Greetings
My wife and I purchesed a 1976 Dawson Hull # 237 in August of 2006 and have been at it for 4 months now. projects completed or in the works and planned:
* Striped and painted hull topsides, cove and boottop w/ 2 part Awlgrip
* Rebuilt companionway weather boardswith with new teak ply inserts and 6 coats of varnish
* removed, varnished and reinstalled all interior teak
* removed all exterior teak, varnished, and ready to reinstall
* removed most deck hard ware
* removed all portlights and installed tinted plexiglass, ready to reinstall
* Built navagation station above dinett table which includes chronomter, barometer, VHF radio, CD player AMFM radio, depth meter and lighting
* Built and installed pantry behind port side dinett and bulkhead in aft cabin thus eliminating the quarter bearth
* Installed 13 X 30 bomar hatch on starboard side cockpit seat for access to new storage space
* Rewired 12 & 110 v electrical systems including a 30 amp breaker panel for the shore power
* Sanded, repaired and primed entire deck and almost ready for paint
* Cut new foam for cushions and sewing new covers. bought 22 yards of Sunbrella @ $7.50 per yd. from the Sailors Exchange in St Augustine, FL to do the cushions, sail cover, bimimi top, OB engine cover and perhaps a few other things. The first "mate" is doing the cushions and they look quite professional.
* As some of ou may recall this was the boat sans keel, I have done a mock up of the keel with a nice NACA foil section and the trunk to prove the system. it works well I'm also relocating the winch ( 12v ) to the port side of the trunk just aft of and below the electrical panel, I have most of the material (steel)plus #1000 of lead rounded up and should have it to the welder in a few weeks.
* Preping the spars with vinyl wash primer, then epoxy primer and finish with Awlgrip to match the cove and boot top stripes, they looked pretty sad after 30 years or use.
* Making up new standing and running rigging
Epilogue:
Our original intention was to add some value to the boat and sell it, however, we have fallen in love with it and instead of our usual vacations, we plan on taking it to the keys and the Bahamas next year, the float plan is to launch where we live in Astor,FL north through Lake George to the St Johns river to Jacksonville and south on the ICW and maybe outside weather permitting to the Keys with no time table in mind.
Before we head off the planed additions include an autopilot, solar panels, small genorator, combo 110/12v refrigeration, folding bike and lots of suntan oil
We'll keep you posted on our progress, Oh, by the way, our very nice 1983 25' Macgregor is for sale
Herb & Doris MacIntyre
herbmac1@aol.com
