I officially closed on the boat this past Tuesday, so this weekend it was a high priority for me to just go to the boat and see what was needed. The plan was simple and amorphous: literally go, set foot inside for the first time as the owner of a boat with an actual interior, look around, and start “the project.” I didn’t have a detailed agenda for that because it was an agenda-setting day. The trip would hopefully include some “lay of the land” exploring around the marina itself and the town, maybe identify key stores and venues. The other planned goal was to start getting a feel for the projects I’ll be working on over the next few months.
I know that the boat is blocked in storage by many other boats until at least April, maybe into May. Some projects can’t be started until the boat is in the water or at least not surrounded by other boats. My goal this weekend was not to finish or even start any particular project, but to just get started on preparations.
From the survey and general research, there were a few things I knew about and wanted to specifically investigate: a source of water coming in from weather, corrosion to the compression post, and a short list of generic unknowns like “where are certain tanks located.” I also know I’ll have a range of cleaning tasks, and a handful of specific small and medium projects, with some being expensive or requiring outside help.
I didn’t expect to accomplish a lot but I did want to have a productive trip by some metric. I set the base goal of simply “getting started.”
So the one thing I was sure I wanted to do was get a better assessment of the compression post situation. I’m still not really done at all with this task because, well, good old “but first syndrome.”
This part of the compression post was easily accessible via the bilge access hatch above the forward keel bolt. There’s stuff in the way, but not so in the way that I couldn’t reach in with my phone and get some quick photos. Ironically enough, at this task the phone beats the bulky “real camera” just by being small and effortless. The photos show that while the post is rusty, it’s not rusted through to the point of collapsing. Repair is important, but not imminent before launch, and it may not be necessary to replace the whole post vs just the bottom. It is a thick piece of steel, but like the frame of a pickup truck, it can absolutely rust through and become unsafe. Catastrophic failure could mean debating, a very bad day on a sailboat and a life threatening situation out to sea. In other words, I want this fixed before I cross an ocean. But I may need to defer it until launch or close to launch, because of access issues to get a crane in to destep the mast.
Meanwhile, around the compression post is wood, part of a bulkhead made mostly of doors.
I started trying to take this wood shell apart to expose the post, but didn’t get very far.
Turns out the piece with exposed screws was just a ridiculously nice piece of cable conduit, in my opinion a testament to the whole character of craftsmanship on this boat. Instead of a piece of low grade PVC tubing and some angle brackets, Ted Gozzard set this wire up to be covered in a piece of mahogany molding that matches everything else perfectly. It’s “just trim” built to a ridiculous standard. But pulling it off moved me closer to discovering the moisture source. Even so, it was close to time to call it a night.
Lots of little details discovered. Documents, notes, brochures from before the boat was first sold, equipment. The task of just going through what I have, what I know, and what I need, is just kind of information absorption. It’s amazing how many details there are to something like this.
One of the goals was to remove old personal effects, and surprisingly there was quite a bit less of that than I expected. A couple pairs of women’s pants, some t-shirts, and some jackets and rain pants which would be really nice if they weren’t way off from my size. I found a ton of good equipment, and didn’t find some key stuff I’ll need. No epirb or similar. No liferaft or dinghy, but four pretty nice sailing PFDs, one nice handheld radio with GPS and a handful of obsolete related devices, a box of spare engine parts, lots of canvas pieces, all labeled to some degree, of covers for trim and hatches and extensions to the Bimini cockpit cover, but no spare sails, storm sails, etc.
The prior owner left a bit of a gift in some plastic bottles of barely labeled booze! Handy, because in my haste I had forgotten to bring a bottle of wine. And apparently I neglected to get pictures of the two hidden wine racks.
There’s a lot more to post but I’ve got at least a week until my next visit so I’m gonna save some for another few posts.