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Pulled my "new" DS1 out of the water Sunday- got 4 days on it, enough to figure out what needs to be done.

I just started the strip-down on the boat last night- got everything out of it, and tested the stripper (fiberglass-safe) on a few spots to see what we're dealing with. At least 3 layers of paint on the hull- blue house paint, blue shiny, and a blue-gray matte layer that's probably primer. All comes off relatively easy, so there's that. Deck is a couple layers of white- top was originally putty colored. If I could think of a companion boat, I'd restore it to the putty, name it "IBM," and find a boat that could be a Mac.

Pulled 1/2 the rub rail off- it's toast, very hard and brittle. Was hoping to salvage it, but no, it'll have to be replaced. The flange it mounts on, looks to be in decent shape, if a little dried out and flaky in a couple of places. I think a layer of tape and new epoxy all the way around is in order.

My planned order of attack is strip off all the hardware and wood over the next few days. I ordered the inspection ports to redo the flotation tanks (about 10 gallons of water came out of the bow tank when I pulled the plug), so when those come in I'll cut the holes and pull out the old foam (if there is any), which should lighten the load by over 100 pounds (if other's estimates are correct). I'll order fiberglass materials today, if those come in I'll redo the flange, then flip the boat over and strip and paint the hull and reinforce the cuddy roof, and pull and examine the centerboard. Flip her back over, and do the inside (hopefully just sand and paint).

By the time I'm all done, ought to be just in time to put her away for the winter. Of 2010. Pictures to come, eventually.

So, peeled a few layers of paint of a patch on the side to see what I was dealing with. Other than 4-5 layers of paint, no big deal, until I caught the patch out of the corner of my eye. Not one to see images and such, but I hope flaming death skull isn't a sign of things to come...



Of course, it lends weight to my idea for a boat name, which my wife doesn't like, of "Jolly Rogers," since my last name is Rogers, and I'm generally pretty jolly, and prone to toss out an "Avast, ye scurvy dogs!" every now and again...

I definitely see it! Frightening, however, if I found something like that I don't know if I could cover it up. I believe it would necessarily become the center of attention around which all other painting, decoration and improvement would revolve! Far to serendipitous to be hidden again!

So confirmed there is no floatation in either the bow or seat tanks. Upside is, I don't have to pull out and dispose of the foam. I'm thinking some PO actually cut the seats out entirely, removed the foam, and glassed them back in (somewhat sloppily, at that). Can't figure out the bow tank, though- it's solid all the way around. Someone did add a piece fo 1x4 onto the ceiling of the cuddy compartment, though (and it has snapped in half, so I'll have to cut it out- maybe add an "A" frame of stringers in the ceiling to stiffen it up)

That 1x4 is original, and the sloppy look of some of the factory glassed in things is also probably original. (Judging from some stuff I noticed in my boat). Unless you have real indication that someone did indeed remove the seats, I'd go with the "they hadn't thought fo foam" theory.

Telltale signs of PO work would be oddly shaped patches with diffierent style glass reinforcements - I have a few on my boat and they are good candidates for post-delivery work.

(Someone added glass tabs made from cloth to tie deck and hull together at the bow. These could be aftermarket. A cloth patch around the rear side of the CB trunk probably is aftermarket as well. Regular tabs for seats etc look less neat than I would have expected for production work, but seem entirely original).

Here's the tube in the seat tank. The boat is upside down, and I'm not bright enough to turn the camera over, so up is down- that tube is on the floor.