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Thread: Commander #5

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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    Asst. Vice Commodore, NorthEast Fleet, Commander Division (Ret.) Brightwaters, N.Y.
    Posts
    1,823
    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

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Havre de Grace, MD
    Posts
    207
    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.
    #97 "Absum!"

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Kent Island (Maryland)
    Posts
    12

    Let the work (and spending) begin...

    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.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Location
    San Rafael, CA
    Posts
    3,621

    Important Items

    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.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Havre de Grace, MD
    Posts
    207
    Wondered if The wife and I were the only ones to refer to her as "the boat" I imagine it's due to the lack of an appriciable name.
    #97 "Absum!"

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2006
    Location
    Kent Island (Maryland)
    Posts
    12

    Hull #5 Update

    Hi all!

    Work continued yesterday on Commander 5. I have just about completed the stripping and sanding of the exterior brightwork. Some instances took up to 6 applications of Strypeze to get all the old varnish off, but underneath the mohogany looks clean and unmolested. The wood rails under the companion hatch guides were particularly dirty and ugly; nearly black with flaking old varnish, but they cleaned up especially nice - the wood looked nearly blonde underneath after the repeated strip and scrape. They seemed to glow and to say "ahhhhh, thank you" to the air and sunlight. The washboards look like new wood, and the tall forward portion of the coamings looks beautiful from a bow angle - looking good. I'll keep you posted. DF

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2002
    Location
    Portsmouth, Virginia
    Posts
    142
    Welcome to the fleet of Commander and Ariel afictionados. In this day an age of throw away everything (thats rapidly comming to an end) these fine ol' boats of charactor, tradition and seaworthiness will never be out of style.To bring back one of these classic glass Pearsons says a lot about somethings. Commander # 105, Njord, Portsmouth, Virginia. Best of sailing to you.
    Last edited by Robert Lemasters; 06-26-2006 at 07:37 AM.

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