It was such a beautiful spring day I thought it would be a great time to test the Pram. I mean hey, I just flew an airplane through this crap for the last few hours, so why not do some boating on top of it? The Pram performed well and above all did not leak. Enjoy the video while I spend the next few hours defrosting-
After closing on the Jeanneau Fantasia known as C'est Si Bon in early March, the work began. She had been on the dry for almost two years and sorely needed some attention. I began by de junking her which was a formidable task in itself. It never ceases to amaze me how much junk gets left on and in boats. Empty bottles of cleaner, booze and underwear seem the norm and your mind can run wild as to everything else that somehow never finds a garbage can. I weighed over 100 pounds of garbage that I removed from her and most surely irritated the yard by filling their dumpster with her refuse.
I then proceeded to remove her stripes which were worn and ugly. The tape stripes came off just fine with the 3M eraser wheel (four of them) attached to an electric drill but the painted stripes required heavy duty stripper and wet sanding which was a pain in the rear. The wood tiller handle was shot and so I removed it and took it home to refinish it. I stripped it all the way down and used Captains Varnish by Petit to complete the task. I did some bleaching to lighten the blackened wood just enough to make it look used and the varnish did the rest. I sorted and inspected her vast sail inventory and the sails all are in very good shape. I also removed the deck tape/paint that was done by the factory originally and gives the appearance of a wraparound window on the Yacht, at least from a distance. I personally think it looks better without the effect. After some trial and error, I settled on the 3M one step Boat finish restorer product and buffed out the entire boat with a variable speed buffing wheel I purchased from Harbor freight. I am very impressed with the results and recommed this product. Here is a link-http://www.discountmarinesupplies.com/86751807.jpg
I then talked my wife into helping me clean the inside of the boat which was gross at best. After 4 hours of scrubbing and gagging however, the cabin looked great. While she was scrubbing away, I taped up the waterline and rudder in preparation for the bottom paint. I did forget to say I talked one of my chicago buddies into coming up and longboarding the entire hull which was pretty straight but had a few spots we worked out of it. By the way, VC 17 is a fast, smooth bottom paint for the great lakes but it's really nasty to work with and you need to wear a real respirator and a full on oompa loompa suit when you work with it. It gets everywhere anyways but the suit will keep you from certain copper poisoning if not worse. That being said, after a good deck cleaning and with a reasonable OAT, we rolled on the fresh VC-17 and it came out great. I still have a number of things to complete on the list but the big stuff is done and C'est Si Bon is ready for the season. You may soon see her for sale as I "sail while I sell" her. Let's see how that works out. In the meantime enjoy the photos of her and the you tube video link. Until next time live long and prosper!! Her before shots are also located in a previous post and on my you tube channel.
As previously blogged from my November 13, 2012 post, the Jeanneau 27 finally closed on March 5 2013. The lesson to be learned here is patience (of which I have none). The previous owner of the Jeanneau had misplaced the title and I refused to close until he had it. All's well that ends well and shortly after closing, the work began on the boat. She is in pretty good shape and has really come to life in the last few days. I am headed there tomorrow to do some more clean up and take video of the end result.
Remember at closing to review and account for all the items in the contract, once the money has changed hands it is going to be tough to get anything from the other party. My closing was pretty smooth but they aren't always that way. Look for a beautiful Jeanneau to hit the market soon! In the meantime, enjoy this you tube video from Drake Paragon, who left on his "world tour" a few days ago. Spring is coming!!!
Well, after much sanding the Pram is ready for the water- the sanding took about 8 hours and it came out pretty well. Now if the lake in front of my house would only unfreeze it would be great. A video will be available as soon as I can put the Pram in. I used a tan non skid paint for the interior and Olive Drab for the exterior. For now, check out the completed Pram photos below-
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