Commander #65 "Lucky Dawg"

[mbd]

Good move to buy a beauty like that and just go sailing! Congrats!

[Lucky Dawg]

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.

[Lucky Dawg]

All of the deck hardware has been rechromed. The shadow picture - probably should have been watching the road, but it was a cool view. Newly fabricated tiller head and oak tiller.
A couple minor improvements over the weekend - installed my windex and cleaned and oiled the teak cockpit sole. Amazing what a little cleaner and teak oil will do. Immediate gratification! Probably should have saved that one for a reward for something more arduous, but I'll take 'em when I can get 'em.
My 3 year old daughter Sadie has claimed the v-berth as her own playroom and my wife Amy enrolled in a sailing class that starts next week. We have sailed together a good bit before - with her as a happy, but fairly passive crew member. She is wanting to feel more informed and competent. Good to have engaged crew!
Mast to be stepped this week. There are a couple cosmetic blemishes and a pending blister question, but hopeful to launch by Memorial Day weekend.

[ebb]

U LUCKY DAWG U !

She'll have a tail waggin bone in her teeth afore long!

[Lucky Dawg]

Thanks Ebb. Paging through your refit of A-338, I feel like a cheat - or gloating - with this girl. Hope I deserve her. Plan to do her proud. I couldn't do what you've done (well... maybe... eventually... only if it was my full-time avocation)
I love to sail, and I love this boat and have for a long time. But, your skills and those of our peers here put my present ones to shame.
I am humbled - seriously.

[mbd]

Ebb... Paging through your refit of A-338, I feel like a cheat - or gloating - with this girl.

I know the feeling well Kyle.

But she's a beauty! What a find. Some interesting mods up in post #13 too. Rub rail on top of the coamings and genoa tracks on the toe rails. What's that square "pad" on the coaming, just aft of the winch? Some sort of backing plate?

Really nice brightwork too! And man are those Commander cockpits H-U-G-E!!! Sweet!

We'd love to see more pics! This is, after all, YOUR Gallery page.

[Lucky Dawg]

Mike - That shot of the cockpit makes it look the size of an oil tanker deck, eh?
That is a backing plate for a cleat. You know, I hadn't specifically noticed the rub rail on top of the coaming as unique, but it doesn't look out of place and is certainly functional.

The original owner, named Harry Purinton, raced her ("Restless II") from Sturgeon Bay Yacht Club and he and the next owner Rich Larson set her up for racing as she is. Purinton (I don't know anything about him, but...) was a marine architect and painter of some stature. From the pictures I have, the next owner must have let her go because when Matt got her, she needed a good deal of work. Her present status is a testament to the work he and his wife Mary put into her.

In the supplies Matt gave me, came a copy of the 1999 article on the Commander from Good Old Boat. I believe it is now out of print. The article doesn't provide a great deal of new information - mostly a story of the relationship between the owners and their boat C-114, their record setting (at the time, for longest Commander voyages) 1200 mile complete circle of the Great Lakes, and some upgrades they did. In the next week or so, I will scan it and post it here.

couple more pix

a) the lazarette with engine-hole insert and gastank mounts.
b) the closed-cell foam cushions for the cockpit and the shorepower inlet. (cushions from http://ccushions.com/boatlistorder.asp)
c) lovely teak cabin sole
d) all important head - I do have a three year old after all...
and sadly...
e) every lovely has her faults. Two areas on stbd at the waterline about the size of pizza pans with these tiny BB-sized blisters. Open to suggestions for their immediate vs Fall remedies...