J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment greetings, and update, and ?

Greetings all. For the first post I suspect I should send out an update. And in summary, I think I'll offer: To say there are ups and downs of boat ownership is to put it mildly...

We moved #478 Bad Dog down to the NY harbor area, and had a great, though stressful, first season. The crew came a long way (though they've *quite* a bit further to go..), formulated many plans for the year to come --and then Sandy came to town.

We were flooded off the stands and now we are in need of a mast, a stern pulpit (though a good welder might be able to fix the one we have) and we have many other odds and ends to take care of.

Off the water has been kind of crazy, but finally moving forward with regard to getting back out there. Any thoughts or advice on mast and pulpit are greatly appreciated. Quotes on a new mast and pulpit should be coming in soon, but used gear will be much cheaper I suspect.

Also, I hear there might be a mast in Perth Amboy ? Does anyone have contact info for Warren B? Hull #7 out on L.I. crossed my mind.. but that's complicated..

Many thanks for any thoughts. This forum is an incredible resource, indeed.
Matt

part II

Didn't mean to ruffle any feathers out there by mentioning hull #7. Not something I could do at the end of the day. Hope she finds a good home and TLC.

Otherwise, #478 has been deemed a "total" loss by our insurer. Whether the boat is structurally sound to repair, re-insure, and sail again is another question, and though I've been through her as best I could and didn't see anything horrific (cracked bulkheads, joints, salt on the motor etc), I'm hoping a local guy Bill Lockwood recommended will come over and give us a look.

I have spent many hours falling asleep to the question of what happened out there that night, and I think I figured it. After flooding off the stands I'm pretty sure we came down on the port side whereupon a larger boat plowed into us mid-cockpit, fouling masts, destroying the port stern pulpit and cranking a hole in the deck at the stanchion base, bending three or four other stanchions--and driving us onto the aft keel. That seam aft of the keel opened up (took many hours to find this seam thread on the forum) But, I'm hoping, this seam is not disastrous, right ?

Assuming the structural integrity is good, between a new mast (10x more expensive than used), rigging, paint, gel coat, a hole in the deck from a stanchion, a stern pulpit and a myriad of other issues, it will be a stretch financially and a tax on the little free time I have, but I think we're probably going to dive in. Though the 'ballpark' figure my insurer mentioned to buy her back is higher than I was hoping to hear, and we're in one of the most expensive yards on the Coast... It might be time to learn rigging and gel coat.

Any recs are appreciated, and thanks to all who've sent advice thus far. More quotes will be coming in this and next week I think. And I think I have a used stern pulipit lined up (thanks Alan in Chicago), as well as stanchions (thanks Seth in CT).
mto

ps Has anyone actually seen the mast in Florida ? Any idea what shipping might be?
pps working on a photo..

Estimate for repairs: $61,000

You can get the parts a labor of love will make this affordable.

I would think the cost of buying back the hull should be cheap as borscht as it costs money to dispose of a hull. Start finding out what it costs to haul away, crush and dispose of a 30' fibreglass yacht (legally) to help with the negotiations.

The good news is we were quoted a very reasonable salvage price by our insurer! (I let them know about that estimate and suggested the yard was not going to do them any favors either..)

So, knock on wood, we'll be back out in early June.

Lots and lots to do though, and you are right Bill, it does become a labor of love.. I've been spending every spare minute reading up, and watching youtube vids on gelcoat, fiberglass, and epoxy systems!

And I have to say, thank God for this forum and all of you who post and help out everyone else! And especially you Bill--I think I've downloaded megabytes if not gigs from you alone..