| Circe |
Tuesday, June 16, 2009 Circe, Pearson Triton #623, arrived at the shop today after a journey that brought her from Buffalo, NY, where she'd been in storage for a couple years. I'd heard from the hauler last Friday that the boat would arrive today, so I was prepared. The truck arrived just after 0600, and by 0700 had unloaded the boat and headed off to pick up some other boat in the general area (i.e. Maine). |
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Later in the day, after completing some work on another project in the shop, I had a chance to go aboard for the first time and get some initial impressions. Fortunately, I knew what to expect already, because the interior was not a pretty sight. Circe's story is this: the current owner relocated to another state, but left the boat in storage on the hard. At some point, and under some circumstances, the boat filled with water to a level several feet above the settees. This had a negative impact on the interior of the boat, as well as her engine and systems. Although the water was subsequently pumped out upon discovery, the damage was done. Even when the boat arrived here, I discovered a large amount of water in the bilge, which had fortunately not had time to build up above the level of the main bilge. So my first order of business was to drill a drain hole in the bottom of the keel, as deep as possible. My previous experience with Tritons helped me easily locate a point at or near the very bottom of the bilge, and in short order I drilled a 5/8" hole to let the water out; it took over 5 minutes to drain. |
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I thoroughly documented the boat's initial condition inside and out for future reference and posterity. From outside, one might never guess what lurked within; while the boat required some cosmetic upgrading, and had suffered from a couple years in storage without much in the way of care, it was clear that the boat had been generally well-maintained during her life, and she was externally in basically good condition. |
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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The interior was another story, of course. The level to which water accumulated is clearly evident. |
 
 
 
 
 
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Clearly, the first order of business would be to clean up the boat enough so that I could really determine what effects the flood had had on the interior structures. The water that filled the boat had clearly contained a fair bit of oil, gas, or some combination thereof, so all surfaces were coated in a grimy, slippery mixture of oil residue, dirt, and sludge. |
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