There doesn't seem to be much happening on the forum right now in the off season, so I thought perhaps sharing the progress of Dancer over the winter might be of interest.

For those that don't know, Dancer is a Parker 325 that has sat in Weymouth for a couple of years. I wont go into the details of why and I am sure some of you probably know more than me. I purchased her in December and she is looking a bit sorry for herself at the moment.

Dancer had to be taken from Weymouth to Portland, as they have a crane for the survey. The deal was concluded on 14th December and I had the nightmare job of joining all the parties up for boat transportation to Essex. The issue I had was that Titchmarsh my local marina close their yard for Christmas. I had to get the mast un-stepped and the boat ready for Transport to arrive before the local yard closed. In between that we had Storm Darragh, which delayed everything.

However, the transport company got it to Titchmarsh on the last day the yard was open.

She is really dirty now, as well as the 2 years sitting dirt, she also is now covered in road grime. To prep for transport, they stuffed things anywhere they could, so I am still finding bits.

There is a big list being made at the moment, some are from the survey, plus additional bits from me.

I have ordered new standing / running rigging by the local rigger. I figured I might as well do this whilst the mast is down.

Genoa has gone to local sail company for cleaning, I am leaving the main until the mast is up.

Sprayhood and stack pack are had it and will be replaced.

Here are a couple of pictures from when she arrived.

Strange worm? we don't have this on the East coast.

Also, I think I need to get the Copper coat off the keel.

I will try to post more as we progress through the jobs.

Good luck with your restoration, all to be done for the coming season?

Do check out the keel operation, it's important and there is plenty of advice on the Tech Reference section of the website.

Philip

Glad the boat made it to the east coast in one piece.

As you know I am happy to come over to have a look if that would be helpful at any stage.

Also, I have a used stackpack that you are welcome to; it's a bit tired but still serviceable.

Martin

Martin, that's very kind of you. At the moment, we seem to have everything under control. But I do think I will need you at some point. 🙂

Philip, yes, the plan is to get her in the water in a couple of weeks time. (fingers crossed)

We have cleaned and polished the hull and started getting the flakey copper coat off the keel. The Decks are still very dirty, but I am waiting until she is in the water for that as its a lot easier to do.

The mast and boom are now up with new standing and running rigging. Genoa has been repaired and laundered. I couldn't get the main off the boom until it was back on the mast, but now thats done I was able to take the Main to the local sail maker along with the stack pack for cleaning and repairs. (also asked them to put some proper battens in, rather than the polypipe that was in there).

Spray hood has been cleaned and repaired for this season, but will need to be replaced in the future.

Replaced the old seal with a maintenance free one. This isn't quite complete yet as it needs a cooling pipe fitted).

Slowly getting the crud off the prop. Also took the opportunity to add a rope cutter as Dancer didnt have one and we have lobster pots in some real stupid places around here!

It was a bit of a challenge finding this anode! But our local chandlers did find it and its arriving soon.

There is a load of jobs still to do, but only a few of them now need the boat out of the water. So hoping to get her on our mooring in a couple of weeks time.

I am still considering the best placement for the windlass.

Having had a good look through the forum and it would seem there are 3 options.

1. In front of the anchor locker (would need to remove the cleat)

2. In side the anchor locker (not a lot of room)

3. Behind the anchor locker (this seems to have been the most popular choice by members).

At the moment, we are seriously considering option 1 as the front of the locker is the deepest part and if we ever needed to extend down (if thats even possible), this would be the place to do that.

The wiring will be easy as there is already everything in place for the bow thruster.