Introducing Ariel #187 "Eight Bells"

[ggarratt]

Hello!

Having lurked for about 4 months I've finally gone out and taken some pictures and am now ready to introduce my "new" boat, hull #187 "Eight Bells".

She was donated in 2003 to the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School for use as a staff boat. I began instructing there in 2005 and she was the first "modern" boat I'd ever sailed on. Interesting enough I was the last person to sail her during the summer of 2007 before she was hauled out. Since then she's been sitting on the hard.

This past summer, due to budget cuts, the school was forced to put her up for sale and began a staff-only auction. In the meantime I'd gotten a "grown-up job" at a non-profit and was living about five miles away from the Outward Bound base. In August I ran into the OB boathouse manager who, having not received any bids, encouraged me to make him an offer. After sending in an embarrassingly low number I found myself the owner!

So, I now unexpectedly own a boat and, having looked over the posts here, have the feeling that I have no idea what I've gotten myself into. I can promise you though that I'm very excited and have a great deal of sentimental attachment to her, so I'm going to try my best to do her justice.

There are a few things that I know were not working properly when I last sailed her:
1) Roller furling was twisting the jib halyard and cutting through it. I guess that means I need to figure out how to fix the roller furling and then run a new halyard.
2) Port side winch doesn't work under a load although it sounds normal when you rotate it without.
3) The outboard, a 2000 Honda 4-stroke, doesn't seem to get enough air when it's running in it's well. When you open the cover it runs just fine but the cover gets in the way but I'm not sure this is an issue worth fixing.

Some other projects I think I need/want to take on before putting her in the water this spring:
1) Bottom paint
2) Bright work
3) Painting the v-berth
4) New cushion covers (I think mine are still the originals... gross!)

I've been searching through posts on all of these subjects and want to thank all of you already for the wealth of knowledge on this website. Any additional advice as I go through the process will be greatly appreciated. My first question is, do you think this is a reasonable amount of work for someone with no experience to tackle by themselves in their first spring of boat-ownership? I tried to choose things that seemed necessary but do-able but the list seems to have gotten very long especially since my bill of sale requires that I get her in the water by the end of April.

I've included some pictures below. The first is of me the last time I was on her in 2007. The others are from this past fall after I bought her. Interior photos will have to come later.