tag:forum.seahawk17.org.uk,2006:forum-4024481Nabble - Piccolo2024-03-28T22:09:40ZOwned by: Perry Wald
<br/>Bought: May 2013
<br/>Sail No.: 168
<br/>Cruising Waters: Not Yet!tag:forum.seahawk17.org.uk,2006:post-4024616Update for the beginning of 20162016-01-01T09:42:06Z2016-01-01T09:42:06ZPerry
All,
<br/><br/>I thought I would start this folder/renovation with a long overdue post, the story behind piccolo, and where she is at.
<br/><br/>So, first off, piccolo is, we believe, a late readcraft boat. I bought her in mid 2013, from a guy called David Stephens, who had her located on grafham water. She came with a rather sad trailer, a random collection of sails, and a sort of working outboard engine, at least as old as the boat itself.
<br/><br/>I paid about £1000 for the lot, which seemed OK. Not a great bargain, but at the same time not prohibitive. I'd had a local trailer firm look at the trailer and pronounce it safe once it had new bearings, and they did a full service and safety check, including looking at the trailer frame for rust etc. That cost a total of £400, including a pair of new tyres since the existing ones were a bit rotted.
<br/><br/>That may seem a lot, but in my opinion, a solid braked trailer in good condition was worth it, and the whole lot together was within my budget. The boat needed work, but hey, I was buying a project, not perfection.
<br/><br/>Once it was home, it sat on my driveway as I went over it with a fine tooth comb, marking down all the things I needed to do, repairs or improvements, etc.
<br/><br/>I built a mast store out of garage bike hooks that meant the mast was in the back garden (where it wasn't going to get converted into cash by local metal thieves!). I built a mount for the outboard to store it on, I took down the rigging and checked it over, and then......I discovered my wife was 3 months pregnant with our first child, and suddenly the boat took a back seat!
<br/><br/>Roll on two years, and apart from a lot of jokes about Noah and weather from my parents, nothing much was done to the boat beyond putting a tarp over it and focussing on getting the house ready for a baby, and then having ave a beautiful little girl called Robyn, who loves boats....no shock there).
<br/><br/>That takes me to this summer (July 2015). The first time that things started to seem possible to do, other than looking after the little one. I suppose this wasn't helped by me setting up a business, then taking a new job as well, which all in all, kept me busy.
<br/><br/>Anyhow, the next post you will see is the resurrection of the outboard. In July, I took my faithful socket set to the Yamaha p45 2hp 2 stroke engine, looked up service manuals on the Internet (I love the Internet!!!) and did a strip down and rebuild. Apart from having to grind out and replace seals, it just wanted a new water pump, and all looked fine. I fired it up and it all worked, sweet as can be. I'll give more details and a link to pictures and videos in the next post.
<br/><br/>Roll on another six months. The engine sorted, I now turned my attention to the boat. This winter, I spent some time getting the cover off, scrubbing it, checking for problems, bailing it out, and generally making sure all was good. And it was.
<br/><br/>Piccolo has a long list of things she wants, but more importantly, she is sound, clean, and barring a quick service on the trailer brakes to make sure they haven't seized, she is ready to get wet, at least as a motor boat.
<br/><br/>I'm heading to the boat show in Jan, and will be picking up various things, including the wherewithal to fix the standing rigging (oh, I replaced all the running rigging too). Then I may need to look at the sails, but nothing more until she is floating.
<br/><br/>And the long term aim....to take off the 90+ cleats and eyes that have been fitted, to fill the holes, to rub down and repaint her, replace the windows, and generally get her looking beautiful.
<br/><br/>Oh yes....and to build space for a third bunk, so we can all go for a pleasant sail together as a family.
<br/><br/>I reckon that with other things going on, there is a good few years of work to do, but so be it. I intend to take my time, have fun, and let you know all about it along the way.
<br/><br/>And now, the New Years resolution. 2016 will be the year piccolo gets back in the water, and takes me, my wife and my daughter for a day out.
<br/><br/>Good sailing and fair winds
<br/><br/>Perry