Plastic Classic Forum

Well I went and did it again. I bought an old boat. It all started innocently enough, I was looking for a daysailer in the $1K range to keep me occupied while I work on the Triton. I ran into an Ensign for quite a low price and went and had a look at her. Before I committed I thought I'd look a bit more to see if I could find something else I might be interested in, just to be sure I was getting what I wanted. Now you have to understand I've long lusted after the Sea Sprite. I love her looks and to me she is the ideal small cruiser. I dare say she's the only boat I like as much as the Triton. Really the only thing that could have put me off the Ensign was a Sea Sprite in a similar price range. Not possible, of course. But I had to check.

Well I'll be damned if I didn't find one, on City Island, for exactly the same price as the Ensign.

And I ended up paying all of $1.00 for her. The gentleman mostly wanted her to get out his back garden and into the hands of someone who would use her. His wife is not so much into sailing, although she is a lovely person otherwise, and she wanted the garden a little bit emptier. Unfortunately his memory is starting to go and so he can only really handle so many boats (He has at least 16, mostly dinghies of various kinds, but he also has a Rhodes Meridian, two Rhodes 18s and a Rhodes 19-I believe he wants rid of one or two of the Rhodes, I think one of the 18s and the 19, so if anyone is interested...) and as I mentioned his wife, who has been extremely tolerant, would like at least a small part of her garden back. Her name right now is Ventis (but that will change soon) and she is a wonderful boat, she has solid decks which is remarkable and a lot of other good points. What she needs mostly is paint and a thorough cleaning. She does need one fiberglass repair, under the mast step as you can see in the photos. New cockpit drain hoses are in order before we splash but otherwise I will sail her as is up to Ithaca. The tentative plan is to restore her, sail her to the Bahamas, and then sell her when I return and at that point return to the Triton. I don't believe with the amount of work needed, my own income level and the amount of time involved that I could sail the Triton to the Bahamas this winter. The Sea Sprite on the other hand I believe I can, and so I will move in that direction.

We splash in about three weeks, there's going to be a heck of a party on the Hudson when she goes in, if anyone wants to come by. She'll likely be put in at Kings Marine. As an aside, if anyone in the area has a trailer of the correct size for a Sea Sprite, I would like to borrow or rent one on the day we splash as the one she's on is unregistered and probably not strong enough to really move her very far on it.

$1.00, you have to be kidding. Sounds to good to be true, way to go. She looks like a good cleaning will bring her back to life. Good luck with her.

Well Crazer, That beats my $20.00 for and Electra by $19.00. Nice looking vessel . How close to standing upright can you get in her??/LOL\

Thanks guys! Lloyd, I know, I couldn't believe it either even though I had sensed he was leaning in that direction. Yep all she really needs aside from the aforementioned repair is a good cleaning and some paint inside.

Carl-Well headroom is 4' 2"... :P She's really roomy inside though, no bulkheads cluttering things up (#137 doesn't even have a permanent sole at this point!) so I can see clear from her stern to her bow and down to the bottom of her bilge too!

Well #137 was launched from City Island on the 15th and after a couple of false starts and one major crises we made it to Newburgh, NY where she sits waiting for the next leg of the trip to Ithaca. I was very pleased with how she handled the rough spots on the trip, wakes from large ships, Hell Gate, strong winds in Haverstraw Bay, none of it phased her in the least. A very sturdy little boat and I can't wait to see how she handles under sail. I'll try and get a few photos up of the trip and the boat in the water.

Well I lost my job so I guess it's time to go sailing again.

Nice looking boat. And you have the whole summer ahead of you.

Thanks! And yes, plenty of time for both sailing and restoration. Time is half the cost with a project like this, the $ cost of a restoration may be high but in my experience it's finding the time that's a burden.

Hey, everything going good with the SeaSprite?

Thanks for checking in, my last post in this thread was strangely prophetic. I haven't yet got the boat to my home here in Ithaca, I've had two outboards break down on me. The first one was toast (overheated) but it looks like the second one should be repaired in a couple weeks after I get back from vacation. Right now the boat is in Little Falls, NY, along the Erie Canal. Not sure when I'll get her sailing, hopefully by the end of the season(!) but we'll see.

The Erie Canal does not go through Ithaca (I just googled it.) So, just a heads up. :)

Ah, but the Cayuga-Seneca canal links the Erie canal to Lake Cayuga :) So just make a left turn after Syracuse and there you are.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cayuga%E2% ... neca_Canal

OK, very cool. I just googled that too. I am guessing that you plan to get her home, along the canals, after an outboard is ready.

Yep, that's the plan. It's taken me long enough, heaven knows, to get her this far. Started out in late May on the first leg, second leg was in late June, final leg will be in late July. A third of the trip a month! Good thing I didn't start breaking it up into tenths! :) Good news is that my new outboard, a late 80s Mariner 4 HP gives me a lot more power than the old 5 1/2 HP Evinrude I had. Probably because the other motor had low compression due to heat damage and I didn't know it. That'll make the last leg of the trip go a lot faster.

Just a note to say the Sea Sprite has found a new, loving home with someone who can look after her far better than I can. My deteriorating financial situation forced me to reduce to just one boat and heaven knows the Triton is costing me enough. It was one or the other and the Triton won. Now even she might have to go if I don't get a job soon as storage costs are adding up and trucking her here will be expensive.

Crazer, Keep on Keeping on!

Good to hear from you. I can't imagine having more than one boat.

There was a time when I had 5 boats, but that was in my younger days. I now only have Early Light, an 8 foot sailing dinghy and an inflatable. Life is grand.

TampaBay wrote:Crazer, Keep on Keeping on!

Good to hear from you. I can't imagine having more than one boat.

Now that I've done it, I can't imagine it either! Thanks for the encouragement, I need it!

earlylight, I can't imagine having five boats. Although I don't count small ones, heh.

Two of the five were one designs (Rhodes Bantams) that my oldest son and I were sailing as we chased the weekend regatta circuit all summer including District Championship and International Championship Regattas. Even though they were small boats, the maintenance required to keep them in top competitive shape was enough to occupy my spare time during the week just repairing broken or worn out gear in time for the next weekend's racing. Replacing broken booms, spinnaker and whisker poles, swaging new wire halyards, replacing running rigging and taking sails to the sailmaker for repairs etc.not to mention trailer maintenance.