Current Status: Project Abandoned, Boat
Ownership Transferred
This project is no longer active, the boat was taken
away, and this site is
no longer updated, though it will remain online for posterity.
|
This site is
about the 1964 Allied Seabreeze yawl hull #16 pictured
above,
previously named Perelandra but now awaiting her proper
christening under a new name.
In 2004, I bought the boat for salvage value
nearly two years after she was ravaged by a gasoline explosion and
fire in the engine room. The
hull was damaged in the stern quarters, but
most of the fire-related damage was from smoke and
water. Clearly, there was a lot of work to be
done, but I saw challenge and opportunity, not
destruction.
Click here for more
information about the fire and damage to the boat. >>>
We bought this boat as a long-term reconstruction
project, and never defined the timeframe beyond a
loose 5-10 year deadline. However, shortly after making the
decision to purchase the boat, my wife and I threw a
wrench into the works: we purchased some acreage,
and spent the next two years building a new shop and
home on the property.
This project and move, which hadn't even been under
consideration when we decided to purchase the boat,
consumed our resources and time from 2005 through late
2009, and the Seabreeze project unfortunately suffered
and we continually postponed the job. Although the boat was indoors for
more than a year after the new shop was built, the house
construction and a growing business prevented me from
getting any work done on the boat, complicated further
by the financial burden of the new house and shop
project. Eventually, I decided that she needed to
move outdoors until the time truly came to get to work,
and she sat outdoors (covered) for over 2 years,
starting in June 2007. |
In
October 2009, I decided that at long last, the
time had come to begin the project. 5
years after buying the boat, I moved the boat
indoors and made preparations to get underway.
With no delusions about the extent or cost of
the job ahead, I looked forward to beginning.
Click
here to begin the project. >>>
After a strong start to the job, I found
myself burned out in early 2010 after spending
two months of weekends grinding, grinding, and
grinding, and I was discouraged by the frightful
damage I continually uncovered as I worked to
remove the burned and heat-damaged laminate in
the boat's stern quarters. The more
material I removed, the more delaminated and
resin-starved material I discovered. As a
result, after the initial demolition binge, I
took a break from the project to recover and
contemplate the job ahead.
Over time, I found myself reluctant to
continue work. Why was this? It
really wasn't about the boat's condition, bad as
it was--and much worse than I'd anticipated.
Despite this, I thought if my heart had been in
it I'd still have been able to proceed with
success. No, my ennui stemmed from
something else: thoughts of a different
direction entirely, one more suited to our
realistic viewpoint of existing cruising
conditions, and, more importantly, towards our
future cruising needs and desires. So
during summer 2010, we made the decision to move
in a different direction, and indefinitely
postpone work on Seabreeze #16. Later we
gave the boat away, ending this particular saga. | |