sailboat update: part one

condition of said vessel

ahoy!

seems like my dreaming of living aboard and working on my own sailboat is getting closer and closer to becoming a reality. the owners have returned from iceland and we’re set to talk tomorrow morning.

the boat, a 1977 C&C 26 seemed to be in decent shape when i saw it. although that’s still to be determined by an out-of-water inspection of the keel and rudder. the keel is reported to be blister free ::crossing fingers::

here’s the information i have about the boat’s condition at this point:

rigging

her rigging is about 6 or 7 years old. the current owners bought her around 6 years ago from someone who they think kept the rigging pretty current because he was a racer.

my initial inspection didn’t reveal any worn or corroded standing rigging and the stanchions seemed to be firmly embedded without cracks around them.

of the running rigging, most of the sheets and halyards need to be replaced, no doubts about it.

engine

i don’t know the year yet. it’s a nissan 9.9 hp outboard which i’m happy about since an outboard should be easier to learn than a diesel engine.

the fuel needs to be drained. it was running the season before last, so at the very least it’s going to need cleaning, maintenance and tlc. something i’m very willing to provide.

if that’s not enough to get it working then there’s a reasonably priced, recommended mechanic to service it nearby. however,  i’ll probably take it apart myself before i hand it over to someone else. at the very least that way i’ll learn how to fix and care for it which is going to be a necessity anyway.

rudder

the rudder is a ransom-hung spade rudder and it’s the piece of equipment i’m the most worried about as it was obviously in poor shape.

the owner reports that there is delamination in the rudder above the water line (which makes me worry about below the water line.)

there is a jury rigged wire connecting the tiller and the rudder which just can’t be good. here’s a picture of a similar rudder:

the rudder seems fairly straightforward and i have the notion that i can do this repair myself, even if it means having to reglass the rudder. i’m also aware that i have no idea what’s going on below the waterline or if i actually can do this repair myself. 😜 blame don casey for my optimism. he’s convinced me that i can learn to do anything about a ship that i’ve a mind to!

sails

there’s a main and a jib, both are blown out so racing days are over but owner says they don’t have any tears. . . i’m hoping to be able to use them to get started and either save up or sew up another set myself (again, blame mr. casey.)

anchor

there are two anchors. one at stern, one at the bow. the one at the bow is a danforth, i don’t remember the weight. it looked to be in excellent condition.

deck

i didn’t make a complete walk around the deck. i got distracted! they were talking about giving me a boat . . . visions of crystal blue waters and dolphins playing alongside the hull kept dancing in front of my eyes!

the deck felt solid on the side i did walk on and i pushed the dolphins out of my way long enough to notice that the cockpit was delaminated near the scuppers.

my research into this repair also made it seem like it was something i could tackle on my own. here’s a C&C 25 forum post i’m using as a guide:

“Reading Don Casey I noted that he believes that supporting a weak deck is just as good a solution as taking the old laminate off and replacing the rotted balsa and re-affixing the laminate. So... in my case I had removed the tired one cylinder inboard. I glassed up the bottom where the engine shaft penetrated the underbody. First I tested a length of angle iron that I fitted horizontally underneath the cockpit. It worked! Next decision - let's do something permanent.... So I fitted an 11 inch wide piece of marine plywood underneath the cockpit. Braced it to existing (original bracing for the rear of the cabin and rear of the cockpit. Fitted a 2 by 6 that I ripped an inch off the width and created sort of a wide "I" beam. Did a quick West Systems epoxy "glue" job to the underside of the cockpit which by the way was the only glass in the entire boat not to be painted by the manufacturer. Then I skim coated and lightly glass resined the exterior of the beam once glued to the underside of the cockpit and screwed into the existing aforementioned bracing. Two days later I spray painted it and I stayed off the cockpit floor for a week. I did throw a couple of bags of fertilizer in the cockpit to put some weight on the cockpit floor as soon as I screwed, glued and glassed the new support beam in place. I am a novice with glass but this was much easier than when I glassed a support onto the inside of the stern for my outboard bracket. Result - $60 dollars worth of epoxy glass resin and the plywood and beam and some stainless screws. Time about three hours to cut, dry fit, glue and screw and then cover the beam with resin. Another hour to due a decent job of spray painting and miscellaneous.”

head

nasty old porta potty that didn’t get cleaned before they closed up the boat. my guess is that i’ll need to get rid of it because plastic doesn’t really clean, does it.

i’m thinking of just starting out with a simple composting bucket arrangement that’s easy enough to pull together with a 2-5 gallon buckets, seat and composting material.

galley

there’s a single burner something that looks old and burnt up. wouldn’t trust it for anything besides throwing out.

the ‘ice box’ has a piece of duct tape running along the bottom seam so maybe it’s simple glassing project #1?

that’s about it for this low-down. i’m saving my project list for part 2 of this post 😉

laterz!

⚓❤⚓ Janine

oh wait! i forgot!

the electrical system

how could i forget this bad boy?

easy, cause there isn’t one on the boat. in some ways that may be a blessing. i don’t have to deal with everything going haywire (bad joke, i made it, it’s mine! 😆)

i’m actually a little confident ::knocking frantically on wood:: about dealing with this particular project as my dad (my 2nd dad) was an electrical contractor and i worked for him long enough to feel comfortable messing with voltage.

(not too comfortable. while low voltage is a decent substitute for coffee if you’re running and late to work, high voltage kills . . . but you already knew that.)