Messages

I think that should have worked. That's the way I do it too. He must have just liked me better (haha). He said he had somebody who was interested but he didn't think would follow through. He's going to let me know if she's still available this weekend. If so perhaps we could meet up and check her (and her trailer) out.

Oh... I got an email back from him yesterday... very strange. I'll be sure to let you know anything I find out!

Here's one from Craig's List in Maine:

http://maine.craigslist.org/boa/1081070306.html

I was thinking about going to check and see what the trailer this boat is sitting on looks like. Any chance anyone here has already gone to check her out? The picture he posted is not of the boat he's trying to sell. I would so love to have a trailer for Eight Bells... it would solve a lot of storage problems.

If I go down that route I might have a really cheap, trailer-less Ariel to sell to you Frank if things don't work out with your crittery boat. Do you have any word on that yet??? I need a cheap trailer and you need a cheap boat... maybe we could make it work!

Hi Mike,
I sent you an email. It seems they must have been chilling in some post office for the past few months. How crazy!

It's almost time to get Eight Bells uncovered and start working on her. I have to get her in the water by the end of April which is very quickly approaching!

Thanks Bill,
I'm not sure what the dimensions of my jib are but when I get home this weekend I'll measure it and get back to you.

GG
The trick is to make sure the halyard is not parallel to the headstay (an extra swivel above the halyard block can sometimes solve that problem).
bill@ariel231:)

Thanks for explaining this. I looked up some pictures online and now understand what you mean. My problem definitely sounds like halyard wrap which is a relief. I was worried that something was mechanically wrong and that the roller furling would have to be replaced (this is my first time ever messing with fancy gadgets like roller furling). This sounds totally doable to fix.

Oops!:o  I beg your pardon.  May I still refer to you as GG?  The pleasure is all mine and not forgotten soon...

Haha, no problem at all... I just didn't want everyone out there thinking I was a guy and wondering who the girl is in all the pictures with Eight Bells! And GG works just fine for me.

What size engine do you have? It does look big in the picture. I have a 6hp 4-stroke and have no problems closing the lid which is newly gasketed and therefore pretty well sealed. I do have a pair of scuppers which seem to be the same as the one's on your lid... Could it be something else?

I think it's a 10hp if I remember correctly. It might well be something else because I'm not sure the engine ever got serviced while she was with Outward Bound. Hopefully once I get it serviced it will run beautifully. Otherwise I guess I'll just keep the lid open!

The winches are pretty easy to work on. It may simply be a issue of old hardened lubricant which would be easily solved by a cleaning. It would be worth a look before buying a new one. There are posts on this board that describe how these come apart. As I mentioned, they are quite simple...

I wish I had thought to take the winches off before I got her all buttoned down for the winter. Taking them apart and cleaning them sounds like it would be a great indoor winter project. Now its going to be hard to get at them... the things you think of after the fact.

GG, you are a lucky man!  It may be that you and that boat were meant to be together with all of the events and circumstance that took place.

Thanks Tony, but I'm actually a lucky woman!

It sounds like I might want to avoid the painting of the v-berth since it's not totally necessary and could turn into more of a project than I want it to be. Maybe the new cushions and a quick scrub with some bleach will do the trick for the time being.

The boat does look to be well taken care of. Do you have any interior pics? I really like the green hull. I might paint mine the same color if I can't get the yellow gelcoat up to snuff. enjoy! If you get discouraged by how long your list is, I'm sure a look at my list or a couple of other guys on this website should make you feel better. I'm jealous that you will be sailing in april. And I will be mixing epoxy, and varnishing. cheers

I still need to take interior pics but I'll get them up ASAP. I believe very little has been done to the interior so it needs a little love to make it feel homey. I'm hoping to do a two week cruise up to Canada on her in July so I want to make sure everything is moderately comfortable below-decks by then.

I think I had read somewhere on this forum about green boats being bad luck. I'd never heard that before but should I be worried?

"You didn't mention anything about the condition of the decks."
 
I did forget to mention that the decks were re-cored right before the boat was donated to OB. So I have no worries there!

