July 13, 2011 Mark checked in with the following email and pictures of Paradiso, a boat in transition - ownership, name, color and location. Previous owner Matt Bemis did a lot of work on Shambles, and four years ago was one of the early Dolphin 24 owners to check into our then newly launched website. Click here to go to her page. Pending receipt of an 'all done' photo, we'll use this photo Mark sent in to start Paradiso's page.

Its all about reflections - maybe we'll keep this one here...

And here with her new , on deck, jib bag

Hi Ron,

I thought I'd write and give you an update on Yankee Dolphin #203 (Shambles).  I am currently in the process of purchasing it from Jon Wycoff (who in turn purchased it from Matt Bemis).  Jon and I are working together to get her ready for the water, but it is a very low-budget affair.  Hopefully, with a lot of sweat equity, I'll have her looking good enough to get rid of the name "Shambles".

 

 

The pictures show the process of painting the hull.  Jon did the bottom paint and the first coat of primer. The sanding, second coat of primer and topside paint are up to me.  It has been a very laborious process.  Interlux claims you should budget 80% of your time for preparation and 20% painting.  I'd say it is closer to 90-10, and you should expect to spend as much money on sandpaper as paint.  It should be worth it, though.

So far it has taken two coats of primer and three coats of Brightside, but I think we're done. The first two coats of topside were done in Interlux Dark Blue, which came out much brighter than I expected (I'm using #166 Mahi Mahi as my guide, I'd like to have my boat looking like that!).  For the third coat, I mixed 25% Dark Blue with 75% Flag Blue, and now it looks as expected.  The masking tape should come off tomorrow, when the boot stripe and dolphin stripe get added (in red and gold, respectively).

We'll also be cleaning and oiling the teak, cleaning the deck and fairing the centerboard.  I've also been working on the cushions, using vinyl paint to make them look a bit more contemporary.  If I get a chance, I'll update you on that process as well.

We are expecting to splash her in the next week to 10 days and then Jon is going to bring her up to her (old) new home on Lake St. Clair.  She will also get a new name -- "Paradiso", which is Latin for "heaven".  I took the name from the 80's band The Chameleons, btw, whose lyrics are ripe with great sailboat names ("Silence, Sea and Sky", "PS Goodbye").

Thanks for your work in keeping this great site alive!

Mark

PS If anyone is interested, there are more photos of my boat here:

https://picasaweb.google.com/Spruell.Mark/YankeeDolphin24?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKqq5K-y4u-E3wE&feat=directlink

October 16, 2011. Here's a couple more pictures from Mark's Picasa page

Nice

Also nice