As mentioned, we brought all the bronze and mahogany pieces home to be worked on while we wait for the weather to break. The bronze parts were bathed in tubs of ketchup to remove the tarnish and grime! Yes, this really works!!... Leaving them to soak about 24hrs , we then rinsed them off and Mark used a wire wheel to shine them up. They gleam like new!!
While the bronze parts were in their containers of ketchup, there was much sanding and varnishing to be done. We had several handrails, chocks, bulkhead frame work, coaming boards and the hatch boards that were old and gray, weathered and lifeless. We knew that most of it was mahogany but suspected that the hatch boards might be teak. The hatch boards needed some replacement pieces and a few of the handrails were cracked and unsafe. Teak or mahogany , we couldn't wait to bring it back to life.
Mark found some mahogany boards for sale on Craigslist for a great price and has made a few new handrails from that. I mean he took a flat board and turned it into a handrail! I would have just ordered one through a marine catalog! He was also able to use the new mahogany for some hatch board reinforcements.
In the next post , Mark will be sharing the techniques and tools that were used to sand and varnish the wood pieces to get them on the road to recovery. I have never watched the process of wood restoration before. To see the beauty of the grain reappear with sanding, to watch the natural oils emerge and then view the end product as though it has come to life has been very satisfying . To see the difference in the grain, texture and hardness of the various species of wood gives me a whole new appreciation for the woodworking process. To end this post , I will add a couple of pictures that show the various pieces of wood hanging in the garage to dry, following an application of varnish. This is only half of the picture...the coaming boards and hatch boards take up the other half of the garage!!

THE PLAN
~ make offer to owner. Proceeds going to Habitat for Humanity so don't want to play hardball with price BUT we have a very limited budget. Generosity almost always wins. Counting on it.

~ Practice the speech that is going to convince the owner to let us do the work on the boat while it stays on the cradle ...at their house..next to the garage. Using their water and electricity.

~ Pay half now, take paperwork to secure title, strip the boat of every removable piece of bronze and mahogany, rigging, sails, etc. to take home . We will work on these things in Traverse City during the last months of winter. We will sand , varnish , polish and stain at home while we wait for the warmer temps.

~Pay balance when we begin work on the actual boat. Power washing , hull work, keel refinishing and fiberglass repair to be done when the weather breaks.

~ Extensive lists of materials that will be needed , cost of project and manual hours estimated to complete the project. Mark says he has allowed plenty of leeway....

~ Contact marina in Boyne City to see if they can bring their big rig up the street , pick boat up off cradle, step the mast, and splash her for us in the spring.

~ Practice Zen meditation and exercise good humor and patience ...seeing this as a process and love the journey...! Flexible and adaptable we must be.

WHERE WE STAND NOW

Boat purchased for agreeable price.
Work to be done in Boyne City with boat on cradle.
Must be completed by May 15th or we pay a daily fee to owner.
Paying $ for use of water and electricity.
Obtained paperwork to get title.
Loaded X-Terra down with every movable boat part we could find.
Mast will be cleaned and polished on site.
Shipment arrived from Jamestown Distributors.
We are living amongst all the boat parts mentioned above.
Every flat surface in house now contains brass, mahogany, canvas, sails,etc.
I mean counters and kitchen table AND FLOOR!
Having lots of fun!!

1967 Chris Craft Capri
Mark first spotted this boat a few years back. It was set alongside a garage resting on a cradle in Boyne City about 80 nautical miles north of our home port of Traverse City. There was a "For Sale" sign long faded and washed out from probable years of exposure to the elements. The boat echoed the same. This boat caught his eye (although I've never known him to miss one), primarily because he has refinished about 30 antique boats including many Chris Crafts (of the motoring kind). He knew that Chris Craft had about a 14 yr run of making sailboats from 1962 -1976 and had always been intrigued. During his childhood days of sailing on Lake St Clare , his family raced a 27 ft Catalina and their weekly nemesis had been a 26 ft Chris Craft. Being a lifelong sailor, Mark had an eye for the classic lines of these vintage boats as well as a personal repertoire of favorite boat designers which includes Sparkman & Stephens , who designed the CC sailboats.
I have my own varied history of a passion for sailing and the dream of restoring and owning a boat. My first husband and I had plans ( I mean the actual design plans) to build a boat when we were first married. We also spent many weekends over the years loading the kids into the car and traveling to boatyards and boat shows across coastal N Carolina...we went equipped with maps, flashlights and swiss army knives ( to check for rot) , climbing all manner of cradles , makeshift ladders and rickety scaffolding to peer inside old boats in need of lots of love...although our first love was wooden boats , although we bought a 22 ft O'Day which we sailed the hell out of in the sounds of the Carolinas. When our growing brood outgrew that boat we parted ways...from the boat and eventually each other.
Now , fast forward and here we are, Jan and Mark, two boat lovers with very different experiences but the shared dream of spending most of our time , energy, efforts and inevitably our budget , on endeavors that allow us to spend as much of our lives on the water and under sail as is possible....now , for the rest of the story...