F.S.: Commander in WI with trailer
1964,Always freshwater, inside storage.Entire boat painted by professional. Refinished Mahogany.New interior and exterior cushions. Yamaha 8 HP with low hours. Perfect day cruiser/overnighter/racer, huge cockpit. 2 spinnakers, Jib, 2 Genoas,2 Mains, Storm Jib. depthmeter, Compass, head. Cradle on trailer. Beautiful boat. Must sell, another child on the way.
http://www.usedboats.com/index.php?s...historyback=11
Commander #65 "Lucky Dawg"
Happy to introduce our new Commander, Hull #65!
Several years ago, I sailed with a friend's family out of Northport, NY on their beautiful Ensign and soon after discovered the Commander - I was hooked.
I've sailed since I was a teenager and I have owned small boats in the past, (I have an MC Scow listed on TrailerSailer.com) but this is my first "real" boat and I'm thrilled. I have been a boatless lurker here for a long time (commandertobe) and I appreciate the knowledge I've absorbed learning about your boats. I bought a manual a year or so ago... After it arrived, my wife Amy "Uh, why are you reading the manual for a boat you don't own?" :D
The surveyor used words like “immaculate” and “lovely,” & “you could eat out of the bilge” and said that the owner “clearly respected her history in the work he did on her.” These are not phrases I expected from the righteously ornery old salt who surveyed her, but he was clearly impressed.
Our options were pulling her trailer for 400 miles from Green Bay through Chicago and around the lake to Grand Haven, sailing her for the first time across springtime Lake Michigan for 179 miles… which of course could be smooth or YIKES, or at the sellers great suggestion, using the SS Badger (http://www.ssbadger.com/content.aspx?Page=Video – try not to dance when you hear the rockin’ theme song) to ferry her across and tow her a short distance to her new home and set-up here. The last one wins. Though it might rouse hisses from the peanut gallery, the sailing option – though enticing – was a daunting shakedown.
The first weekend the Badger sails is 5/12, so we are coordinating the sale on that weekend.
She'll reside 15 minutes from home at Torresen Marine on Muskegon Lake - a nice option to home in Spring Lake, MI. Muskegon Lake offers a large inland lake to sail if the big lake is too rough.
She will be rechristened (with all appropriate diligence to appease the Gods) “Lucky Dawg”
Speaking of, any ideas on how to cleanse her of any bad luck related to her green paint job? Maybe I can create my own apologetic ritual. I might need to know the thinking behind the bad luck of a green boat to take the right steps.
Pictures below are from the ad, many more to follow. Hurry up 5/12!
Excited to be aboard!
p.s. MC Scow listed at http://www.sailboatowners.com/classi...bd=trailerable (SOLD)
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Lucky Dawg is home safe and sound
Trip home on the trailer was uneventful. Some fresh pix below. I have a zillion more. Year old interior cushions. The door has solid boards too, but I like this vented one for show. Note the SS Badger in the background of the picture on the trailer. Trip across on the Badger was windy and cold, but a fantastic alternative to hauling that trialer for 400 miles. PO gave me a pickup load full of supplies as he is getting out of sailing altogether.
With a knickknack paddy whack, give a dawg a bone...ole 65 came rolling home!
U LUCKY DAWG U !
She'll have a tail waggin bone in her teeth afore long!
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hull speed, schmull speed...
12-15kts blowing and we defied her theoretical hull speed. (know it's been done before by all of you, but not yet by me)
Our return to port is dictated by nap time, so after a couple of hours, we were done. That's what all old salty captains over the ages have done, no? Children's dramamine kept my daughter from barfing this time at least. That is a nice improvement on the sailing experience for all.
Inclinometer doesn't work, but she heels nonetheless.:D (Ritchie said that it would be about $50 bucks and a couple weeks to put the gimball back on its pivot point.)
Anyone know what (if any) is her optimum heel for greatest hull speed? I know that 0* is the optimum heel in my lovely wife's opinion.
Man, wouldn't want that track to let go in a breeze!!!
Paul, I can't answer for Kyle,
but I would at least screw a nut onto maybe longer bolts.
Every once in while a nut without a washer is OK in a series, especially if that's all you can do.
I don't know how you can see anything up in the cove. but longer bolts should be able to have nuts screwed on.
