As the 2010 boating season nears the half way point, work on the Manana is reaching the finishing stages. Most of the hardware and railing have been replaced, final wiring in the cabin is being done, and finish work for overhead trim for the window blinds is close to being completed. New set of cabin doors have been made and waiting to be installed. A new forward hatch has been built of wood and smoked glass and the new sole or cabin floor has been are cut and fitted and will be installed as on of the last steps along with the new overhead or ceiling material. With the all new cushions and throw pillows, at few extra pieces of special trim and the new cabin lighting, this First Class Yacht will be hard to match.
The concern for excellent custom detail is now starting to show itself as it all comes together as the final product. I expect we will hit the water by the end of July, which makes it a little over two and a half years of ripping it down to almost bare hull and starting all over again, well making the boat better than it ever was, even when it was brand new in 1965.
What is really great about rebuilding this Hull #2 classic boat, is that it is not changed from how it could have looked when it was first built. I'll agree it was not finished off like it is now, but it could have been. The Seafarer Yacht Company in Long Island, NY made each boat as to the customers wishes. You could even buy it as a bare hull and finish it yourself. When you ordered one of these boats, you met with the builders and picked out how you wanted the cabin laid out, choose the materials you wanted used. The type of sail rig you wanted and even the colors you liked for the hull.
Manana, when first built, was ordered with a Robin's egg blue color added to the resin of the hull and the deck and cabin exterior where white. The inside surface of the hull was mostly covered with glued on blue shag carpet and the large clear glass in the windows made it an oven on sunny days. So now, as our order, which could also have been made right from the start at the factory, we choose just about everything different and even turned the two aft quarter berths into couches, still able to be used as berths. The basic cabin layout design worked well for us and we just had to work around it to improve it. Seeing some old photos of other Seafarers this same size, we have not spotted any with this same layout, mostly the reverse was the standard with the galley and the dinning area switched to the other side. We have also only been able to find one other one with the much higher main cabin top with these much larger windows. Most others were only half the window height.
We choose much different hull and topside colors and believe we have gained a much richer look. Maybe a bit more modern than the time but the Burgundy hull, Sand topsides and Gold waterline and trim, just seemed to work so well with the smoked glass and the wood trim. If it does not sink when we put it in the water, it should be a Queen of the Bay, at least in our mind anyway.
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