The headsail is also less than 5 years old so I think I'm going to see what I can do about the roller furling before looking for hanked on sails. Since I didn't actually mean to buy this boat I'm trying to work with the smallest budget possible. Commanderpete, thanks for giving my roller furling issue a name. Its always easier to talk to people who can help you when you know the name of your problem.

Also, because of the budget, I think I'm going to tackle the cushions myself since, at times, I can be pretty handy with a sewing machine. Speaking of which, I forgot to ask if anyone knows how many yards of fabric it takes to cover the standard Ariel cushions. Would 16 yards of 54' fabric do it? I'm looking at some sunbrella furniture fabric on ebay that comes in 8yd sections and really don't want to have to buy 24yds. I figure this will be a good project that I can take on during the rest of the winter in my cozy warm house. I don't think it will be warm enough here to go out and work on the boat until the end of March at the earliest. And thanks Ebb for the tip about the Gortex thread. I hadn't even thought about what thread to use.

I'm also glad that my OB engine sputtering when the cover is closed isn't necessarily a problem with the engine. I'll just rig something to hold it open like you suggested SkipperJer. Check that one off the list! I think I'll still try to get the engine serviced since it's been sitting through two Maine winters without running, but I'm having some trouble figuring how to get it out of the boat while she's on the hard. Its a little too heavy for me to pick up and pass off. Maybe the best option is just to find two strong guys and try to look helpless? Haha. Otherwise I might have to wait until she's in the water and then get the OB off onto a dock which seems easier than handing it down.

And don't worry. I'll definitely go sailing. She has to be in the water in April and so I'll just do whatever I can before then. I don't have a dock to access her by, only a mooring, so it will be hard to work on her once she's floating. I just want to make sure I have my priorities right while she's accessible and that I'm not taking on anything that I can't finish.

Hello!

Having lurked for about 4 months I've finally gone out and taken some pictures and am now ready to introduce my "new" boat, hull #187 "Eight Bells".

She was donated in 2003 to the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School for use as a staff boat. I began instructing there in 2005 and she was the first "modern" boat I'd ever sailed on. Interesting enough I was the last person to sail her during the summer of 2007 before she was hauled out. Since then she's been sitting on the hard.

This past summer, due to budget cuts, the school was forced to put her up for sale and began a staff-only auction. In the meantime I'd gotten a "grown-up job" at a non-profit and was living about five miles away from the Outward Bound base. In August I ran into the OB boathouse manager who, having not received any bids, encouraged me to make him an offer. After sending in an embarrassingly low number I found myself the owner!

So, I now unexpectedly own a boat and, having looked over the posts here, have the feeling that I have no idea what I've gotten myself into. I can promise you though that I'm very excited and have a great deal of sentimental attachment to her, so I'm going to try my best to do her justice.

There are a few things that I know were not working properly when I last sailed her:
1) Roller furling was twisting the jib halyard and cutting through it. I guess that means I need to figure out how to fix the roller furling and then run a new halyard.
2) Port side winch doesn't work under a load although it sounds normal when you rotate it without.
3) The outboard, a 2000 Honda 4-stroke, doesn't seem to get enough air when it's running in it's well. When you open the cover it runs just fine but the cover gets in the way but I'm not sure this is an issue worth fixing.

Some other projects I think I need/want to take on before putting her in the water this spring:
1) Bottom paint
2) Bright work
3) Painting the v-berth
4) New cushion covers (I think mine are still the originals... gross!)

I've been searching through posts on all of these subjects and want to thank all of you already for the wealth of knowledge on this website. Any additional advice as I go through the process will be greatly appreciated. My first question is, do you think this is a reasonable amount of work for someone with no experience to tackle by themselves in their first spring of boat-ownership? I tried to choose things that seemed necessary but do-able but the list seems to have gotten very long especially since my bill of sale requires that I get her in the water by the end of April.

I've included some pictures below. The first is of me the last time I was on her in 2007. The others are from this past fall after I bought her. Interior photos will have to come later.