You can sometimes cheat and bend the bolt end a little into free space.
Must get the nut on so you can use it to pry the bolt over. This is pretty radical - you may have a hard time removing the machine screw later.
Most s.s. 1/4" washers are 5/8" diameter. You could look around and find 1/2" wide washers - that might fit better up in the cove. Even silicon washers on s.s machine screws would be OK to use. McMasterCarr usually gives dimensions of fastenings in their online catalog.
If you want to be a surgeon: Go to W.L.Fuller.Inc and get a Type "X" counterbore for a 1/4" drill bit. You will need a longer bit than a jobber.
You tighten this counterbore on the bit with a couple set screws -
put the bit into the existing hole -
and drill UP from inside. (you have had the bolts and track removed:rolleyes: ).
This counterbore is made to create a flat for washers. Maybe not in fiberglass but what do you care, this is a one time deal.
You may get by by just CAREFULLY probing the area around where the bolt comes thru so that a washer will want to fit there - you don't want to go thru the cove! The counterbore makes a 5/8" hole - but you would be just making a flat surface for the washer and nut.
5/8"s is pretty wide up in the cove. If you have found the smaller 1/4" washers that are 1/2" wide, Fuller has a long Type "M" counter bore for a long 1/4" bit that will make a flat 1/2" circle. Haven't used this one. You're kindof limited by how much room you have to get the cordless drill and bit/counterbore in the cove.
Fuller is a family-owned outfit.
The extended two winch aluminum base along the coaming - with the center seat - is just an idea.
You may be able to find 'cardboard' sona tubes of many diameters that are used in concrete forming. Usually at your local ready-mix supplier. I happened to have an onlinemetal's shipment sent in one that was close in size to the six inch aluminum pipe I didn't know they had till I looked it up.
I just made shapes from paper patterns (ideas) and cut them out of the cardboard tube with the jigsaw til I had what looked right. I was trying to design a bowsprit.
It's easy to see that (winch bracket) legs could be got out of cutting pipe lengthwise using NON-parallel lines, wider at one end or the other. Just like furniture. Get nice tapers that have constant radiuses that'll make anything more interesting. I'm just BSing. If the idea coagulates into something interesting maybe it'll appear in the Gallery forum.
I think Kyle should immediately give up sailing for the rest of the season and develop this aluminum winch island idea. Give up on that silly varnished mahogany island he covets so much and spend all the time he can like I do making improvements under a tent in a boat yard. SAILING? H-r-u-m-p-h!:rolleyes:
In all of my new-parent free time....
Projects in the hopper - I'm at about 60% on the skill-cluelessness coefficients for all of them: - re-glassing the hole I drilled in the keel at haul-out
(this one I understand pretty completely)
- electric and manual bilge pump system
(I have some drawings and have read a lot here about this. I'm investigating how the actual pump stays secure at the bottom of the bilge. Cutting any holes in the boat makes me nervous. Cutting the holes before I splash seems to make more safety-sense. Wish me luck)
- sealing leaky cabin windows
(I am certain that the fix for this is on these pages. The dribbling leaks continually threaten my dashing interior cushions with mold and that isn't good.)
- fixing the two spots pictured in post #33 http://pearsonariel.org/discussion/s...8&postcount=33
(I am a little leery on grinding/sanding these - but looking at others' overhauls points out the fact that anything can be repaired with fiberglass work. How deep, how wide, how to rematch, etc. Again the answer is here or in Don Casey literature on the shelf. The crazing evident in the pictures is fairly widespread. I'll need to figure out if that is a repainting issue or a sand the whole deck issue...)
- wiring upgrades
(greater battery capacity, hardwired GPS, stereo, etc. AA batteries are a pain and not very environmentally sensitive. I ordered Casey's electrical systems book over the winter, but it doesn't address outboard systems - clearly anyway. I imagine I can interpolate battery issues for inboards to outboard uses.)
I am only telling you this for some external accountability to get busy! So, I am setting about making a project-completion plan and reading lots of old posts.
(p.s. After all this time, I just noticed that there is a spell-check option here. Mark Twain said something along the lines of "I can't respect a man who can't spell any word at least three different ways." Mr. Twain would have a lot of respect for me.)