Commander #65 "Lucky Dawg"

[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...

[commanderpete]

Might just be a rough surface under the paint. The waterline is hard to keep smooth because slime builds up, dries and hardens there. Areas under the jackstands don't get attention either. Give it a sand and see what you got.

Sweeeeet boat

[ebb]

The fickle finger of fate is pointing to an whole bunch of acne.
Could it be a wrong mix of bottom paints?
There's a lot of activity around a waterline if it was starboard to the sun in the marina?
Cleaning it might have pulled paint off?

Needs a bottom job. You can't have EVERYTHING.

[CupOTea]

Great boat, Kyle. The rubrails on the coamings rock as does everything else. I have three questions:
[*]Looks like the original tiller?[*]Would love to know the make and model of the portable head that fits so well in that spot.[*]Are the seacocks gone and, if not, were the thru hulls plugged or what?


Scott

[mbd]

Looks like my Ariel has the same portable head as well. (Sanpottie?) Could they be original??

I like that panel in front of Lucky Dawg's potty too...

[Lucky Dawg]

Randy the service manager at Torresen popped and scraped a couple spots and had no blister worries - no fluid or stink emitted. I didn't lead him at all, just asked "what's the problem and what's the resolution?" He suggested sanding down those areas, repainting and checking again in the fall at haulout. He couldn't see my relieved grin over the phone but I let him know that he was the "Good News Man" of the day. I'm consulting Don Casey for the best approach.

I will take a couple detail pix today per some of your questions above. I am curious about how (if) the genoa track has backing or if it just attached to the toe rail.

Scott, funny you should ask, but I am such a newbie that I'm not embarassed to say... I was reading BoatWorks mag last night and an article about seacocks and the thought occurred, "Uh, does this boat have seacocks???" (I probably had a head-cocked-sideways look on my face like a confused dog...) Haven't the foggiest idea where, but on the advice of the author -"Know where your seacocks are and be able to find them and assure closure in the dark and possibly with your hands underwater."

Good thoughts to occur *b e f o r e* splashing! I think I read of Geoff having that realization at one point, but it didn't click upon reading that time.

Will be addressing my dearth of knowledge bits at a time over a long while... I appreciate your collective patience with this process.

[MRH]

Congratulations on your new Commander. If you think you're enthusiastic now, wait until you get to know her. Great boat.

Now that you're thinking about the plumbing, its a good time to check the condition of the 2 cockpit drain hoses, each of which connects a cockpit drain near the companionway to a thru hull below. Check the hose clamps too. Most Commanders do not have seacocks installed on these thru-hulls, so if an old hose or hose clamp breaks, you could be in for a long swim.

Seacocks installed on these thru-hulls might provide safety in the event of a break in the hose, but most would be left open while the boat is moored unattended, or while underway to drain the cockpit as intended.

What do others think about installing seacocks on these thru-hulls?

[Bill]

What do others think about installing seacocks on these thru-hulls?

There are discussions of seacocks in the tech forum. Please do a search on "seacocks" for the many sites. Might want to begin with one on the cockpit drains:

http://www.pearsonariel.org/discussi...ead.php?t=1287

[Lucky Dawg]

Scott, to the best of my knowledge, that is a new oak tiller and newly fabricated tiller head. I took a picture of the head - Sealand model 960. Same as Mike's. See below.
One seacock onboard below the sink. Port and starboard cockpit drains are identical clamped (painted) rubber hoses - see below.
There is an unidentified (by me) drain in the bilge which I assume would accomodate a bilge pump. No pump - except a manual one - onboard so far. That seems like a must-do.
I want to bring a bucket to the yard next visit and with a spotter below, pour some water through the two scuppers and two cockpit drains.
Can anyone identify the fitting in the last two pictures? It is on Stbd a couple feet from the bow. Interior fitting leads to the chromed exterior fitting (sorry it is blurry)

[joe]

I believe the unidentified fittings are one fitting and it is a water tank vent. Most water tanks vent inside but some people vent them through the hull. That's as far as my mind goes on it.

[Lucky Dawg]

the genoa track through the toe rail is simply bolted through. No backing plates. Wonder if this is a problem. If it hasn't failed or leaked in 43 years....

Fore and aft terminations of the coaming-top rub rail. They end about 2 feet from the aft end of the coaming.

the panel in front of the head.

and (with all due respect, coming after the head-panel picture) my superb crew.

[Lucky Dawg]

Still waiting on the yard's crane to help step my mast... "Oughta be today" - have heard that several times now.

Lucky Dawg came with a load of sails! I have some experimenting to do. A main with one reef point, a "storm main" (that doesn't seem much smaller, but is beefy as all get-out.) A working jib, a storm jib, 4 genoas of various (but quite similar) sizes, and 2 spinnakers. The surveyor rated them as a group as "painter's tarps" which might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but that may remain to be seen.

All of my sails are boldly marked with "6091." Not sure what that particular number is in reference to, but every sail has it blazin' across. I'm thinking that white paint over those numbers and "65" placed there instead probably would look tacky...

My newbie-ness abounds, but I must admit that I don't know how to fly my spinnaker yet. I mean, I understand it in theory, but having never attempted, well... KW has lots o' learnin' to do.

[Bill]

All of my sails are boldly marked with "6091." Not sure what that particular number is in reference to, but every sail has it blazin' across.

Often, a number such as that is an "off shore" racing registration number. Yours is pretty early as the more recent ones are up to six digits, maybe more.

[Lucky Dawg]

Applied my new boat lettering today. Just used a buffer and rubbing compound to take the old name off (With all due respect, "Someday" was a little wistful for my tastes)

Will attend to the rituals of renaming* upon launch tomorrow at 3PM!! WAAAAAHHHHHHOOOOOOO!!!

(* Some personalized combination of http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/rename.htm and http://www.48north.com/mr_offline/denaming.htm)