I found a small sailboat on Craigslist. It was listed for $750. Still a bit pricy for me but I thought I had better go have a look. When I got there, I was really taken with this boat. It was perfect for my purposes. It was 16 foot and I had already handled an 18 foot easily. It had no cabin which meant it had lots of cockpit space, enough for 4 adults and lots of room for just me or me and a “friend”. Though, I found out later through research, it was near 40 years old, the hull was in great shape. Having retractable keels and rudder, it would stand in 6” of draft. And the keels were bilge keels, being under the seats leaving the center walkway completely open. WOW! In thinking of a boom tent, I would have lots more cabin space than I ever had in my Laguna 18 while being able to Creek Crawl as some dinghy cruisers call it, that is navigating up into what is called shallow creeks, bayous, or sloughs depending which local you ware in. It is rated for a 9.9 HP outboard if you can even imagine such power on this boat. I think a 4.5 will do just fine. All the rigging and sails as well as life vests were all there too.
I asked for the bottom price and the gentleman said “How about $550?” I paid cash and hauled it home on a very nice, albeit rusty, trailer, lights and all. So here we are, in my front yard (too big to get into the house!). I put the old 10’ dinghy on Craigslist and sold it. A man came looking for a project for his two teenage sons. He said they had just stripped, rebuilt and reassembled an old ATV and were starting to eyeball the stuff in his garage. So for $100 I let it go. I only lost about $350 but when one is in love AGAIN, one doesn’t quibble over a lost love. Well, not me anyway.
So I started to take inventory of the boat, repairs required, etc.
It is actually sail-able now but I want to restore it completely and in fact to customize it some. This blog was intended to get you to here and chronicle my efforts with this new boat, especially for the Chrysler Sailors Forum. So, I hope you will join me on this new adventure in restoring and eventually sailing my perfect Dinghy Cruiser!
She shall bear the name “Sea Swallow”.
I am pretty handy with graphics........
On the Boat:
T-Shirt Logo:
1 comment:
I have a 1967 Chrysler Lonestar LS-16 and would love to hear about restore projects on them. Got mine for $600 and it was barn stored. After a good power wash and deck cleaning it was pretty much good to go. One of the stay moorings popped loose mid-sail but I believe that was my error in tuning the mast stays. Curious how high your boom is, and if you had to redo the fiberglass arpund the mast seat. I also need to address the foot plate so can send pics as I go. Congrats on a great looking boat!
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