1956 Collegian restoration

Good news, bad news, good news

I’m at a point where I’ll be happy to walk away from the boat for a while.  I’ve been hustling to get the boat stained and sealed because I knew I was going to have to abandon it for several months and wanted to get it sealed up and protected from moisture.  That goal has been achieved and I’m very happy with it.

Bad news,  my health problems have been consistent and nagging since last October including a week in the ICU recovering from a kidney infection.  My kidneys are failing and I am at stage 3b kidney failure.  Luckily I am scheduled for surgery on July 2nd that should rectify and possibly even reverse some of the damage.   Not looking forward to the 3 to 6 month recovery but I am thrilled to be getting this miserable part of my life behind me.  Unfortunately the procedure will have some lifetime physical limitations on me and I doubt I will ever ski aggressively again.  My love for boats and the water will not change so I’ll have to become a better driver and I’ll get back to work on the boat as soon as I can.

The other good news.  2 weeks from  now will  be the beginning of getting some normalcy back in our lives.  I am determined to be back kicking ass as hard as I can as soon as I can.  Until then you’ll have to get by with these last couple of progress photos.  Thanks for the support in my ever consuming passion. 

Sanded after the first four,  flattened out very nice and then put #5 down this morning.  Very happy right now, the blond color is really getting rich.

Engine has been sent off to the machine shop, hopefully get that back around the first of the year

Got the first coat of high gloss varnish on this morning and man is it looking good, until the dust settles into it anyway.  I’m going to put on a couple more coats and then move on to mechanical work and also start building the seat frames and flooring.  That will give the varnish a couple of months to harden and I’ll come back with a few finish coats in the spring .