun 5, 2024 13:33 |
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bonestructure posted:* As the storm made clear, the saloon ports are leaking like a motherfucker. Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure ordered, cross your fingers for me. Noooo! I hate when people do crap like this as a band-aid. You're not doing yourself any favors. Take the portlights out and properly reseal them, mainly to make sure there's not any water damage to the core in the fiberglass, and to use a proper sealant. It looks like your forward portlights are aluminum frames, and the larger aft ones in the salon have plastic frames? Depending on what adhesive they used to bed them previously, they may be difficult to get off. Get some Anti-Bond at West Marine, it will make it way easier, so you don't mangle the old frames. Then clean the old adhesive sealant off thoroughly, make sure the core (if any) isn't rotten, and rebed the portlights with new adhesive. I'm pretty sure those portlights aren't mechanically fastened to the boat, they are simply held in by the adhesive/sealant. I recommend 3M 4000UV.
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Oct 1, 2012 04:58
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