My wife and I picked up this Commander in Milwaukee a few weeks ago and are doing a "quick and dirty" make over to get her in the water ASAP.
The sailing season is way too short here in Minnesota to dally. Over the winter we will give her a proper bottom job, repaint the freeboard and decks, install an Atomic 4 to replace the O.B. and build some cabnets in the cuddy. Until then; The glass under all 4 of the life line stanchions was damaged and the core was rotten. The bow pulpit was loose with minor rot. Sailing on inland lakes the life lines, bow and stern pulpits are not necessary and I think they wreck the pretty lines of the Commander so they will not be going back on. The head pump out and the cowl vent looked like they were never sealed and the core around them was very rotten. The cabin top was also quite soft and I think the forward hatch also wrecks the lines so we have to recore most of the cabin top. As we are going to be repainting the decks over the winter I'm not to concerned with preserving the original nonskid so I am doing most of the repairs from the top. I step drilled and filled nearly all the old hardware holes as We will be replacing most of the original hardware. Amazingly, the core around the chain plates is dry. The cuddy had to be completly sanded down as there was a badly peeling paint job inside. I'll post pics in allittle while.
Last edited by Commander227; 06-17-2008 at 09:11 AM.
Reason: add pics
It is always nice to see more Commanders being rejuvenated!
I agree with you on the Pushpit, stanchions & lifelines. They are not complementary to Alberg's lines. The Mephisto Cat appears to have been fortunate to come out of the factory without any of these apendages. It does have a nice period pulpit (much like yours) and I do like the look of that...
Very nice work so far... Looking forward to more pictures. I am interested to see how your elimination of the forward hatch turns out. What will you do for ventilation / Light?
Commander 227, congratulations on your great find. You are very fortunate to purchase such a nice vessel. I would be very interested in purchasing your pulpit and possibly your pushpit. I'm working on an Ariel. Please keep me in mind if you desire to sell, I'm in no hurry. Thanks. Carl
My Email address is listed in profile
We launched 227 yesterday and got in a couple of sails. Love the look and feel of her underway. I thought I could get by this season with the old main sail as it looked pretty good on the lawn, but it is pretty blown out and illshaped. The boat has more weather helm than I would like but I think its just the old sails draft being so far aft. I guess I gotta order one up. I have a new roller furling head sail but have not had a chance to build the furler yet. I'm not much of a fan of the outboard in the motor well, without being able to turn the outboard you really don't have any rudder in reverse. Can't wait till I can install the inboard.
New Traveler with mid boom sheeting (just gotta rig it like my Ensign)
Yeah, O.K.,... the outboard controls are a little hill-billy. Just temperary till I can get the A4 in.
The pulpit, pushpit, stanchions and life lines off 227 are available to anybody who may need them within the Ariel/Commander class if said party is willing to arrange for (and pay for) packaging and shipping.
The bundle as pictured measures about 5.5' X 5.5' X 2' which is probably larger than UPS or Fed Ex will handle. Pick up Zip is 55331. All parts are in really good shape, not bent up or pitted. I would love to see them go to good use within the Class so if you can figure out a way to get them to yourself without complicating my life too badly their yours.
Mike,
I don't know about the "quick and Dirty" makeover, The speed at which you accomplished the refit is an inspiration to procrastinators such as myself. The deck work and cabin work is certainly first-rate... very nicely done!
I just ran accross these pics of a Commander I see when sailing in the Virgin Islands. What fun it would be to bang around the islands in a Commander instead of the sailing houses I'm always in.
Commander 227 was kinda handed her name by my friends around the marina.
"The Princess"
They have been calling her P.O.S. all summer..... I can only assume that means "Princess Of the Sea"
Here's The Princess finishing a fall race. She finished 3rd but PHRFed her way to 1st.
I have to race old man style as I haven't sprung for a spinnaker yet.
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