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Hey Kyle, looking good!
I was just up the street from you in Pentwater last week sailing in the Ensign Nationals. Beautiful country out there.
Mike
C221

Big move for The Princess this year, back to the Great Lakes. Only this time to the greatest of the Great Lakes. Superior, Gitchi Gummi, the salt less sea. 1/10 of the fresh water on the entire planet is here in here in this, the world largest lake. She's  in the Duluth harbor at a great full service marina called Barkers Island. We're super excited!

Wow, the relentless march of time. 4 years since my last post.
Life keeps ticking along. Kids out of college and out in the world, we sold the house in our little lakeside community we raised them in and moved 6 miles from Lake Minnetonka. The Princess was moved to The Wayzata Yacht Club when we lost our city buoy.  We now have to get on a bike or car to get to the boat. A rude awakening.
I have raced in the Ensign fleet at WYC my entire life but the last two years I was racing The Princess in the PHRF fleet. To be somewhat competitive we had to had to undue a lot of the niceties that made The Princess The Princess. My wife hated it and I missed one design racing. This year I'll be crewing for a newer member in the Ensign fleet and we will be sharing The Princess with an old neighbor so she is back on her old mooring ball in Excelsior. Racing gizmos and sails removed and back in cruising mode.
Nothing else new with The Princess really. Showing the strain of being well used and time since refit. Bow scuffed and dinged from the mooring ball, nonskid chipped and peeling in a few spots, lines faded and stained. Etc.
looking forward to another season with the old girl.
Mike
C227

That is so great!
Thanks for sharing that, enjoy the rest of our he holidays.
Mike

Awesome Tony! How many years since she's been in the water?
Looks great, good luck with the final push. You just have the fun stuff left.

Feed my fantasies. I cannot live vicariously thru you without picture nor text.

Chris said it would be alright to post som pictures of his incredibly beautiful Commander. No data tag so he has no idea of the number.
This boat was struck by lightning and burned. Chris replaced the entire bow forward of the cuddy, hull and deck. The workmanship is first rate and his attention to detail outstanding.

We had our earliest ice out since the late 1800's this year, so we are already in.
The City completely replace their buoy system after last year's break a ways. Everything top notch.
Had a new radial jib made by Sail Crafters, so much more power out of that little guy! Shape is fantastic!
Newly installed diesel (the heart of gold) is purring along nicely. We hit hull speed at around 1/2 throttle on smooth water and she will stop on a dime so there is plenty of power. We will have to adjust to actually hearing the motor after being spoiled by the electric. I'll keep my eyes open for a two bladed prop for next year, the three bladed 12X8 seems to be a great fit but being I have so much extra range why drag the extra blade thru the water. I'd like a 12X9RH if any one has one laying around.
My little shop project below turn out pretty good, I'll post some pictures next time I row out.
So happy to be back in the water and looking forward to a great season.
Mike
C227

Working on the new interior.
Port side: cooler drop in, booze bottle holder, cup holders, junk drawer and rubber maid bin storage below.
Starboard side:
Hanging locker, sail locker, pull out garbage, counter space for fix'in the cheese and fruit plates.

Repowered progresses;
Mounts in and power plant bolted in and aligned. Was able to slide it in from the cuddy with only minor disassembly. Using a 3 gallon outboard tank modified for the fuel return. Found a used two lever shift/throttle. A little clunky but needed the two lever as the fuel shut off is part of the throttle assembly on the engine. Back past idle shuts down fuel. Wanted engine weight as far forward as possible so the front mount is on the re enforced cuddy sole. Still need to run exhaust, order a shift cable, repair old instrument pan and mount engine cluster then get creative building a doghouse around the engine.

Tony, T-O-N-Y, Tony!!!

So exited for you Tony! We just dedicated our sunset toast to you here.
please keep us posted!

Stopped in for a visit the other day.
157 is well down the road to recovery.

After talking to Chris (of Red Ink) I'm convinced that I caused the controller burnout on The Princess by running her off the generator. He had talked to a tec at Kelly Controls who told him the generator voltage was not clean enough for the controllers. Makes sense, I did run her pretty hard a few times.
C227

Awesome Jerry!!
I'm happy you're enjoying her.
Mike C227