In the first two installments, our now “riveted to the page” readers will recall the opening chapters in the saga of a long-neglected Legacy 32 and the refit plans of a perhaps slightly delusional new owner, me. What follows is the third installment of this refit story, finally including work on the #beauty part of this restoration effort.
The goal of this exercise remains the transition from an ugly duckling to the proverbial beautiful swan, with all work done over the winter, while not breaking the bank. So far, so good! (Editor’s note: okay, he is a little over budget).
So, up to this point, all the refit work has been about function (internal beauty). The next steps, reported in this installment, cover the over-the-winter work of Joe Reid at Mast and Mallet and Stephanie Feild at Custom Canvas Coverings.
Joe and Ron Sinclair, the owners of Holiday Point Marina on the South River, where Mast and Mallet is located, worked together to get the boat up on the travel lift and inside Joe’s workshop before the end of December. I had dutifully completed winterization before, just to make sure. It is amazing how many gallons of the “purple stuff” you can pump through a Cummins QSB.
Once inside, Joe and his team set about scraping the cap rail, sanding the interior woodwork, and refinishing the light boards. The neglect showed, but fortunately the wood was good beneath the exhausted varnish.
Joe also initiated several upgrades and additions we had discussed.
While it is becoming increasingly clear to me that Legacy built a quality boat, for some reason they had an aversion to shelving. Virtually all the compartments and lockers in the galley, head, and master cabin were just big open spaces. It was hard to imagine loading for a cruise with no shelving.
Joe and his team expertly added adjustable shelving that may triple the galley storage. He also added shelving under the head sink for toiletries and in the master cabin lockers so we could do something besides throw a bundle of clothes inside and hope they will stay while you slam the door. As cruisers we expect this utility, and now, we have it!
The cockpit offered two major upgrade possibilities. First, the transom bench seating was only about five feet wide, this even though there was plenty of room to stretch it out further. It was as if the folks who did the design work for Legacy never contemplated a nap in the cockpit while at anchor in some secluded cove.
Anyway, Joe moved the fixed seat components, left and right, outboard a bit and built a new insert as a bridge between. The bench is now well over six feet, good for a nap, and provides seating for four instead of three. Stephanie found matching Sunbrella fabric and is building a new center cushion to complete the expanded seating.
Next, Joe conspired with his shop neighbor, Keith Gunther, owner of GPS Marine. Keith is a maestro with metal. The cockpit layout cried out for substantial handholds to aid in cockpit to dock transitions and when going forward. Keith designed, built, and installed two hefty vertical grab bars on the aft end of the pilot house.
Shelves and handholds! My cruise-experienced, co-pilot wife, Sue, is in heaven.
Keith’s work was not confined to functional beauty. He also worked on a leak in the stainless-steel raw water manifold (back to that internal beauty theme). After a thorough consideration of the repair needed and related engineering, Keith eventually decided to simply discard the manifold and reroute the raw water intakes directly to the twin seacocks. Sometimes, simplicity is best.
Meanwhile Joe was working on #beauty. His team was making the bright work bright. He was also making a new salon table. As Legacy designed the original salon table it was too low and asymmetrical for our tastes. The best execution in a symmetrical main salon, is a taller, height appropriate and symmetrical double drop leaf table.
Joe built a mockup out of plywood, and we got to try it out before he executed the newly built table. This kind of attention to detail is par for the course for Joe. But it probably also had to do with really making sure it was right, given the cost of the woods he had selected and the very fine finish he anticipated.
While Joe and Keith were having their fun, the canvas maker was advancing her plans. Stephanie visited the boat several times, making the trip from Kent Island to the South River to take and confirm measurements. She waited patiently for Keith to finish and install the handholds so she could work around them.
The canvas plan for the boat is what I call a “half a pup tent.” Those of you who served in the Boy Scouts, or camped as a kid, will best relate to this analogy. The canvas will slope from the cabin top to the transom. It will come with zippered-in sides that are essentially the tent flaps. The flaps will come in two flavors, full enclosure and screen. As an added bonus the main canvas, the aforementioned sloped piece, will double as a sun awning at anchor or the dock.
So where are we now? Almost done for this phase. Stephanie is scheduling the install in late March or early April, and Joe has some finish work and a few additional inner beauty jobs to complete.
So, now comes a serious public health crisis: Coronavirus. On March 23, Maryland Governor Hogan ordered the closure of non-essential business. His order, at that time, specifically left open marine maintenance operations. This left the individual owners and operators of those businesses to decide the best route for their customers and their employees, with public safety top of mind.
Subsequent to that order, on March 30, the Governor issued a stay-at-home order. Consistent with that order, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources ordered a halt to recreational boating.
The plan had been to have the boat delivered to Haven Harbour by April 20 for painting of the hull. Joe and Stephanie were on track to complete their work and, in fact, most of it is done. At deadline for this article, Haven Harbour had closed some operations but will maintain some maintenance operations, including the paint shop schedule. Joe and Stephanie are contemplating the completion of their tasks, particularly in light of the Governor’s most recent order.
As for Sue and me, we are doing our own public health sequestering and worrying about our kids and new grandchild. We are also planning cruises this summer, including a two-week cruise to New England in July. Will it go? Too optimistic?
By the time you read this the boat will either be in the paint shop at Haven Harbour or waiting patiently for better public health news so she can move along. Stay tuned!
By Mike Pitchford