Commander #5

[Commander#5]

Hello everyone, my name is David and I am the proud new owner of this 1964 Commander Hull #5. I couldn't be happier. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading many of your posts and especially lookin at all those photos of your boats.

Thank you all for all for your pictures and for your enthusiam and appreciation for these great classic Alberg designed-Pearson built boats, which truthfully in part inspired me to buy her. I hope I prove to be worthy to join your ranks as new owner and steward to Hull #5.

A special hello here to commanderpete - hope to meet you someday - really enjoy your posts. Best regards to all, I'll keep you all updated on my progress. - David

[c_amos]

Welcome Aboard David!


I was almost afraid when I saw how cheap itr went, that it had gone to be parted out.

Really gald to see you post here, you really did get a great boat.

I would recommend you consider joining the association and buying the manual.

.... oh yea,...... and using the search button....

[Commander#5]

THANK YOU FOR THE WELCOME!! I really feel like the new kid in school here, and it is really nice to be greeted with an instant and friendly welcome. I am still going through all the past posts, gleaning ideas and experiences and advice, and getting a good laugh here too. Love it, and can't get enough! Thanks again for the warm welcome, David

[commanderpete]

Well done. It'll be nice to see #5 come back to life.

We're always happy to tell people how to fix things.

Much easier than working on our own boats

[tha3rdman]

Glad you had got it, I was considering, purchasing it myself and doing the unthinkable, For the price, thats the spinaker pole, the rest is gravy. But thankfully someone else, who has a heart, got her.

[Commander#5]

Hi everyone, Here's an update on the salvation of Hull #5. Yesterday it was hot, very hot, here in MD. Started the day with the obligatory trip to the hardware store to "tool up" for the day. 75' Hose; check. Spray nozzle; check. 1 gallon Simple Green; check. Chemical Stripper; check. Scrapers, kinves, blades, scrubbing pads, rags, sandpaper; check, check, check. From there, Off to "The Boat"! I have a strange feeling that everything in my life, from now until she is in the water and sailing, will BE "The Boat", my next great cause in life.

Spent the entire day scrubbing and cleaning and stripping the boat stem to stern. She's looking better, but still a long way from good. Among the many other things, her deck drains were clogged and like many others have said before, what one would think would be a ten minute task turned into about an hour and a half of unhooking, investigating, tool improvization and in the end, I felt like the chimp with the stick in hand at the termite mound, poking and proding. Unlike the chimp though, there was no meal to reward my effort, but instead I did finally have a clean deck and free-flowing scuppers. Woo-hoo!

Next, onto cleaning the hull up. Since the deck drains were clogged for (I assume) the past 6 years, and being one of the early commaders with no notches at the stern rail to let the piled up water off, the stagnant, NASTY pool of organic detris and bird droppings had severely stained the decks alongside the coamings. Amazingly, the decks seem solid here, although the winch bases were shot (not cool). The coamings themselves were in sad shape cosmetically, but in spite of the longitudinal splits, the wood itself is still good and solid; a testimony to the builders not skimping on thickness - mine are still in excess of 3/4" thick - beefy compared to my other 30 footer with about a half-inch, they look and feel wimpy compared to the Commander's.

But back to the hull, the overflow from the lakes on the sides had badly stained the topsides with a nice green fungal/mossy green and black. UggH! I put some serious arm and ass into the hand scrubbing at these places and it paid off - the topsides are passing at C-/D+. They will need refinishing of course anyway, but it does leave a much nicer impression on the eye, especially from about 20'.

Figuring that I might get the nastiest work done first and move on to more pleasant things next weekend, I next attacked the brightwork. I used a chemical stripper to get the bulk of the old varnish off, and things went pretty fairly. I have used the strippers before, and I tried to keep things as neat and orderly. I would love to post the before-and-after shots of the companionway and washboards, but I haven't yet figured out how to post them. Will work on it. I'll give another update next weekend. Thanks all for the inspiration and commaradeship.

[ebb]

You young whippersnappers are all get up and go and work work. Brewski's and bow ornaments (Commander Pete can assist you here as well) are absolutely necessary to create the proper work environment.