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Thread: Ahoy sailors - Ariel Vanupied Checks In

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2017
    Location
    Charlotte, VT
    Posts
    2

    Ahoy sailors - Ariel Vanupied Checks In

    This is just a little post to introduce myself and my littler Ariel 'Vanupied.' I fell in love with Vanupied a week after I bought my first boat (a Bristol 24) last year, as she sat behind us in the yard. I befriended her owner and said, "If you ever sell her, call me." And that he did in December.

    I sold the Bristol for a song and Vanupied became mine. I'm located in the North Country on Lake Champlain, since launch I've bought/sold several engines to have the right one for her, rebuilt the engine locker hatch into a yacht seat of sorts to accommodate a 4 stroke motor, I pulled her sketchy backstay bolts (which were the original bronze and crumbled in my hands...meanwhile when I had to sail her to my homeport before the repair, the entire time I just kept saying 'please don't break'). I tabbed in the backstay knee with three layers of glass and added a 1/4 in aluminum backing plate with stainless steel hardware...hmm let's see what else. Electric bilge pump, lots of rebedding, new cleats here and there, currently working on a storm jib from some old sails I was given.... Also need to add a third reef to her and a better solar set up to accommodate autopilot.

    I have slight deck delamination but my decks were re-cored by the previous, previous owner, so I don't think all the balsa is shot. All her chainplates were replaced by previous owners as well. She's super strong. Stronger than me.

    Oh yeah, why am I doing all this? I'm planning to take her off Lake Champlain, through the Champlain Canal and Hudson River, down the NJ coast to the entrance of the ICW. My EVENTUAL goal with my modest yacht is CUBA, but I'll settle for making it to the Chesapeake before winter.

    Vanupied deserves the world and to be young forever. Rather than a total refit/restoration I'm doing what I can as I can. I've sailed/lived on boats in Tonga, NZ, San Juan Islands, British Columbia, and now Lake Champlain but I'm still a novice. I'm a 28-year-old freelance writer on a shoestring budget! Check out my blog if you care... www.dinghydreams.com

    Cheers!
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  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2015
    Location
    Chicago, IL
    Posts
    133
    Welcome! I am pretty sure any questions you have about Vanupied can be answered here. It's a great community of similarly afflicted Ariel and Commander devotee. Love the name and the blog.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Grand Haven / Muskegon, Michigan
    Posts
    613
    Welcome Emily. Great to see you found the forum. Please keep us updated on your travels and your refit efforts! Great work!

    p.s. Was Bill able to help you ID your hull number?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Great Lakes, North America
    Posts
    33
    Congrats.

    Sounds like we might overlap. I'm in Rome NY on my Ariel headed for the Hudson river. I'm planning on doing the Chesapeake and then maybe if I'm not sick of living on the boat, sailing south.

    Sounds like you're leaving your end goal ambiguous too. I've put pressure on my self to make more distance in years past and it's been a mistake. It stresses one out and takes the fun away. There's plenty of places to store a boat for the winter if you don't make it to Maryland.

    Stay positive.
    Good Luck.
    -Elliot

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