Back At It!

Summer is almost over and I have so much to do, I made good progress this weekend though. I removed the rub rail, washed the boat inside and out, fixed some gelcoat chips and scratches in the hull and removed the hatches. Gelcoat is much easier to work with than I thought, though quite time consuming.

It was good to get some productive work done. My wife and I had our first child in July and its been such an amazing experience. I've put the boat on hold until things calm down some, like thats possible =). I'm about out of time for the summer considering the circumstances but I have some good inside winter projects to do. I hope to be able to splash down in late spring.

The Great Northwet, err Northwest...

Finally some good weather and some good progress! The water damage was more severe than I thought, almost all of the interior wood is rotten in one spot or another. I spent the day gutting the inside and now have the rotten wood for templates resting in the garage. Looks like this is going to be a bigger project than I thought, as always. Here is a few photos of my progress.

The vinyl lining appeared fine at first glance but started falling off as I removed things. It's basically a place for mold and water to collect, I'm unsure if I'll replace it. Here are some photos of the vinyl and flotation foam in the bow removed.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and wash the inside and start removing windows and deck hardware. I'm happy with the progress made today, hopefully the weather stays nice so I can start working on the topside.

Familiar Childhood Smell

The cabin smells like my grandparents basement so there is some serious scrubbing in order. The previous owner removed the toe rails and never found the time to replace them, so the 60 some odd holes in the deck welcomed plenty of water and created mold and mildew.

The laminate used on the bulkheads and galley is pealing pretty bad so I might just hit it with some 80 grit and recover with some white formica. The fake teak looks dated anyways and blue and white is a simple theme.

The bunks just need sanded and a fresh coat of paint. The vinyl covering the interior hull is in good condition just needs a good scrubbing.

I need to take a closer look at the cushions, they may be salvageable and I know they are expensive to replace. Unfortunately I am missing one cushion in the galley area.

This is my main area of concern, the top of the compression post. I have a sneaking suspicion there is going to be some rotten deck core above that.

The electrical system is a joke, thankfully on a boat this size it's a pretty easy job to replace. I need to give some thought to what I want to install but will probably keep it pretty basic. Overall not bad, more cleaning than anything (I say that with my fingers crossed). Once it's all cleaned and sealed up it should make a good relaxing overnighter. All that's left before I get started is to lay the sails and rigging out and take inventory, hopefully I can get this accomplished this weekend.

Welcome!

I recently purchased a 1973 O'Day 22 that needs some TLC and thought this blog would be a great way to organize projects and track my progress.

Overall the boat seems to be in great shape considering it's age and will need only minor repairs. The hull gel coat is excellent, some good buffing and wax is all that's required here. A fresh coat of bottom paint may be in order as well.

The boat is currently nameless, sounds like a good task for the wife.

The trailer needs basically everything possible replaced, rewired or reworked. I'm hoping to find some reasonably priced dry storage at a marina so trailering should be limited to twice a year. I'm very lucky to have a great friend who is letting me store it at his place until I have it seaworthy.

Lots to do topside, I should have a good tan by the time this is completed. I'm hoping to reuse the teak and most of the deck hardware, everything looks to be there and in decent shape. The deck feels to be quite solid, hopefully no rotten core or delamination. Besides the usual stress cracks around the chain plates I only noticed two small fiberglass repairs that need to be made. New paint and non-skid will need to be applied and I'll stick with the blue and white color scheme. I only had time this weekend to snap a few pictures and give it a once over but I like what I saw. Tomorrow I'll post my thoughts and pictures of the interior...