Name of the boat

My Bailout. It should be simply understood that you can bail out a boat, and that the boat will be my bailout. (also a level on call of duty modern warfare 2)

Removal of Wood Trim

Today my father and I started to rejuvenate the wood located around the hatch. After taking it off by simply unscrewing the nuts on the inside of the boat, we realized that there were some rotted portions. We are now looking at either replacing all of the wood or just the bad parts. If we keep the old wood it could have a different color compared to the new. Either way we are stripping the wood and then we will see what we are working with. Until then we are drying the wood off. If we replace the wood we are looking at a nice oak wood.

PS: There is still a decent amount of ice inside of the bilge area. We have a space heater trying to thaw it out.

Bringing the boat home!

I spoke with the owner (very nice man), and as soon as I was done with all of my final exams I drove two hours which luckily was on the way home. I loved the boat even though there was some work needed (mainly interior), and after paying the wife the money, I attempted to put it on my Jeep that has a 5 inch lift. I sadly found out that the trailer is VERY low to the ground and it wasn't even close to reaching the hitch. Frustrated I went home. A few days later I went to Harbor Freight to see what they had in terms of drop hitches. The first attempt I had a 2 1/2 inch drop so I needed something heavy duty that could really lower the hitch down.

I found an adjustable drop hitch that lowered my hitch 11 inches (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=95991). This made the distance from the hitch to the ground 20 inches. I strongly encourage anyone that looks at a trailer sailboat that they measure the distance that the hitch can go before the back of the trailer hits the ground.

Any ideas for the boat's name?

Even with this drop I still bottomed out while leaving their property, entering and leaving Burger King, and pulling into my driveway. Check out how low to the ground the end of the trailer is.

Found a great cheap boat!

So I have been looking for a sailboat for some time now. I am a 20 year old Politics major with a limited budget but up for a challenge. Looking on craigslist, I found a 1973 MacGregor Venture 17. I was a bit skeptical about it only being 17 feet long but the price was right ($650) and it looked to be in salvageable condition. Check out the pictures from Craigslist: