working on other people's boats

[rfrance0718]

I spent a good deal of today getting our 12 420s ready for a regatta tomorrow. No big repairs, just minor rigging issues, replacing bad dolly wheels, adjusting covers so that they actually cover the boats, fixing stands. All good, the fleet looks ready

Yesterday we drove up to Lake Erie to work on my brother's Pierson 26. I advised him to buy the boat last year. I had looked it over and found it to be remarkably solid, rigged well, dry, with good sails, and a brand new Honda 10 hp. I did kind of ignore some aspects that were going to need some help. The plumbing was a mess. The head was made by some company that doesn't exist any longer and for which there are no parts. The boat really smelled bad, which I figured was because of a porous old holding tank, half filled with indescribable contents. The fresh water tank was huge, and seemed to have a special odor of its own. The system was plumbed to use fresh water for flushing. I kind of suspect that it had backed up at some point, which might be the reason that there was no line connected to the galley faucet.

There was only one thing to do. Armed with my trusty saws-all we tore every thing out, including all the hoses and the galley faucet, and we'll start over from scratch. Rather than add a thru hull and sea cock, we may just go with a porta for the head. Then we can just put a small fresh water tank back under the galley and be done with it. Small holding tanks aren't a great thing anyway. It costs the same to get pumped out and it's a hassle.

I didn't include any pictures of this particular work. Next thing is to take all of the fabric items home for a double run thru the washing machine and then put about about 10 gallons of  Clorox to use. Then I might be willing to actually stay on the boat.

The whole thing reminds me of the old urban legend about the $100 Corvette. My cousins friend actually looked at the car. It  had been left for months with a decomposing body in it. He didn't buy it, and neither do I.

[Timm R Oday25]

I've been working for 17 years to identify the smell of our boat . Virtually everything has been replaced . Likewise to the sawzall approach ..

[Noemi - Ensenada 20]

I've been working for 17 years to identify the smell of our boat . Virtually everything has been replaced . Likewise to the sawzall approach ..

Hmmm....if I was closer, I'd give it a try.  I'm a hypertaster, and that's related to smeller too.