We’re still in the deal for a 1977 51′ Aleutian sailboat and moving forward. The boat needs a lot of work and TLC, but I think she has good bones. We’ve had almost every survey possible done to her and know the condition of some of what we’re getting into,,,,I think. Either a diamond in the rough or a rough diamond? We will chronicle this buying experience in a future post series, but need to wait until we close to start working on that series. This time around,,,,we’re not going into a boat backwards. Last time we christened her, moved stuff on her and moved her,,,,before ever thinking of closely inspecting and cleaning her. When we put her up for sale in October of 2016,,,,we started detail cleaning her and figured out we should have done that first and all along. Who knew that oiling the teak would have such an effect on a boat’s morale, looks and overall smell? The teak just soaked it up and overnight she took on a healthy glow. These are the little things we need to take the time to do on a new (to us) boat. I also need to catalog in writing where every through-hull is and make sure to get to know all the systems. This needs to happen early, before we start putting anything on the boat.
Stay with us,,,,we’re moving toward a boat that needs TLC but may prove to be a great cruising boat.
