Sometimes you get lucky. But not this time
Issue 39 : Nov/Dec 2004
At some point in the restoration of our (new to us) old C&C Mega 30 — in fact not too long after I started — I knew I would have to “pull every screw.” She would be stripped of all components and furnishings inside and out, the hull glassed to the deck, wet core replaced in a dozen places, and then she would be reassembled with an interior intended for Spartan cruising instead of racing. It was not what I had planned on, but you don’t always get to do what you plan to do . . . unless you plan more skillfully than I did.
Our first cruising boat was in excellent condition when we bought her. All we had to do was sail her away. The previous owner gets credit for this. He took very good care of our boat for us in the critical early years. We were lucky. We are lucky. Mystic is not for sale at any price, never will be. We fuss over her like the last owner did. She is a member of the family.
Our second boat was the reverse. The idea of a large trailerable boat got stuck in our heads. Not instead of our beloved C&C 30, but in addition to her. We’d take her south in the winters when Mystic was laid up on Lake Superior’s frosty shore. Good idea as far as it went. We didn’t have a lot of time to shop for a boat, and there were not many Mega 30s to choose from. We bought the first one we had surveyed. I knew she was in sad shape but did not know just how sad until I started the work of bringing her back. The restoration is in its second year, and there will be at least another.
Recently we were removing hardware prior to deck and cockpit repair and painting. Working from the bow aft, we had literally removed almost every screw in the boat when I got to the stern mooring cleats . . . two cleats, four screws on each. One of these eight screws was held by a wingnut below and the other seven had no nuts at all. By the time I got that far I was not surprised. I said to Karen, “Yup, we had to pull every screw.”
The Mega will be a good boat someday, as good a boat in her own way as Mystic is. You can’t be lucky every time. I suppose for the founder and technical editor of a magazine about restoring good old boats, it is only fair.
Thank you to Sailrite Enterprises, Inc., for providing free access to back issues of Good Old Boat through intellectual property rights. Sailrite.com
