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08-07-2011, 10:54
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Florida
Boat: Compass 47
Posts: 603
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Refitting a Compass 47
My fiance (Dyevochka on this forum) and I were at a marina checking up on the progress of a motor repair on my family's old Mako powerboat and I happened to see a pretty sad looking Compass 47 sitting in the haul out slip. When I went to talk to the service guy at the marina I asked him about it and he said it was for sale, told me the price and handed me a paper mask because of the mold and a warning to watch out for wasps. I said "sold," then went to check out the boat, yes, in that order. 
So, now we have a Compass 47. The boat is in rough shape, but seems solid structurally. It could not have come at a worse time, because we are also in the middle of fixing up a smaller sailboat (G&S 25'), we just moved back home to FL from NY where I was in school, and am just starting on my masters program. The whole reason, though, for my selling my old S&S 34 was so I could complete my education and hopefully make the eventual boat upgrade that my (again, hopeful) new found career could afford us, so I figure what the hell. Why not go for it. It felt like fate. Here are a couple pictures of the boat we took after we had a deposit on her. She looks a bit better now.
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08-07-2011, 11:01
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: St. Petersburg, Florida
Boat: Compass 47, G&S 25
Posts: 14
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Re: Another refit thread: Compass 47
Hi, all! My other half is very modest. He's an extremely dedicated worker and has already put tons of elbow grease in the Compass and has it looking way better than when I took those photos.
It's great to be here! I'm looking forward to becoming a part of this community.
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08-07-2011, 11:16
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#3
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Moderator Emeritus

Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Gabriola Island & Victoria, British Columbia
Boat: Cooper 416 Honeysuckle
Posts: 6,933
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
It does look like some serious work will be involved but it also looks like a boat with potential. The work on a boat always leaves me of two minds, I enjoy it but I get tired of it too and mostly it interferes with using the boat.
Don't forget how much we love pictures as the work progresses!
__________________
“We are the universe contemplating itself” - Carl Sagan
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08-07-2011, 11:23
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#4
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Moderator
Join Date: May 2008
Location: cruising SW Pacific
Boat: Jon Sayer 1-off 46 ft fract rig sloop strip plank in W Red Cedar
Posts: 21,559
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
G'Day CPA and your other unspellable half!
Those are great boats! You might want to contact Panaseaya here on CF... he has one in Cairns, Australia and is slowly refurbing her. One of the sweetest sailing boats of her size anywhere.
Good luck with the project, your schooling and your career!
Cheers,
__________________
Jim and Ann s/v Insatiable II, lying Port Cygnet Tasmania once again.
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08-07-2011, 11:30
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#5
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Registered User

