



So got myself a crazy idea that I want to live on the water for last

summer or about. and went and traded my friends truck for this 64

Pacemaker 44 on craigslist.. had a prepurchaise survey done by some

guy on craigslist and it showed that the hull was sound other than

some soft spots around windows and on deck and some termites eating at

plywood roof over the bridge.



the engines were rebuilt several years

back. they are chevy 454s



after reading here and on the defunct

pacemakersownersclub i pulled the trigger last june. Im in so cal, so

that was still several months and for the summer and good times was

had. mostly as a harbor apartment. I work nights so not a liveaboard,

but ayways. fun times. and my friend whose truck i traded for it works

in marble and stone. so we put in the new marble kitchen counter.



Original kitchen



Working on it with my friend











I did notice that the boat would expel water daily as it was coming in

pretty fast. I did know it needed bottom paint so come fall i decided

to investigate

ta da da duh

it did need bottom painting so after trying to find a yard that would

take her up to paint I found one that would do it without a full

survey and had a rail cart. well, after negotiating for bottom paint

and agreeing i took a trip down. about 30 miles.

well it was kinda going ok at 8 knots but come 10-11 it began to shake

quite a bit so i slowed down and well, we did get here and once out of

the water the yard manager said he was surprised it actually got there

in one piece as the shaking was caused by the port prop pulling the

rear strut away from the hull. the strut base electrolytic ally rotted

off. also the keel bots were all bonded together. as electrolytic

bonding is a pretty bad idea for a wooden boat it made the boat ino a

battery apparently. which in a wet environment causes the bolts in the

keel wood to become battery cells. which electrically corrodes the

wood around them via galvanic delignification.. apparently the boat

hasn't not been out in about 5 years by the look of it. so the gardboard

was pulling off and another plank came kinda loose and it leaked from

shaft seals. oh and there was a bunch of creatures living in the keel.

so they had to be burned out and all that had to be cemented.

but they said engines were in excellent condition

rest of the planking was solid, seams were ok, interior was ok

so i had them fix all that

except the strut

they wanted 4 k for a new strut, and it would take couple weeks I

decided to just fix the rest and take the strut out until the next

time

because all I wanted the boat was an apartment on the water.

and after I spent 7 k on fixes and painting I decided to take a look

around the boat as to where I could fix some stuff myself

so there



I decided to investigate the soft spots at the corners of window frames.



and boy did it go (gotta run now, will edit/continue this story in a bit)





