Replacing the Deck and Cabin Sides

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Writing-up the adventure is, for some, half the fun of having it. But while the adventure can inconvenience only its small party of fully informed volunteers, publishing it begs the indulgence of a larger audience, some of whom may wish to know the itinerary before embarking on the voyage.

If it is not obvious how a Mariner restoration job could be considered an adventure in the usual sense, let me explain that this long article is as much a personal reminiscence—the story of one man’s trip to America and another’s hard-knocks education in a boat yard—as it is a technical report. Its length is due to the inclusion, on both fronts, of as many details as I can now recall, along with a generous number of photographs. Sadly, my camera was crap and often poorly aimed.

This rebuild plan was a crazy risk, inspired by desperation and ignorance in equal measure. The result, however, was entirely positive, and the process, one of the more rewarding experiences in memory.

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