We cleaned it up with broom, power-washer, eco-friendly soap and gallons of elbow grease, making it look much better and showing that for 10 years in the elements, it has held up quite well.
At various times in the past 10 years that I've waited to work in this boat, I've asked around about this model and whether there are folks in the area who are familiar with it. I never got much of a response and, at one point, it was suggested I sell it and buy a model that people use at local yacht clubs.
Just this past year, a few coincidences came together to make this project seem positively Providencial...
- The doctor at the clinic next door is a member of the same board I belong to, and we work on the same community garden. At a board meeting he asked if I would be continuing in the garden this summer and I answered that I would, but that I planned to restore a sailboat with much of my free time.
- Not only does the doctor sail, but he sails the same model - and has since offered to copy the owner's manual (something I do not have).
- The best blog online outlining a sailboat restoration is one about a Javelin. An older model, but still essentially the same.
- I have long tried to find a friend who would be willing to let me use their garage for this project - and I found one - a friend who has not only offered his garage, but his tools and his efforts - making this exponentially easier.
- The blog - which is not necessarily local - lists the address of a Javelin "guru," and he happens to live 3.5 miles from where I am working on the boat.
It simply strikes me as... almost too perfect.
But I'm at a place in my life where "too perfect" is a perfectly acceptable way to be.
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