Bumbo

I have learned a valuable lesson from buying everything up front and not planning the exection. Boats have a finite amount of space and putting all of that stuff on a boat you are trying to completely gut creates no workable space. I am going to spend the weekend pulling off everything but the essentials for the projects I am working on. So... without further adieu, here are the things I will leave on the boat and the projects I will complete in order.

Project 1: Gut the boat of all trim pieces, cut the galley to the new design, fibreglass over the holes that have been cut by former owners, and create fiberglass mount points for the batteries, Electro Scan, and other near hull objects. The goal is to keep anything that goes below the seating close to the hull a buffer so they never actually contact the hull. I will have to leave opening that will be closed with epoxy coated plywood so that I can access thru-hull fittings and that is it.
Project 2: Start running electric wires
This is a project I can start before the mast comes down this weekend. This will take a significant amount of time, but I have all the major parts and should be able to do this as I go along. I want to atleast wire up the boats primary systems (running lights, power for instruments, power for deck/mast/cockpit items) and all the interior primary systems (head, water pumps, bilge pumps, Navigation items). Then when I get time I can do the secondary systems (entertainment, V Berth power, work bench power inverter, galley power inverter.) I won't wire for the Solar panels or wind generator until I actually purchase those components.
Project 3: Remove the onboard motor block. I plan to accomplish this with a 3:1 pully system connected to the boom to hoist the engine block up and onto the cockpit floor. I then plan to get a couple of guys to help me lift the block out of the cockpit and on to the dock to have it removed. I will then haul it to a junk yard for disposal.
Project 4: Demast the boat: I want to take the mast down so I can replace the bulkheads, refit the mast head, and run the new running rigging. It will also give me a chance to paint the mast if I choose (probably red with rustolium spray cans) I fully intend for the mast to be down for more than a month while I am working on everything else. I haven't purchased the instruments that will be mounted to the mast head so it may take a bit of time to get the money together for all of those parts. I want a VHF antenna, Wind/weather instruments, TV antenna, and GPS antenna. In total this will probably be about $3000 for everything.
Project 5: Trim and finish the interior of the cabin: I want to install the V Berth mattress, put up the trim pieces around the cabin, drill the holes to mount the shelves and fold up tables, trim the galley correctly, and paint the entire cabin area. I then want to go through and install all of the trim pieces after the paint dries. Once this is completed I should have a very good idea of what the interior will look like for a while.
Project 6: Move onto the boat. My ultimate goal is to make the boat sailable by the end of July to haul the boat in August and do all the through hull fittings and clean/paint the bottom of the boat at that time. I anticipate all of this to cost in the 2-3 grand range again. Expensive but is probably the most critical part because I have never seen the condition of the bottom of this boat. If this project gets moved back to after I move onboard that is ok but would not be the ideal situation.
Project 7: Move onto the boat. I need to live aboard as this is becoming my primary residence. My harbor master said that he didn't think he had any live aboard available, so on the advise of some of the blogs I have read I will sneak aboard for the first while until the harbor master approaches me about live aboard status again. If none of this works out I will be looking for a small studio apartment very close to where the boat is. I don't want to.. but I'll do it if I have to. The sooner I move aboard the sooner I can get to all the little things, like finishing the galley and adding on anything else that I may be missing.


I have only 3 months and ~6 grand in my way of completing the boat to a sailable and livable condition. Outfitting it for off-shore cruising will take the better part of a year, but It will get done eventually. This is a huge challenge and I hope to accomplish it before deadline and under budget... ha.

