What a night to remember. She was donated in deplorable condition to a youth sailing organization, from which we purchased her. These first few photos of the weeks that followed will speak for themselves. We removed 30 large leaf bags of debris.

The first night we bought her.

Here is a first night view of the stark and dirty cockpit....there is so much work to do. Is that a bimini or an old rag?

First night view of the cockpit.

YUCK...you wouldnt beleive how much garbage was removed from this boat. It apparently was used as a storage shed floating on a dock behind the house for years. We removed over 30 large leaf bags of debris.

What a complete mess, but we had a vision.

Scary isnt it? But wait until you see the beauty that lies underneath this mess....

Here is a shot of the V-Birth on that first night.

Well, all the debris was revoved reveiling a soggy water logged teak floor, mold everywhere, cushions that look like they belong in a 1970s camper and bright work that wasnt so bright. New there is even more work to do....what have we gotten ourselves into?!?

After the trash was removed... now what?

You can see from this photo the dark mold on the hull liner which was a gold fabric. It was all removed and replaced with a brighter tan hull liner that is a mold resistant, vinal coated foam. Very easy to work with and was glued with contack cement. When we removed the old stuff, we used it as templates to cut the new.

That hull liner has got to go!

Here you see the new hull liner glued in place. What a difference. You have to love that new smell, instead of, well from the eairler photos, you can just guess what it smelled like.

New hull liner in place...things are looking up

In this photo, you can see that the old teak and holly laminated floor just couldnt stand up to years of sitting under 2 inches of water from all the leaks in the hull. Primarely the stuffing box and where the prop shaft bracket was bolted to the hull. (All of which was addressed) I have to scrape off the old glue and put down the new floor. I used the old sections or floor, or what was left of them, as a template for the new floor. I purchased 4x8 sheets of teak and holly laminate from a local vender.

The old floor had to come out.

Here is the new floor, without the finish. I decided to run the teak all the way into the v-birth area. Several coats of a satin varish should protect it from the minor drips and shower over spray from the head. You can also see the bright work is looking brighter. By this time, we took all the old cushions off and had new foam and sunbella covers made. Sunbrella makes some very nice prints, its a bit costly, but will last for years and years.

New floor, refinished teak and more.

Finally, the new cushions were completed. I also replaced the white formica table top with wood grain formica, the white was faded and just didnt look right to me. This blended better with the pattern and color of the cushions. Can you beleive this is the same boat?

New cushions and interior table.

During this whole process, she needed to be hauled out for bottom paint and an acid wash. The gel coat is OK, but I feel she will need to be painted at some point. All the through hulls were checked and here she is just before setting her back in the water.

Haul out for a bottom job.

We finally received and installed the new cockpit table. We decided to go with the all starboard material as there was enough teak to care for already. As you can tell, things are starting to clean up nicely.

New Cockpit table.

OK, so we had the bottom painted, its only fair we give her topsides a new coat of paint. Here we are taping off the edges before we started painting. We went with an off white to cut down on the glare. This was the first time we ever painted a boat deck and coach roof. It really went well. It took one day to tape, one to paint and we were done in one weekend. Taking our time paid off.

Top side paint.

After all that painting, we had the new bimini installed. The old bimini bows were not stainless, so we upgraded to a heavy grade stainless and black sunbrella. Since we also had the traveler moved to the coach roof, we extended the bimini to cover the entire cockpit area.

New bimini and stainless hardware

In this shot you can see the new traveler. All the new lines are now on the boat, but no sails yet. They are being made and will be ready in another few months. You can also see the solar pannels left and right of the mast. They are flexable and can be walked on. We also added two solar powered vents for and aft on the coach roof to keep the air circulating 24/7.

New traveler and solar power

We had a local vendor make new cockpit cushions out of 3 foam covered with black sunbrella. The new compass, pedistal guard, nave pod for the electronics, (also new) sunbrella life line cushions and companionway cover and helm cover (not showen here) really pulled this area together.

Cockpit is finally done.

The new sails are finally done. This is our first day out sailing. Actually, the boat had no sails when we bought her. There is still so much that needs to be done....new electric head, propain locker, new stove, fridge, TVs and years of up keep. But what was old and seeming forgotton, is like new again. Sure, we could have bought a new boat, but look at all the fun we would have missed, and knowledge we have gained by taking on this project. 1.5 years has passed since we started this process and we are almost there. Who knows, once we finish, I may start all over again with a bigger boat.

First time out with new sails