Chronicles of Sailing Vessel Brigadoon

-sv-Brigadoon is a 1978 Ericson 35 Mk II sailboat purchased in 1999 by Walt and Marty. We found her at Sailing Life, Portland, Oregon, during a February snowstorm. Walt was holding out for a trailerable sailboat and a big old Buick convertible to tow with. Marty, remembering how it was to try to stand in 4'9" headroom was holding out for a bigger boat. We went aboard and the owner was polishing the teak cabin in Pledge. The warm cabin, the smell of Pledge, and the sea stories we shared were very strong pulls, after discussing a purchase over clam chowder in the local seafood house, we made our offer which was accepted. After 9 years, we wonder if we did the right thing. There were 4 pages of problems listed by the survey, but we got her at a good price and with stars in our eyes we went ahead anyway. In the last 5 years, we have torn the boat apart and put in all new marine wiring, additional fuel tank, water tanks, refinished the interior, new cushions, all new canvas covers, new sailing instruments and modifications to the livability of the cabin. The diesel layed down a black layer of smoke, and to Walt who spent his career rebuilding engines, this was unacceptable. So out came the diesel engine for a rebuilt. That was in October 2002. It just went back in June 2007. Just in time to get us down river from our home port, Hood River, Oregon to the boat yard at Tomahawk Bay Boat Yard for exterior repairs. To include all new standing and running rigging, bottom paint, all new thru hull fittings, new waste holding tank and system. The first order of business was the haul out which went successfully. After the hull was pressure washed we were stunned to see how many blisters covered the 35 foot hull. Remember the kid in your high school class with the worst case of acne? Well, that's how our hull looks. What started out as a simple scrape the old bottom paint off and apply new, changed into a major project (which extends our time in the yard by months....and several thousand dollars. If we were to have it done by a yard instead of doing it ourselves, Walt says it would run $10,000. What we have to do is scrape all the old bottom paint off, sand any bottom paint remainders off the hull, grind off the gel coat layer and maybe the first layer of fiberglass cloth, grind out each individual blister, let the whole hull dry for a month (or more), washing off the chemicals as they come to the surface during the drying period, once dry applying many coats of an epoxy barrier, then several coats of bottom paint. See why it would run $10,000?I expect to be a very strong old lady once we are finished!As of July 14, 2007 we have the bottom paint scraped off, about 1/3 of the hull sanded, and while Marty is sanding, Walt is grinding. After about 2 hours of grinding, Walt's trusty old Craftsman grinder gives up, so off to buy a new one! Grinding resumes tomorrow.