So for the last month I have had a lot going on. I had cancer surgery under my right arm which has halted any project until I am completely healed. So instead I have started buying stuff to start some of the various projects I need to get done.
So far I have bought the following:
Deck: Topside Paint with anti-slip additive, I am changing her colors from Hunter Green and White to Red and White)
Rigging: I have purchased all new running rigging and some spare rope I had laying around to fix the other smaller rigs that aren't part of the running rigging.
Fiberglass: I have bought a 60" by 10 Yard roll of fiberglass cloth, 4 containers of poly-resin, epoxy, silicone epoxy/sealant, putty knives, paint brushes. As soon as I'm healed fiberglass is the first project I need to tackle. I have to fix all of the holes that a former owner cut all over the boat. These are safety hazzards and if anything punctures the hull I estimate I'd only have minutes to abandon ship before she is headed strait for the bottom. As it stands now every time I get to my slip I expect to see just the mast poking out of the slip I am in.
Electrical: I have purchased 4 12V Deep Cycle AGM batteries for the motor battery bank (I decided on a full electric boat), I bought all the wire I should need for the boat and even took into account max amerage each line can carry over the distance of the boat and chose the gauge above that for safety. I picked up the fuse boxes, switches, crimping tools, end caps, battery switches, and all the other little odds and ends. Power is the second project I need to tackle. This is a bigger one so it will probably get completed as I add devices to the boat, but I will run the core power before I move onto project number 3.
Head: I picked up an Electro Scan for waste management. I have done a lot of research into the laws regarding this and requiring a holding tank... Here is what I have learend.. but do your own research. The Electro Scan (newer) and Lectra San (older) are Type 1 Marine Sanitation Device (MSD) which are allowed to purge directly overboard after treatment provided you are not in a Federally controlled No Discharge Zone (only the harbors around here and internationally as long as I stay away from shore I should be fine). The Type 3 MSD's are the Black Water holding tanks and those can only be dumped 3+ miles out or at a pump out station (which is usually poorly treated and then dumped right back into the ocean). Installing this will be project number 3
Cabin Interior: I found some cool stanless shelves at ikea to mount, a lot of stainless hardware to use for fold up desks/tables, I have a ton of 12v electronics that work on power bricks (TV, computers, etc.) So I am going to build each section as needed (such as the battery housing and nav desk) I am also going to replace and then fiberglass over the bulkheads that were destroyed. All of these need to be replaced once the mast is down, so the mast down is project number 4 and the bulkheads are project number 5. Then the interior modifications are project number 6.
I picked up a new VHF radio, some more safety gear, some deck shoes, etc. I have spent a lot on a boat I only paid $1500 for (over 8 grand so far) and I will keep spending the money until the boat is exactly as I want it. I have 3 years and I won't keep spending at this rate, but while I'm recovering from surgery what else can I do but plan and pick up the stuff for the boat. I am going to try to put up a blog post with pictures for every project along the way. I want others to be able to learn from what I am doing.

Today is the day, I finally scheduled a ship surveyor and on his advise that the hull was sound I bought my first boat. She is a beautiful stripped out Ericson 29. This will be my first boat, my first floating money pit, and my first major project of this size and scope.
Let's start with the survey.
Completed by Alan Hugenot - I would recommend him as he was willing to let me shadow, listen, and learn from him the entire time he was on board. He answered questions and even better offered advise on specific upgrades that would increase value and make the boat more "cruiser friendly". He is located in San Francisco and can be emailed at Alan@captainhugenot.com.

The boat was rated in Fair BUC condition.
Hull and Deck Inspection: Very Good Condition
Instruments and Electronics: No Compass, VHF Radio Dead, Depth Sounder Dead, GPS None, Radar None, Knotmeter Dead, 2nd Compass None .. So nothing really
Safety Equipment: I purchased a flair gun, 4 life jackets, 2 seat PFD's, 1 rechargeable Airhorn, First Aid kit, and Fire Extinguishers within 15 minutes of buying the boat. I still have more to get but this boat really did come with nothing.
Through Hulls: No idea on condition, but I'll assume all bad but water tight so I'm cool with it.
Anchors: 1 22lbs anchor and 1 13lbs anchor, no chain or windlass... not even an actual chain locker.
Rudder and Steering: Tiller, good connection points and the rudder is solid.
Bilge Pump: There is one, but its not automatic and its only about 400GPH (Need major upgrades)
Cabin Interior: Gutted.. The galley came with a sink and a broken refridge that needs to be replaced. No shower, and the head system was designed to dump directly into the cabin.. so yeah. Freshwater system had a holding tank and no working pump. There was no cook top and no oven. The Stern Berth had no cushions and holes were cut into parts of the boat (assumed "stash" spots). The Starburd and Port Berths were bare fiberglass and again had holes cut into the backs as "stash" spots. The V Berth was a fiberglass platform and thats about it. The Bulkheads were in ok shape (the ones that were there). One of the structural bulkheads had been removed by a previous owner.. so that has to be fixed. The overall condition of the interior is ok.. but missing everything.
Mast, Rigging and Sails: The mast is solid and could probably use a paint job really. The Standing Rigging is in good shape with minor corrosion. The Running Rigging is in horrible shape. It looks like the previous owner tried to splice wire and rope for the main halyard and it has broken and been tied together 3-4 times. The Lifelines were ok but there was only 1 level and the newer boats all have 2 or a hard rail. So I'll look into this before cruising but not a pressing matter. The sails were noted as existing and not much else. I am going to have to pull them off the boat onto the hard to look them over and make sure there are no rips or other problems.
Engine: Now for the real bad news. The onboard is a block of metal and nothing more. I am going to have to pull it and look into propulsion methods. Electric Yacht has a pretty good electric motor kit for about 4g. For now there is a 9.9HP outboard from Johnson.. but it looks to be as old as the boat so may not even start up.
Electrical System: Floating Fire Hazzard is probably the only way to describe this boat. The sockets have singe marks, the wire is not marine grade and is showing major signs of death and decay. It isn't gutted, but it should have been 10 years ago. (the boat was hooked up to shore power when I first came aboard - it got unplugged and a single bulb was connected to the batteries to drain them. The entire system needs to be re-engineered to today's standards.
That's it... a floating pile. It's my floating pile and I plan to polish her up into one of the nice 29 footers on the water. She will see the world before her days are done, and I intend to be the one to show it to her.