Small boat big big project!

[hardchines]

I am starting this project story about my retirement LRC (long range cruiser) project, this project is not for the average guy, but hopefully he may enjoy watching me do it . I started this project last October, I worked all winter on it, summer work is proceeding but at a slower pace. My target date for commissioning my updated yacht is late spring but more realistically mid summer of 2016. I have photo's of the project from day one till today, I want to post photos but have to import a safe RESIZER program so I can do that ( if you have a safe link for a download please send it to me).

Sorry for all the verbage but a little history on me, my past and what i am hoping to do in the future as it relates to boating and this project.

I am just short of 62 years old, I was put out of work last year by my employer due to several injuries to my hand, (mandatory STD/LTD not requested by me) 38 years for that employer. I started boating with a close friend when I was 13 years old, on long Island NY , south shore where lots of protected waterway and bays can be found, 14 foot open wood old boat with a rely old 18 Evenrude that ran well, we both got our USCG safety cards to make it legal in the 1960s and we both still boat.

More to follow, hope you enjoy following my project.

[Viper]

Sweet, keep it coming. And yes, we like pictures!

[hardchines]

test for problems

[hardchines]

My first boat was a 14 foot Thompson wood runabout, with a huge V-4 Evenrude outboard, My last boat was a 41 Chris Craft Commander FDMY, beautiful boat, currently have a 1980 Grady White 204C Overnighter, I love it. I have had many boats between the first and the last!

Based on my experiences boating I came up with a list of requirements for my retirement boat, they are as follows.

1. She must fit on a trailer and be trailer legal in all states.
2. She must have a weather helm (enclosed helm).
3. She must have a cabin with full head room and big windows, no caves with tiny little windows.
4. She should have hardchines and a shallow V, a full keel would be a plus but hard to find with my other requirements.
5. She should have a Flying bridge or command bridge (I am a Cat bird).
6. She should have a decent head with a stand up shower (I am 6' 1").
7. She must have a FLUSH DECK in the cockpit (no built in seats or boxes including engine boxes).
8. She must not have any hull wood coring, deck coring is hard to avoid in small boats.

The above items were my REQUIREMENTS not my wish list, my wish list to follow, my project is adding my wish list to my boat that came with all my requirements.

More to follow!

[hardchines]

As stated before I was put out of work (at full pay), on the second day off I said to my wife "what the hell am I going to do for the next six months", she said I was wondering the same thing, I am not good at not doing something! I had been looking for a boat that fit my requirements and had narrowed it down to one make and model based on fitting my requirements, availability and cost. I was not planning on buying a boat or starting my project right away and finding one was getting tough as it was October and boats were going off the market, I found a few high dollar boats and two cheap ones, the cheap one I wanted was in Michigan and had no trailer, I called but it sold, the other boat was in Maryland (Ocean City), it was rough looking in the pics and was a donation boat, paying top dollar for a clean boat with a new engine and rebuilt out-drive would have been a waste for me as my plans included a power change no matter what came in the boat . The Maryland boat had a asking price of 5900 and had no trailer included, well with time on my hands I drove down to take a look at it, I spent four hours looking her over and taking lots of pics, she was sitting on a galvanized 64 roller loadrite trailer with a 10k load capacity 29 ft model, older, needs one tire other 3 are as new, drum brakes rusted and need replacing. I went home and chewed over whether I wanted to tackle this boat project, stared at pics every night. Ok decision made, time to make a deal with marina that owns boat, he said he would do 4900 then 3900 for boat, I asked about a trailer and he said he would sell me the trailer it was on for 2500 more. He kept telling me motor in boat was a recent rebuild and it looked it but that did not matter to me. I made him a offer of 1500 for the trailer and 500 for the boat, he said well I think your a little light, I want 2000 for the trailer and 1500 for the boat, I said final offer will be 2000 for trailer and 500 for the boat, he said bring CASH !

Three days later I loaded my Suburban with tools and trailer tires (just in case) and cash, I left New Paltz NY and went to get my new yacht a 1980 Carver 2667 Santa Cruz, trip uneventful (thank god), next post will have pics if I can get them to load.

[hardchines]

Love at first sight, not! Great tow car!

[hardchines]

Love at first sight, not! Sorry test picture in prev post, I need to get a resizer for my boat pics.

[hardchines]

first pics

[hardchines]

Got her home , picture date is 10-30-2014 so that is when this project started if the date in my camera is set correctly!

[hardchines]

In position for initial clean up.