Save-A-Boat - The Forum for Plastic Classic Rebuilds!

Last night The Minnow (O'Day 27) was backed down our driveway (again in the dark). My new carbide sawzall blades are poised on the coffee table waiting to dig into the crunchy decks and the dump truck is scheduled to be here this weekend to haul the chunks of hull away. The owner of the loaner/rental trailer our beautiful new CD25D is on is champing at the bit to get his trailer back. All that stand in our way is The Minnow...

We feel a bit like we're taking a stray dog to the vet to have it put to sleep because we don't like it's color. The PO (who paid for storage for SEVEN years) clearly had lofty aspirations. The bulkheads have been replaced. We found new lifelines and other bags of replacement hardware on board. The hull is relatively sound (several decent repairs from holes), but everything else is a disaster. The decks crunch when you walk, there is no engine (was an Atomic 4), there's hull/deck joint damage, the portlights are shot, there are no sails, boom or rigging, random hardware has been removed from the deck. the cabin has been gutted although a good bit of the liner remains. Under the best of circumstances (with an inboard and sails), the boat is worth $5-7K. It would take far more to salvage her. The hurricane that took her down was in 1989.

I know we have no choice and I know that the salvage guys do this all the time with heavy equipment without batting an eye. I still feel guilty that we aren't even trying. We will salvage anything that another O'Day 27 owner might use -- all hatches, etc. It is going to cost $1,000+ to get the trailer up to our specs (starting with $350 in new tires yesterday). Selling off the stanchions, rails, cushions, mast, random hardware will go a long way towards that bill and put the usable parts to good use. My husband actually asked what would be involved with a total deck recore since the top skin is in good shape (now this is the man who thought I was nuts restoring a Typhoon).

So... after waiting out the torrential rains we are having today, the boat heads to the chopping block tomorrow. We will take pictures, but it won't be quite the party we had anticipated. It's a good thing boats don't have feelings (please, please don't tell me they do!!!) as the 25D sitting 10 feet away might be really nervous.

Sunday is a day to sail -- our SS23 is still in the water and it should be a beautiful clear day in the mid-60's. Sailing always makes me feel better.

Bly

I know what you mean, Bly. When I go past boatyards or wander through the e-bay listings I want to take half of what I see home with me. And I'm currently living in an apartment. Must be much more difficult to have the poor beast there in the driveway, with the sawzall blades sitting on the bench, even knowing that euthanasia is the kindest course.

OTOH, you might try focusing on the trailer. In any case, good luck.

Greg

My first house was demolished on Tuesday. Someone that came with me to watch the action commented that I was surprisingly unemotional. Part of that is my nature, part of that is what I went through last year. However, the principal reason I was in good spirits is that I know that my house wasn't destroyed on Tuesday - it was destroyed last August. It was sad at the time - but a lot of good has since come from it. I have a new house (on the other side of the lake) and I like it more than the other one (it's a 140 year old Acadian cottage).

In your case, the boat was lost in 1989. The fact that it has degraded on a trailer for the better part of two decades doesn't change that. Not all boats are classics and not all classics are worth saving. Have fun with the demo (it IS fun, you know) and then enjoy the trailer.

And you're right - sailing does make everything better.

Damaged in 1989...still showing the signs of damage, despite a few good intentions, in 2006. That sounds to me like you are simply putting this poor boat out of its misery, and allowing its internal organs, as it were, to better serve some other boat that still has a chance.

It's good to feel a little guilty about performing demolition on a boat--any boat. This prevents unnecessary destruction. But you have to keep the guilt in check by remembering that you're probably serving the greater good with your appointed task.

Everything has a life cycle. This particular O'Day 27 has reached the end of its life; actually, it reached it 17 years ago. Don't worry about someone else's sentimental attachment or dreams associated with the boat; you have your own boats with which to form that particular bond. The O'Day is a generic, unexciting, generally soul-less craft, banged out in 6-packs during the 70s. Its parts are worth more than the boat, particularly to some other O'Day owner.

Cut it apart, save what you can, and move on. No one will really miss this boat.

Good luck with the project, and I look forward to seeing lots of pictures.

Excellent insights, Jason and Tim...

I too would say that the dream of sailing should never be let to die. It is a dream of human freedom and trancendence, but the actual vessel of sailing may be passed on to another state. Many people attach their dreams to an object just to get the dream out if their head, but objects, except a garden perhaps, have no way of realising their own unmet potential.