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Mike bought this boat in September, 1999 and she was moved to this location - the initial worksite... Marionette was restored in 1995/1996 in exactly this location - before we built her a barn.. So there is hope. Webmaster note: In early September, 2008, in an effort to get the project rolling again, Passage was moved into the Barn using the No-Travel-Lift-Do-it-yourself-system. See below.
The following are two pictures of Passage as we found her on her mooring on the Mystic River. Mike bought her from Gene Connolly of Redding, CT in September, 1999. Gene bought her from Don Gardner of Bellport, NY in November, 1977 and changed her name from Menehune to Passage. Don Gardner bought this boat from Ralph Seidenspinner in 1968 and he believes Ralph is her first owner. There is a Jack? Atherton from West Islip, NY in Passage's old files suggesting he might be the first owner, buying her in June, 1960. Stay tuned on this.
Your webmaster and Gene Connolly sailed her from the MysticRiver to the Niantic Marina. There, in a slip, Gene showed me how to lower a Dolphin mast using the spinnaker pole as a gin pole and a couple of side struts. We (he) did it. Ever since, I have had a healthy respect for this manuever and anyone who can do it successfully.
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There have been a lot of fits and starts on this project. As of March, 2008 this is an overview of the status.
1) All hardware has been removed and the decks, house and cockpit sanded. Needs paint and non skid plus hardware replaced/renewed. All wood parts, except the toe rails, were removed - hand rails, dorade boxes, combing, main hatch rails, companionway step and side trim, and forward and transom hatch trim parts. Click here for a larger image.
2) The toerail track has been removed, toe rail has been sanded, filled, and varnished - a few finish coats of varnish remain. Lots of holes to fill and sand before painting.
3) The top sides have been 'done'. Very fine sanding and buffing. A few small patches have to be done again, but, surprisingly, the gel coat was not in bad shape and we are not going to paint her. There are some deep scratches but some artistic filling and touch up, plus some serious polishing and buffing should do it.
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4) The bottom was a mess. We sandblasted which revealed lots of very bad, deep gouges/scratches from a circular grinder?, plus a lot of blisters - some bad ones. Old fitting holes like a pair of pressure differential type speedo holes had to be filled. The keel/hull joint had been filled, glassed over and needed fairing. There were lots of 'dents' in the lead keel that had to be filled and buttered. Click for larger image
The following pictures give some idea of what we were dealing with. All these have been repaired, reglassed in some areas, epoxy filled, the bottom faired, and the first series of barriers coats applied. A few areas remain to be dealt with, ie., the centerboard holes and through hull fittings. The bottom will be resanded and barrier coated again.
  
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That large blister at the left was pretty scary. Click below each image to see larger view. All these blisters, gouges and scratches have been filled and resanded. Look closely at the bootstripe. It sits on top of the old scribed boot lines. We never weighed the boat but it certainly was heavy. The hull sat drying out for almost 3 years before we tackled this job. It will be interesting to see where she floats when we are done with her.
5) The bronze centerboard has been removed and the 'stop' cut off. This will allow the board to go further forward and a bit deeper. The CB had a lot of pitting and scaling most of which has been removed - this yields a lighter and thinner board - the opposite of what we want. We are 'thinking' on this. We also want to be able to remove the CB annually and are looking for a sane way to do this. Click here to see and read more on this subject in the Technical Section
6) The rudder and rudder stock (click here to see rudder and stock) have been removed and the prop shaft removed. The rudder stock heel fitting was badly corroded. This rather critical part was not available in the local marine supplies store so a new fitting was designed and built - this the subject of another article coming soon to the Technical Section. This picture shows the finished fitting in place. It still has to be filled and faired. Click Here to go to new rudder post heel fitting article.
Passage had her name plate in the center of the inside edge of the aft facing wood trim piece at the leading edge of the main hatch. It says she was made by Marscot Plastics, Inc, Fall River, MA for G. D. O'Day Associates, Inc, Boston, MA, Hull No. 3230, Class No. 10. Click here to see a large copy of the nameplate
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A Keeper Photo
The following photo discovered in a 'purge files" effort was determined to be a keeper. It was taken at the S&S 75th Anniversay celebration dinner at Mystic Seaport, July 10, 2004. Mike is certainly discussing the finer points of Dolphin design with Olin. For more about this very special event click here.
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OK, back to work - Passage gets moved from under the tree into the barn in mid September, 08. We'll skip the steps of taking her off her poppits, getting her on the trailer, moving her into the barn, getting her off the trailer, and back on her poppits. As you can see, it was done, by one person, using the afor mentioned No-Travel-Lift-Do-it-yourself-system. It took a while, much of it looking and checking and rechecking to be sure nothing went wrong. Click here for larger views
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