Blogs

As you can see this was no glancing blow.  The first step after the estimate was approved by the insurance company was to open up the damage and replace the core.  This is the part that is hardest to watch for most owners, as it almost appears that you are moving backwards as the damage appears to get bigger!  This is of course key to a good repair; you need to remove all the damaged core in order to replace it with good.  Ideally, you can remove just the core without damagi

The odds are that unless you never leave the slip, at some point in your life you are going to put a scratch, or a ding, or a hole in your boat.  Maybe you already have?  Maybe you have run aground or in our waters hit a log?  Fortunately, it is not the end of the world.

Our next few blog entries are going to follow the progress of a repair to a sailboat that had an unfortunate mishap trying to leave a marina that had a lot of cross current.

Seven Bells was transported from San Francisco to Seattle by Dennis Markin of Rio Linda Marina on December 17, 1998. The boat then had its bottom painted at CSR Marine before a Christmas launching on Lake Union. Spring 1999 in Seattle, Tim Ryan and Steve Vogel at CSR Marine on Lake Union led the final stages of the restoration project.

I arrived at CSR Marine bright and early (at 11 AM) on Wednesday. The new engines arrived late last week, delivered by a MER Equipment truck. The big crane at CSR Marine pulled Seven Bells out of the water, where it had been hiding in a covered shed to minimize damage to the exterior varnish by the bright September and October sunlight -- no kidding!

Sunday, September 11th, was one of the most interesting days of my life! I had spent the weekend at the Port Townsend Wooden Boat Festival, surrounded by hundreds of beautiful old (and young) wooden boats and thousands of adoring fans of wooden boats.

Insane. That's the only word I can think of to describe myself. How else can I refer to the impulsive frame of mind that led me to purchase a 70-year-old boat with the demented notion of restoring it to its former state of glory?