Join Date: May 2008
Location: We're technically refugees from our home in Yemen now living in Lebenon
Boat: 1978 CT48
Posts: 5,970
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
Congratulations.
Yeah...what hummingway said, we love pictures.
Also we can be a bit "busy body" so don't forget to let us know what your refit plans are.
I REALLY LIKE REFITS!
__________________
James
S/V Arctic Lady
I love my boat, I can't afford not to!
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08-07-2011, 14:38
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Kansas City, MO
Boat: In the hunt again, unknown
Posts: 1,331
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
Welcome CPA, always room for another in the insanity boat!
If you need some advice on how to make the mold safe, let me know, perhaps I can help.
More pictures please!
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08-07-2011, 14:55
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#7
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Eastern Shore, MD
Boat: Camper Nicholson 44 Ketch
Posts: 2,060
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
Welcome, and keep up updated with photos are you work through the refit!
Chris
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08-07-2011, 19:30
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: St. Petersburg, Florida
Boat: Compass 47, G&S 25
Posts: 14
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
Quote:
Originally Posted by James S
I REALLY LIKE REFITS!
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Then you should be in for a good show. This is where I get in trouble for putting on too much pressure  . CPA up there took a boat that looked way worse than our Compass and turned it into something akin to a richly-endowed maritime museum - if museums were strong and sailed really well - OK, forget that analogy. Anyway, I'm considering just sitting back and watching him put this boat back together.
We're having a good time just getting this boat clean enough to begin work on. Even the stuff that you forget about when buying something older has been fun. Finding receipts, sailing magazines, cleaning products and logs from the 80s has been a trip in and of itself. Once we get into the hardcore stuff I'm sure we'll being alternating between daydreaming about island hopping and hating ourselves for even considering this project.
Thanks for the welcomes!
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08-07-2011, 20:13
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Florida
Boat: Compass 47
Posts: 603
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
Another day at the boat, but it was not very productive due to the rain. We now have electricity at the slip, so I was able to do some serious vacuuming of the interior. I managed to find about a dozen r12 freon cans that had rusted through, a couple roaches, and 3 large garbage bags worth of trash! Our short term (12 month) plan for the boat is :
Remove treadmaster, clean the glue, sand/prep, apply nonskid
Compound and wax the hull
Repower + new saildrive
Bottom job and thru hull replacement
Refinish interior
Cushion covers
Replace all running rigging
Go through electrical, plumbing systems, tanks, and propane system.
repair/replace 2 bent stantions
Here are some more pictures from the first couple days:
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08-07-2011, 20:22
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Florida
Boat: Compass 47
Posts: 603
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
A couple days into this project we decided to pull all of the old sails and the dinghy out from under the v berth and do some cleaning. Here are pictures from that day. We did not have proper cleaning supplies when we did this. It will be revisited and cleaned a bit better.
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08-07-2011, 20:33
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Florida
Boat: Compass 47
Posts: 603
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
Here are some miscellaneous photos from the past couple weeks:
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08-07-2011, 20:38
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#12
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Moderator Emeritus

Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Gabriola Island & Victoria, British Columbia
Boat: Cooper 416 Honeysuckle
Posts: 6,933
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
There's some lovely wood in there. With older electricals you can get built up resistance from the corrosion so do go over that carefully. I've had burnt wires on my boat from that and saw them on a friends as well. Mine was at the socket for shore power and it happened the day before I was planning on replacing it! My friend had it happen in his panel - enough heat to scorch paper but fortunately no fire.
__________________
“We are the universe contemplating itself” - Carl Sagan
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08-07-2011, 20:42
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Florida
Boat: Compass 47
Posts: 603
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
These pictures are from a couple days ago. We have mainly been concentrating on removing the old treadmaster and cleaning the boat.
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08-07-2011, 20:54
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Florida
Boat: Compass 47
Posts: 603
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
Quote:
Originally Posted by hummingway
There's some lovely wood in there. With older electricals you can get built up resistance from the corrosion so do go over that carefully. I've had burnt wires on my boat from that and saw them on a friends as well. Mine was at the socket for shore power and it happened the day before I was planning on replacing it! My friend had it happen in his panel - enough heat to scorch paper but fortunately no fire.
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Thanks for the words of caution. We have not even hooked up shore power yet. I am a bit hesitant and will most likely go through the AC system in the next couple days. I am not really sure about the condition of any of the boat's systems. It will be interesting to see what actually works.
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08-07-2011, 20:57
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#15
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Moderator Emeritus

Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Gabriola Island & Victoria, British Columbia
Boat: Cooper 416 Honeysuckle
Posts: 6,933
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Re: Refitting a Compass 47
Quote:
Originally Posted by cpa
Thanks for the words of caution. We have not even hooked up shore power yet. I am a bit hesitant and will most likely go through the AC system in the next couple days. I am not really sure about the condition of any of the boat's systems. It will be interesting to see what actually works.
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My boat was in pretty good shape when I bought her but I was still nervous the first time I hooked up the shore power. I upgraded a lot of the electrical system and then got to feel nervous again when I switched over.
__________________
“We are the universe contemplating itself” - Carl Sagan
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