bad news first! the boats cabin is all rot! yep the little ass p/o did not replace a thing! he just painted it green or white and called it new so this means its gonna get gutted... every inch of wood gonna come out and be replaced with marine ply the water tank has a leak so iv got to repair it, not a big deal im also going to add a screw type port to it so i can give it a good clean. a few things will stay, the galley sink, some of the lights, elc panel batterys, some of the teak trim after a good soak of bleach new varnish and sum time in the sun... the holding tank if its in good shape... but not the head thats going to be a new one. and the rigging, winches...
so next summer ill pull the rig and start ripping out the cabin, then sand, and bleach the hull, pull the atomic 4 maybe rebuild??, paint the bilge paint the hull sides and think of a new layout and start putting that in.
iv already kicked one bulkhead out, pulled the water tank derigged the boom, thrown away all of the seat covers and foam closed all of the seacocks for the winter, taking sails down and put them in my room took the anchors off the deck and put them below, wired the bilge pump...
the trip north from mobjack went well but we bucked a north wind and ebb tide going a wopping 1.5 knots we limped north with the outboard comming out of the water, and then would almost dunk under water in the trough of a big wave.
found the main to be in fair shape with only a hole or two! well more like 3:) but hey whos counting?

well im going to have to replace a bulkhead :( its the one between the head and vberth it is paper thin now and has wayyy to much flex in it luck me, its not a bulkhead with chainplates in it so im not going to worry about it untill i get her moved as the deck is still strong above it and all.
when i do replace it im going to use 1/2 inch marine ply that will be white and the side aft in the head will have epoxy on it and painted white over that. i will tab it in with heavy roving and WS epoxy.

well ryan (the p/o) showed me where the chimmny is so i dont have to build or buy one. but what i do have to do is take a 3 inch hole saw and.... well cut a 3 inch hole into my deck :/~~ and put the chimmny in. but i want to put a guard around it like a friend on a saber 40 did so no one steps on it kicks it, and to help keep sails and other gear off the hot part so im going to get some thin like 1/2 inch s/s tube and bend it to make a cone over it. if any one has any photos of this i would love to see them!

well what i leaned from the bilge is that for one its not an easy job getting the keel bolts off, its realy realy Important to keep the bile CLEAN, bilge pumps are not cheap and floats for them are not cheap as well! have some good way to get into the bilge short of taking the sole up (i have to unscrew the thing...)
and pb blast is expensive!!!

well i got a good day and a half of hard (HARD!!!) work done on the boat as well as spent the first night onboard the columbia!
it started with pulling the starboard seal out of the keel then started on the port side which i got about half out, then turned to the inside of the boat, spent a good 3 hours hand pumping 20-30 gals of oily nasty bilge water out in to a bucket and walk that down the latter to a used oil tank.... i found iv got to replace the rule 1500 gph pump with a new one (no big deal) as the old one showing some age. i then got a glove on and started to "dig" a inch and a half of dirt, old ply, screws, a s/s shackle!, a some old cut up wire out of the bilge by hand till i could see the keel bolts which i went after with a 1 and 1/8 socket and a shit load of pb blast! (one can of pb blast and started the next can) and was able to get one of 6 bolts off! not many... off :( and then had to pack up... iv got on of the bare ply sole boards home and im gonna prime it with killz and maybe paint or because im going to make a new one soon just leave as primed.
the new work list is as follows
replace fore/port bulkhead as it is all gone to hell with some rot and was thin any way so im going to use marine ply with epoxy and a layer of glass on the side with the head. then prime with killz and paint.
add those cool litle rain guards to the 2 ports that open
clean the bilge with a realy realy heavy duty cleaner, then at some time repaint it white
replace bilge pump and float
drop keel 1/2 inch and rebed
add sole support in one spot

well the 4200 (3 10 oz) tubes came today from the (best ever i may add) JamestownDistributors.com
now im ready to do the keel repair and and other sealing of deck hardware....
at west marine today i also got a NON FOLDING pad eye that will mount in the cockpit for a teather.