I already own a perfectly good Ericson 27 that I am refitting for her 50th birthday which is quickly approaching, but when last December I saw a Venture 22 on Craigslist about 70 miles away for free I could not resist.
I have been doing minor puttering with it at the previous owner's backyard dock for the last couple of months. I have to move it by April 4, so my work was geared at making her seaworthy for about a 2 mile trip to get her hauled and painted. Not out of the water for 10 years, and sadly no trailer.
The hull is sound, she has a working 7.5 HP Honda which someone replaced the pump parts in recently, good sails, good standing rigging (now that I did some work) and a totally trashed interior. Every piece of wood except the mast post is rotten, some like the dinette table and seats are just totally missing. She seems to be collecting lots of rain water. I have re-beded some deck hardware, so I expect the rain ingress will decrease, but I have to sit in the boat during a rain before I can put an end to the leaks.
I suppose I did this because while in university I wanted a Mac 26. I think that there is something to be said for a boat with a less than 1 foot draft board up in certain coastal and inland sailing areas.
A bit about my background, I have been sailing since 1977. Started in interclubs, rainbows and 420s then moved up to ocean racers. Stopped racing when I graduated, but kept sailing, so I am not new to boats and the ocean.
Now a few questions:
It seems there are no limber holes in any of the the bulkheads. This means that I have to pump water out of the area under the vberth, pump water out of the main cabin next to the trunk, out of the head area, and out of each area under the seating (which is of course missing) and out of the starboard storage area and......well you see my point.
Is the lack of limber holes by design or did a previous owner plug them up? There is evidence of multiple coats of paint on the interior and the exterior looks to have had a poor paint job at some point. I sure would like to put a pump someplace and just pump instead of hitting each compartment.
There seems to be no foam under the V berth. There is lots of foam in the stern. I understand the foam may have been a gimmick but when I am done restoring "Bottoms Up" I may want to sell her and I think "better than original" would be a selling point. How do guys that have foam in the bow pump the bow compartment, or should there be a limber hole? I think you see a pattern here.
The pop top is missing it's supports and hardware. Previous owner removed them and drilled big holes in the pop top and to bolt it to the main cabin roof. What do I need to make the thing pop again? I have not found any good source of close up photos for the supports or how they were attached. There is nothing left of the old hardware.
How does one anchor down the fuel tank? I presume the fuel tank is supposed to go in the hatch at the center of the stern next to the outboard cutout. I see a hole for the fuel line, but there seems to be nothing to keep the tank from moving other than the foam blocks that are also in the area, and which I rearranged to have room for the tank.
I would also appreciate any tips on solo dropping and raising the mast as I will have to do that to replace the halyards and topping lift sometime in the next 2 weeks.
The boat is at the moment near Barneget Inlet and has to transit to NYC.
Thanks so much for reading this long missive.
-Brett
I have been doing minor puttering with it at the previous owner's backyard dock for the last couple of months. I have to move it by April 4, so my work was geared at making her seaworthy for about a 2 mile trip to get her hauled and painted. Not out of the water for 10 years, and sadly no trailer.
The hull is sound, she has a working 7.5 HP Honda which someone replaced the pump parts in recently, good sails, good standing rigging (now that I did some work) and a totally trashed interior. Every piece of wood except the mast post is rotten, some like the dinette table and seats are just totally missing. She seems to be collecting lots of rain water. I have re-beded some deck hardware, so I expect the rain ingress will decrease, but I have to sit in the boat during a rain before I can put an end to the leaks.
I suppose I did this because while in university I wanted a Mac 26. I think that there is something to be said for a boat with a less than 1 foot draft board up in certain coastal and inland sailing areas.
A bit about my background, I have been sailing since 1977. Started in interclubs, rainbows and 420s then moved up to ocean racers. Stopped racing when I graduated, but kept sailing, so I am not new to boats and the ocean.
Now a few questions:
It seems there are no limber holes in any of the the bulkheads. This means that I have to pump water out of the area under the vberth, pump water out of the main cabin next to the trunk, out of the head area, and out of each area under the seating (which is of course missing) and out of the starboard storage area and......well you see my point.
Is the lack of limber holes by design or did a previous owner plug them up? There is evidence of multiple coats of paint on the interior and the exterior looks to have had a poor paint job at some point. I sure would like to put a pump someplace and just pump instead of hitting each compartment.
There seems to be no foam under the V berth. There is lots of foam in the stern. I understand the foam may have been a gimmick but when I am done restoring "Bottoms Up" I may want to sell her and I think "better than original" would be a selling point. How do guys that have foam in the bow pump the bow compartment, or should there be a limber hole? I think you see a pattern here.
The pop top is missing it's supports and hardware. Previous owner removed them and drilled big holes in the pop top and to bolt it to the main cabin roof. What do I need to make the thing pop again? I have not found any good source of close up photos for the supports or how they were attached. There is nothing left of the old hardware.
How does one anchor down the fuel tank? I presume the fuel tank is supposed to go in the hatch at the center of the stern next to the outboard cutout. I see a hole for the fuel line, but there seems to be nothing to keep the tank from moving other than the foam blocks that are also in the area, and which I rearranged to have room for the tank.
I would also appreciate any tips on solo dropping and raising the mast as I will have to do that to replace the halyards and topping lift sometime in the next 2 weeks.
The boat is at the moment near Barneget Inlet and has to transit to NYC.
Thanks so much for reading this long missive.
-Brett