Uuurgh, What have I done?!

[Boatwithnoname]

Hey,

So I bought a boat that needs a ton of work. It's a 1987 Arabesque 30.
I will be doing a lot of restoration work as she is not at all sea worthy and totally rotten inside. The engine is a 2-stroke OMC that is also totally seized. There are stress cracks everywhere and even a few places showing bare ply...hmm.

On the plus side the rat eaten cushions are all present and the steering wheel was still in the boat. Oh and it has an anchor as well as both sails.

I'm actually looking forward to ripping her apart and getting stuck in.
The goal is to have her in the water after 3 years and then do a major sail after 4.

I feel a little sorry for the boat and its poor unloved exhistance, it does not even have a name.

I expect to be here a lot, so Hello!

[Allied39]

Ah, been there and done that. Taken a 39 to bare hull and back, no deck no bulkheads.
Ignore the nay sayers, they're just terrified of work.
At the end of the blood (you will definitely bleed) sweat (lots of that) and tears (when you see what you spend) you will have a boat you know from keel to mast tip and the knowledge of how to upkeep her. All that is of more value when your life depends on it than being able to purchase it.
Have fun....well at least pride.

May you always have fair winds and a hands width of water below your keel

[Pegu Club]

Welcome aboard,

Lots of good folk and info here, make a plan and have at it, take care of the hull and deck first, I like stating the obviously...,

Fair winds,

[Captn_Black]

Hi! Get those sails out of the sun if they aren't already. You don't want things getting worse. Good luck

[Spot]

Congratulations and condolences!
-Please post some pics, is the Arabesque 30 a rare or local model? Only seeing it on Suomi websites.
3-4 years seems about right. I am on year 2 of mine. I did get to sail the boat a couple times last year so that helps it not seem so long.
-I still need to redo the interior, also wrecked by rodents. Be sure to wear gloves and mask for rodent-borne Hanta virus until all the chewed stuff is removed and everything is disinfected. I had to remove the entire interior to be able to clean up everything. 2-3 cubic meters of mice poop and chewed up EPS foam and 1970's shag carpet glued to plywood and the hull...
-Besides the mice, most of the problems were from standing water due to a cracked cockpit drain tube filling the cabin and the poor bedding of deck fitting to the cabin roof causing core rot. Also electrical was poor being a owner-finished kit boat.
-Are you in the water or on the hard working on the boat?

[OloteleMtn]

Welcome, hope you got it cheap, learning is expensive!

[grantmc]

Good luck on your project and welcome to CF.
When you have time and need a little pick me up, I'd recommend the You Tube channel White Spot Pirates. In my view an excellent series of programmes showing the trials and tribulations of doing up an old neglected yacht, In the first couple of series it is all about bringing a cruising boat back to life.

[stormalong]

Congratulations. Enjoy the journey. I hope you like challenges.

I hope the OMC engine is not a sail drive. They are long out of production and the sail drive components are no longer available.

[Rucksta]

Hi BWNN

Congratulations on your acquisition.

I've just passed the 18 month mark on a restoration.
The middle is in sight

At purchase time the price was right.
Since then I've cursed the surveyor for all the stuff he didn't find.

In the overall scheme of things it wouldn't have made much difference if the boat was free it would have just had me less over budget.

One of the best things I've done was to spent money on tools the last time I did this... or was it the time before?

There is no cure for this brand of insanity.

[Boatwithnoname]

Thanks for the tip, I love watching YT to get tips and inspiration. I will definately check them out.

[Boatwithnoname]

Thanks for the support, I wish my wife was as good at it, Ha!


I will definitely check out the YT channel, I find it helpful to watch that kind of stuff. I'm also I bit of a fan of boatworkstoday, Andy is a legend.


It's a real pick-up to read about your experiences.

I was trying to load my photos to sailblog.com but they only allow galleries if you pay. I'll find an alternative host and share the link. Any suggestions?

[Captn_Black]

Originally Posted by Boatwithnoname

Thanks for the support, I wish my wife was as good at it, Ha!


I will definitely check out the YT channel, I find it helpful to watch that kind of stuff. I'm also I bit of a fan of boatworkstoday, Andy is a legend.


It's a real pick-up to read about your experiences.

I was trying to load my photos to sailblog.com but they only allow galleries if you pay. I'll find an alternative host and share the link. Any suggestions?

You can upload photos here. Or post them to imgur.com or something, and use the picture insert option to paste the url into a comment.

[Boatwithnoname]

Originally Posted by grantmc

Good luck on your project and welcome to CF.
When you have time and need a little pick me up, I'd recommend the You Tube channel White Spot Pirates. In my view an excellent series of programmes showing the trials and tribulations of doing up an old neglected yacht, In the first couple of series it is all about bringing a cruising boat back to life.

I checked out her channel but its not really my thing, she doesn't show the build phase etc. Leads me to think that she doesn't really do the work.



Refitting Athena is more like it, at the channel Sail Life.

[Boatwithnoname]

Originally Posted by Captn_Black

You can upload photos here. Or post them to imgur.com or something, and use the picture insert option to paste the url into a comment.

Thanks for the tip but it seems that this site doesn't allow us to edit or delete our own content, so it's better to upload as little personal content as possible.



Also, I don't want to load images on every forum that I join.

I will make my own site and link to it. That's probably a better idea

[Captn_Black]

Originally Posted by Boatwithnoname

Thanks for the tip but it seems that this site doesn't allow us to edit or delete our own content, so it's better to upload as little personal content as possible.



Also, I don't want to load images on every forum that I join.

I will make my own site and link to it. That's probably a better idea

Yea, probably easier too. I don't use social media anymore, my photos are all stuff shared via whatsapp with my gf, so the best way for me is to download the via the WA desktop app, then upload them here.