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Restoration of a 1968 Columbia 50'

6K views 31 replies 18 participants last post by  Whalerus 
#1 · (Edited)
I just thought, after some suggestions that I should start a new post to document the progress of the refit/restoration of SV Siren(formerly Music, Doric and Elutheria and a few other names).

I am sure this will be ongoing for quite some time, and right now I am just beginning this week, so it will be an ongoing, live posting time frame. I am sure I will have a ton of questions, and hopefully I will be able to learn from the answers and be able to pass that information to others down the road in the future as well.

Here are a few pictures from pre-purchase, and survey.







 
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#4 ·
That hardly qualifies as a restoration project.

This is a restoration project - my old Columbia 43 as purchased. :wink
 

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#5 ·
Jon.. any contact with the buyer? Do you know if the project is progressing still?
 
#9 ·
Well, to start off with we removed around 50 doors and drawers to refinish. Tomorrow I will shovel off the deck to remove all the dorades to see if they can be salvaged or will need to be remade. All the exterior woodwork was stained with a deck stain, argh.

In the meantime we are making snowmen on the foredeck.
 

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#13 ·
I'm with Sloop, looks very doable. That finish on the wood may have saved the wood underneath. Same with the dorade boxes. The paint there may have saved them(but those are easily re-built, if need be).

Great looking boat. Thanks for posting this thread and congrats!
 
#12 ·
Here's some more.
 

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#14 ·
My current boat is also named Siren...came that way in 1998 and I kept it. I am almost glad my phone fell in the water and I lost a lot of restoration pic's. All the things I was glad I found but didn't want to see...disintegrated metal, stress cracks that turned out to be more, etcetera adfinium. I can assure you that in the end there is joy and a great sense of accomplishment. Cheers!
 
#15 · (Edited)
Thanks for the support, it means a lot. I lost a lot of sleep over the amount of work needed to bring her back to Bristol condition, which is my intention over time. The list I have is daunting, but doable, it's just a matter of T&M right?? LOL.

From the pics it looks great, and I have seen worse, but once you look close, everything has been hacked, and the work done is so shoddy for the most part. The PO did things to the absolutely cheapest standards, just to make it look good from 10' away. One great example of this is the interior window trim, which is literally self adhesive foam gasket that was painted brown to look like stained wood. The electrics are a hot, functioning mess with cheap splices everywhere. The list is endless, but one by one every item will be redone much better than it is now. The boat was abandoned at the marina, had partially submerged, and the PO did the barest of minimums to get it functioning as a boat. That said, the hull, decks, mast/rigging, and bulkheads/tabbing so far I have found to be in very good shape. Everything else is suspect in my eyes and will be looked/gone over.

I am debating about either sailing this summer and bringing it back to my shop to work on it, or just bringing it to my shop this spring to begin work on the mechanicals and cosmetics right away. It is still stripped from shipping, and moving would involve no prep to do so this spring, whereas sailing her would involve installing everything only to remove it once again in the fall. There are quite a few safety items that would have to be addressed to get her to even sail this summer, and with this lengthy list to do the season would be very short.

Some work already done...pre-installation of rebuilt Perkins 4.108. You can see from the white line how high the water level had gotten in the bilge....

 
#19 ·
I am debating about either sailing this summer and bringing it back to my shop to work on it, or just bringing it to my shop this spring to begin work on the mechanicals and cosmetics right away. It is still stripped from shipping, and moving would involve no prep to do so this spring, whereas sailing her would involve installing everything only to remove it once again in the fall. There are quite a few safety items that would have to be addressed to get her to even sail this summer, and with this lengthy list to do the season would be very short.

Just work on her in the "yard" and sail. Misery and "Willow" love company lol. See ya around the yard this weekend???:captain: We may go out and look at changing out the winches.
 
#16 ·
I try real hard not to look at my lists too often, I stopped keeping track of what has been spent. I chose this boat, good or bad, chose to restore it disregarding ROI (ha ha) I have seen similar boats to mine in "seemingly" good shape for $11,500 asking...I can't be a penny short of ten or fifteen times that, not including labor. I just take a deep breath, relax and truly enjoy the task In front of me, sometimes laughing...sometimes a tear, whether at myself or the other guy who made the mess or how quickly things disintegrate in salt water. I am glad I can fix things (Thank You Dad!) glad I have a network of knowledgable friends. I love sailing and I did this for ME!
 
#25 ·
Landcruiser,

Good luck with your refit. Restoring a classic boat isn't for the faint of heart. Don't dig too deep. Take on one project at a time, starting too many things at once and before you know it you'll be overwhelmed. I can't image refitting a 50fter..refitting my tiny Alberg 30 has my hands full. I will say that although the work is often dirty, when complete it is quite satisfying and worth it.

Again good luck
 
#29 ·
Restoring a classic boat isn't for the faint of heart. Don't dig too deep.
An overwhelming challenge requires overwhelming action. If one is truly committed to a restoration project of this type the hull should be stripped bare. Triage the parts, the parts with service life in them go to storage, the bulk of the mess goes to the dump. one cannot accomplish the necessary work with all the fittings and clutter in the way.

If the boat is in basic sailing condition, which this one is obviously not, then I would sail it straightaway to SE Asia, or somewhere like that, where good labor can be had for five to ten dollars a day.

Of course the first thing to realize is that this is a romantic project, not a practical project. The total cost to restore to a sailaway condition will far exceed the purchase price of a ready-to-go boat that some other fool has already restored.
 
#27 ·
I was at Snead Island Boat Works the day that "Music" was loaded up for her trip north. It was somewhat sad to see her leave the locale but good to know she is now in the hands of someone that can/will restore her to her proper fit'n finish. I look forward to seeing your progress.

Cheers...
 
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