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Sunday, December 8, 2002 was the day that started it all.  Well, sort of.  

It actually goes back to sometime in the summer or fall of 2001, when I was suffering from some form of "project withdrawal" with the completion of the work on Glissando, my 1963 Triton #381.  Much as I enjoyed the obvious pleasures of sailing the boat, and despite the fact that there were still plenty of smaller projects to complete, I had to face up to the thought that I actually missed having my project boat in the backyard.  At this time, I began thinking of what sort of project I might enjoy getting involved in at some point in the future.

I kept my eyes open for a possible project boat during this time, and found several possible candidates--though I wasn't really looking seriously.  Because of the complete and utter changes I intend to make to the boat for the daysailor project, I needed to find a boat in atrocious condition, and available for next to nothing.  With nothing on the immediate horizon, I decided to just sit back and wait for the day to come when something would make itself known to me.

As is usually the case, once you start looking for something, it inevitably shows up on your doorstep.  The doorstep, in my case, was South Dartmouth, MA--home of my friend and fellow Triton owner Jeff.  In fact, he owned two Tritons, one of which, Sea Witch, #100, he was willing to part with.  An innocent trip with a friend to visit Jeff and see the progress he had made on his nearly complete restoration of Triton #30 Kaynee turned into the genesis of another major project for me.  I had been looking loosely for another project boat--including another Triton--for a while, as I missed the fiddling around inherent with such work, but I never dreamed that circumstances would conspire to begin me down the project road at this point.  They say that when something is meant to be, it just seems right.  That was the case on this day.

Read my progress log for December 8, 2002 by clicking here.

The boat was trucked to my backyard on December 23, 2002, without incident.  Read about the transport here.  The boat arrived too late in the evening to get aboard to explore and take photos, so on Christmas Eve I managed to make some time to climb aboard for a few moments, in between party preparations and last minute Christmas details.  In addition to wanting to get a series of fresh "before" pictures, I also needed to get some sort of cover over the boat as much as possible, since the companionway was wide open and a huge snowstorm was predicted for later on Christmas day.

Below is a matrix of photos of all parts of the boat, in her raw and as-purchased, as-delivered condition.  In many ways, she was vintage Triton--paint application by straw broom, the Voguest of chipped and peeling interior paint, and only the most stylish of delaminated fiberglass cabin soles.  In other words, she was the perfect candidate for some major surgery.

Exterior Shots          Interior Shots

Exterior Shots
Click on the thumbnails for full-sized photos of each view.  Descriptions are to the right.

	Starboard profile		Starboard hull condition
	Starboard quarter		Close up of starboard hull and waterline
	Starboard quarter		Close up of hull condition
	Starboard bow		The transom
	Port quarter		Port hull condition
	Coachroof and foredeck		Coachroof
	Deck looking aft		Straw-broom paint job
	Cabintop looking forward		Foredeck
	Port sidedeck looking forward		Port sidedeck looking aft
	Starboard sidedeck looking forward		Sample stanchion base and deck condition
	Cockpit		Cockpit looking aft
	Port cockpit looking aft		Starboard cockpit
	Poop deck		Interior of port cockpit locker

Continue to Interior Photos>