Luke000
Restoration Forum Splash of the Year 2016
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2013
- Messages
- 346
Ok, seriously someone need to block Craigslist on my phone.... I don't even know what happened; I was just driving home from a week trip to northern Michigan, I was almost home and then I looked in my rear view mirror and realized I was towing a brand new used boat. I can quit any time I want, I swear.
My dad and I were throwing around the idea of buying a boat together and making a project out of it, the boat we were (are) looking for was a good deal on a 1960's Pearson Vanguard 33, or something similar. Anyways I was on craigslist just killing time looking at some sailboats and this little one caught my eye, it was just listed as 12ft AL sailboat, no make, model, year, etc. I had never seen an aluminum sailboat before, and it had some very cool lines. After doing a little research I was able to come up that it was made by Alcan aka Aluminum Company of Canada and it was called the Petrel 12, this one is a 1966 model. For the US market they were sold under Aerocraft of Bay City, Mi (not far from where the boat was). The boat was designed by Philip Rhodes, the same designer as the Pearson Vanguard! The boat is built very well, it has a 20ft mast, it came will registration (title here in Mi for smaller boats) for both the boat and trailer, all the rigging (in good shape), an aluminum rudder, aluminum centerboard, and a mainsail. It also came with some trailer lights, random rope, and a large Danforth anchor (perfect size for the Lone*Start)
The boat is designed to also take a head sail but it was not included with it. If I can track one down I will definitely grab it. One of the PO's drilled two big holes in the floor, i was told to try and replace the foam, needless to say it didn't work and only made it worse. So I will have to pull the seats and floor to replace all the foam and repair everything properly. So its going to be quite a few rivets. The little bit of wood on this boat is Oak from the factory and is pretty well shot, so that will need to be remade. Otherwise its just going to need some paint and it will be ready for lake! Good news is I have a lot of paint left over from the Lone*Star project, I might only need to buy some more primer.
It also came with a Trailcar trailer that is in decent shape for its age, I had to make a new mast holder to bring the boat home, but by the grace of god the old dry-rotted tires and unknown bearings performed very well. The trailer will probably get a nice treatment eventually but for now, I am just going to rebuild the hubs, new wheels/tires, new wiring and lights and probably new bunks a new winch. Just enough to make it safe for a 250 mile trip for storage.
This is going to be a long term project, right now I Just got it power washed today and I hope to just get the trailer safer, then it will be off to storage to get mothballed until the time comes to get round tuit'. But being that this is my first sailboat and it adds to the tin collection It might come up sooner than I expect. Good thing I am a member of the Aluminati or I might have passed up this unique specimen. How could I say no for less than $300
My dad and I were throwing around the idea of buying a boat together and making a project out of it, the boat we were (are) looking for was a good deal on a 1960's Pearson Vanguard 33, or something similar. Anyways I was on craigslist just killing time looking at some sailboats and this little one caught my eye, it was just listed as 12ft AL sailboat, no make, model, year, etc. I had never seen an aluminum sailboat before, and it had some very cool lines. After doing a little research I was able to come up that it was made by Alcan aka Aluminum Company of Canada and it was called the Petrel 12, this one is a 1966 model. For the US market they were sold under Aerocraft of Bay City, Mi (not far from where the boat was). The boat was designed by Philip Rhodes, the same designer as the Pearson Vanguard! The boat is built very well, it has a 20ft mast, it came will registration (title here in Mi for smaller boats) for both the boat and trailer, all the rigging (in good shape), an aluminum rudder, aluminum centerboard, and a mainsail. It also came with some trailer lights, random rope, and a large Danforth anchor (perfect size for the Lone*Start)
The boat is designed to also take a head sail but it was not included with it. If I can track one down I will definitely grab it. One of the PO's drilled two big holes in the floor, i was told to try and replace the foam, needless to say it didn't work and only made it worse. So I will have to pull the seats and floor to replace all the foam and repair everything properly. So its going to be quite a few rivets. The little bit of wood on this boat is Oak from the factory and is pretty well shot, so that will need to be remade. Otherwise its just going to need some paint and it will be ready for lake! Good news is I have a lot of paint left over from the Lone*Star project, I might only need to buy some more primer.
It also came with a Trailcar trailer that is in decent shape for its age, I had to make a new mast holder to bring the boat home, but by the grace of god the old dry-rotted tires and unknown bearings performed very well. The trailer will probably get a nice treatment eventually but for now, I am just going to rebuild the hubs, new wheels/tires, new wiring and lights and probably new bunks a new winch. Just enough to make it safe for a 250 mile trip for storage.
This is going to be a long term project, right now I Just got it power washed today and I hope to just get the trailer safer, then it will be off to storage to get mothballed until the time comes to get round tuit'. But being that this is my first sailboat and it adds to the tin collection It might come up sooner than I expect. Good thing I am a member of the Aluminati or I might have passed up this unique specimen. How could I say no for less than $300
