Earlier this year, when I was launching my boat in Gig Harbor, I glanced over and saw another T-Bird in the yard. “Cool”, I thought, but I’d seen other T-Birds here. Then I took a second look, and realized that this was NOT a T-Bird.
The 40′ Diosa was built by Ed Hoppen, builder of the first Thunderbirds, at Eddon Boatyard in Gig Harbor. His son, the current owner, was in the yard that day, and I got to talk with him for a bit.
He told me a story about his dad being visited by Sir Tom Clark while the hull was still upside-down. Clark offered to buy the boat, but Hoppen turned him down, and offered to build a second for Clark. That wasn’t good enough for him, so inspired by the hull design he saw there, went home to Austrailia and commissioned John Spencer to design Infidel, a plywood race boat later renamed Ragtime, and was one of the fastest yachts of the 70s.
Hoppen claims that due to the flatter aft section of Diosa compared with a Thunderbird, it can plane in a good downwind breeze.
I had a busy day planned today since my wife was out of town visiting her parents, so I got up, made a cup of coffee and locked myself out of my house.
Once I finally got back in and had my keys, I took my motorcycle out to orting and picked up the battens for the mainsail. The guy who gave me the boat texted me earlier in the week to tell me that he’d found the “Mainsail shrouds”. I knew what he was talking about.
Once I got home, I traded my bike for my pickup, loaded up everything to do some epoxy work, got just about to the bridge, turned around and went back home and got the rest of the stuff needed for epoxy work.I had to make a couple stops in Gig Harbor for a couple things that I didn’t have on hand, like poly sheeting, some thin ply, wood to cut into battens to hold the ply up, and a notched epoxy spreader that Fisheries was out of when I placed my order a couple weeks ago. Once I was at the boat, I spent most of my time trying to get one last stubborn chunk of wet core out of the bow. It started raining later in the day, so no epoxy work today.
Brent was there to help today, and he sanded a good portion of the hull. We talked about motors and moorage. I think it’s time to get a slip out at Tyee.
I’m pretty excited for daylight savings time, and more daylight to work on the boat.
Our boat partners got us a good place to park the boat while we’re working on it, so Saturday, we got to work. We emptied the house of everything. Radio, cushions, sucked out water.
I didn’t notice the first two times I looked at the boat, but there was a soft spot on the deck. Woops. If I were paying $15k + for a boat, that’s what a marine survey would have been for. But this one didn’t cost that much. So we started going to town.
We started with an oscillating mulit-tool from the underside, leaving enough space to feather in new glass. Fiberglass boats are usually constructed with a sandwich of polyester resin and fiberglass, a balsa or foam core, and another layer of resin and fiberglass.
What came out of the bow was a big wet mushy mess. Over the next few weeks, almost the entire deck core would have to come out. I’ve been out to work on the a couple of week days each week since we started, cutting, grinding and sanding fiberglass. Even with a Tyvek suit, respirator and goggles, it’s a messy business.
I just picked up one of the most anti-braaap thing. A 1981 Thunderbird 26 foot sailboat.
I’ve sailed since I was 12, and owning a sailboat is something that I’ve dreamt about ever since. In the last few years, that dream has wandered closer to reality, and last weekend it finally came true. I’ve been looking a various boats for a while, and I keep coming back to the Thunderbird. Last spring, after finding one for sale in Port Townsend, I contacted the Gig Harbor Boathouse, which houses two historic T-Birds, and they put me in touch a couple of local experts. One in particular has been a great help, and has been forwarding me listings as he finds local boats for sale.
Early last week, he sent me and ad for a boat in Lake Union that he’d gone to look at. I’d seen it too, but hadn’t replied since I maybe wasn’t quite ready to get a boat. However, since he’d seen it and thought it was a nice boat, I contacted the guy. I finally got through to the guy after two days, tried to set up an appointment, didn’t hear back again, and then it was sold.
But now I was ready. Two days later, my phone buzzed with an Craigslist search. It was scant on details, but I replied immediately, and an hour later, I got a call. He told me where it was, I said I’d take a look, and told him that I’d let him know what I thought. I immediately called my boat advisor, and he it sounded like a good deal. I called my friend who I’ve been looking for boats with, and they said I can park it at their dad’s house. I talked to Anne, and she said that if everyone else said it was ok, then it was ok. So I called the guy back and told him I’d take it.
Then I went to look at the boat.
So Friday, I met with the seller to signed over the paperwork. The seller lives 70 miles from where the boat was moored. He said that he thought that his Harley friends would want to ride their motorcycles up with him to go sailing. It seems like he also thought his kids would sail. Somehow, moorage didn’t get paid, and the marina hauled it out. He filled out a Loss of title/release of interest, tried to pay for the licensing fees, and when I wouldn’t let him, gave me $125 for un-stepping the mast. After I was done there, I called the marina and scheduled an appointment with the travel lift for Saturday.
On Friday, I went to pick up the trailer. The trailer itself was solid, but the tires, not so much. I’m sure they were as old as the boat itself. This was not going to make it from Everett to Oak Harbor. I started calling around for tires, and a local shop said that they could get some from Lacey and Centralia. $980, and they’d send a courier to get them. Ugh. Bust Out Another Thousand.
I tried to find them cheaper anywhere else on Saturday morning. Time was tight. My friends were going to run to Everett for the mast unstepping appointment, but I needed to be there with the trailer by 3pm. I called back my tire source, and they made some calls. A half hour later, they called me back with the news that all the tires that were in their inventory were spoken for, and there weren’t any others within 3 hours. On a whim, I decided to call a shop in the same chain in Everett. They didn’t have them, but they found some 20 minutes north. Ok. The trailer will make it there without a boat. I just have to get new tires in time for the travel lift appointment.
Then I got a call from the marina. They didn’t realize that my mast was a deck-stepped mast, and couldn’t pull it with their crane while it was on land, and they didn’t have anymore time on their schedule to put it in the water, pull the mast, and pull it back out to put on the trailer. That would have to wait until Monday. Deep breath. I had more time.
So we used that time to have a more leisurely day in Everett. We hauled the trailer up to get new tires, came back to Everett to get a good look at the boat in daylight, and have a beer and lunch at Scuttlebutt Brewery. It still looked pretty good.
Pickup Day
I called out from work on Monday and headed back up to Everett. I had an 11am appointment with the travel lift, and I had to prepare the boat. I got the cover off, took the boom off and prepared some lines. At 11 they came to pick up my boat.
She Floats
They dropped her in the water, and an hour later came back to pull the mast. They got the mast laid on the deck, pulled her back out, and got her on the trailer and off to home.
