'Treasures' Found...

It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life.  

~Joseph Campbell

Since the day I met the person from whom I am buying my boat, he has told me about the Legendary places he calls His Warehouses.  According to him, these warehouses hold missing parts and fragments of the boat I have come to love--things like: the bench seat for the bridge, davits, the generator, several Bimini tops to choose from, battery charger, battery boxes and other sundry items.

Finally, we made the trip to The Legendary Land of the Warehouse to hunt for treasures.  And...treasures we found (but in the rough)!

Let me start by saying that I am very glad that I have no time-frame for this renovation.  It is to this one decision that I credit my sanity (and my ability to continue to enjoy the work on this boat).

Now, let's look at the treasures we have found so far (there is a faint promise of more to come, as the biminis are stored at another location)...

When we arrived at the warehouse, hoisted high into the air by a massive industrial power lift was a large pile of rubbish.  Ripped and brittle vinyl,  rotted wood, and decaying cushion padding all bundled neatly on a pallet waiting to be loaded into our truck.  This was the bench seat for the bridge.  We looked at it and wondered if it was worth taking at all, but we decided that it could serve as a template if I decide to make my own seat.  At the very least, we thought we would reassemble it and see what was originally there.

We took it home and reassembled it in my garage:

 

The nice thing about this set-up is that it folds down to a bed.  Here is my romantic musing...I love the idea of motoring out to a beautiful little deserted area of the Ohio River and anchoring for the night...light music playing...laying on the bridge and looking at the stars, telling stories.  Now that I have this image in my mind, I am determined to find something similar.

Finding a similar replacement seat is proving to be a little more challenging than I thought.  I have found single lounge seats similar to this design, but none that are 5 feet wide, like this one.  But, as I mentioned, no time-frame.  This helps.

I found this one (and I am going to call to see if I can have a bench-sized one made):

We also found the davits. One of the base pieces is missing and they need new mechanical parts and a new paint job, but I think they will look very cool mounted on the back of the boat with a dinghy hanging from them!  Here they are loaded into the truck:

And in my garage (Notice the paint?  This is what the entire boat used to look like):

We also found the generator.  The one nice thing about the generator is that it is providing me great exercise in keeping a positive outlook.  Bruce claims it works, but it looks pretty bad.  It looks like we pulled it out of the depths of the sea...We are planning to clean it and paint it soon:

We also found the two pieces that the generator sits on in the engine compartment:

And some other parts for the engine compartment:

And the battery trickle charger:

And, the fun, bonus treasure!  This dinghy:

A clean, inflated version of this same dinghy looks like this:

 OK, the Dinghy is a mess and needs some work, but it's fun, and it was unexpected.  I am told that I will get a motor for it soon.  It is a Caribe C12 with a middle console.  I am excited to get it inflated and cleaned up so that we can see what she'll look like.  Then I'll replace the old, dirty line with a new orange one, add some graphics for her name, and she'll look great hanging from the davits on the back of the King's Craft!

These are the treasures we found this weekend.  Definitely rough, and they create even more work, but they are fun.  Until our next journey to the 2nd Legendary Warehouse (where I hope to discover the illusive stainless steel Bimini)...

Not all treasure's silver and gold, mate.  ~Jack Sparrow