Back to work...!

Well, the weather finally cleared up and I had a warm weekend so I got up into the boat. I had a surveyor come back and give the boat a look-over; everything seemed pretty good. I pointed out the standing water in the starboard lazarette, to which he recommended I drill a small hole into the main bilge area to allow it to drain.

Overall the hull was "very dry" (he used a sensor to detect water invasion) and no signs of delamination either externally or on the deck. He rattled off a list of about a thousand things I'll need to do to get the boat up to code before the sailing season. We'll see how much of it is strictly needed if I'm just daysailing on the Navesink (waiting on a response from some of the members of my club).

I put in a new battery Saturday morning in preparation for the surveyor's visit. The only things that were working were the starboard bow (green) running light, and the main cabin light. The following were not working:

- Starboard running light, cockpit

- Mast light

- Port bow light (red)

I went through and pulled all the lights and I'll be ordering replacements this week. No sense wasting any time with something cheap like lightbulbs.

There were a few head-scratchers when the surveyor was here, namely:

- There's no omnidirectional anchor light, which is used when the boat is at anchor at night.

- There's no bilge pump...?

So those will probably be my two big tasks before the boat gets into the water, as well as a good scrubbing (still a faint mildew-y smell in the cabin). I'll be posting a "master plan" of activities to be completed in the next few days.

Unfortunately, we've had quite a bit of a cold snap here in NJ, so I haven't really been able to get much work done. I have a sneaking suspicion I might not be able to do much of anything until March, as that's when I hope it'll get up above 50 degrees for a few days so I can do some varnish work. For the time being, I'm going to start sanding the companionway hatch. Pictures to come soon.

Tiller restoration progress

The tiller on the boat, which I'm fairly certain is made of ash, had dulled to an ugly driftwood color and was a little smelly. I sanded it a bit and got some of the original "warm" wood color to come out, but ultimately I think the discoloration in the wood is a little too deep for sanding to be viable. Fortunately, the tiller appears sound (I poked around in it with an awl to be sure), so I'm going to paint it white and then varnish it. Hope to pick up the paint and varnish tomorrow so I can get started. 

Effort (sanding, applying wood filler, sanding): 1 hour

Cost: $12 for sandpaper of varying grains, which will be re-used

Rigging instructions

I found this rigging guide on wichard-usa.com -- it's for a 222, which is very similar to the 22 which I have. The running rigging on the boat and the blocks might be salvageable, but I wanted to start researching the parts now so I'd be informed if I had to make a decision later. If there's anything that I'm happy to spend money on, it's in making sure that the tackle on the boat is safe, reliable, and responsive.

O'day 22 in my driveway

O'day 22
Originally uploaded by bdeakin

Here's a picture of the sailboat, sitting in my driveway. I'll post a picture soon with the tarp up (I've since relocated the bottom of the mast on the bow of the boat to a fender sitting on the pulpit, which is helping keep the rain from pooling and freezing in the tarp). Then, once spring rolls around and I take the tarp down so I can start work, I'll post some more pictures.

Water in cockpit locker - O'day 22 - SailboatOwners.com

I posted the following topic on SailboatOwners.com to ask a general question about water I had found in one of the cockpit lockers.

Water in cockpit locker - O'day 22 - SailboatOwners.com

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First post

I started this blog so that I could catalog my experience in restoring a 1977 O'day 22 sailboat. I live in Central NJ and I bought this boat for a song with a 9.9HP engine and a trailer. In retrospect, maybe it wasn't the best idea.

Let me explain. I started sailing this past summer with a local club and I loved it; getting out on the water and being able to basically pick a direction and go is a beautiful thing. Sailing is kind of a thinking man's sport and you have to keep your wits about you and sometimes just improvise to do what you want to do, and that's kind of fun.

I say it was a bad idea because the boat I picked up is used, and though it appears structurally sound, it needs a bit of work before it gets in the water. And despite having gone to school for engineering, my skill at everyday DIY projects is practically non-existant. I've bought plenty of books but even the most basic ones seem to assume some skills that I just don't have yet.

So, I'm at a point where I've basically decided it's time to just jump right in, get my hands dirty, and figure things out as I go. So, that's that.

My goals for this summer (2010) are fairly modest:

1. Get the boat up to snuff and in the water

2. Sail it around the Navesink River

3. Sail it out to Sandy Hook Bay a few times

Things to do:

1. Post some pictures of the boat

2. Post my plans for work to be done getting the boat ready

3. Start a project and document it

Thanks for reading!