And so begins the rebirth of the Leprechaun

[Fritz]

Well its been a long process getting the Leprechaun from Jarrett Bay to Crown Marine in VA. After a good look at her a couple of weeks ago in Jarrett Bay's yard, it became clear she was not ready to run on her own bottom. Mind you, this was the first time I saw the boat for more than 10 minutes in the past 28 years. So off comes the half tower and on the truck it goes to Bubby Crown. Bubby's yard is a bit closer to home than the Carolina yards givng easier access to work on the boat and since I had previousy met Bubby, it made my decision that much easier. Trucking it all the way home to NJ was not an option without cutting the Rybovich bridge off. Well Sunday was the first day of work that begins the process and here is how it went: First- Arrival at Crown Marine 8:05 AM Sunday and start taking anything off anything that is in the way. Second- 8:20 AM Bubby shows up and proceeds to jump right in helping me pull all the batteries and stick the three tanks to check fuel levels after which Bubby moves onto his own projects or so I thought. Next I start breaking the engines loose to be pulled from the boat and about an hour later the owner of the marina next to Bubby's shed shows up with a 50 gallon drum and a siphon to empty the tanks. Thanks Bubby, this is great!. {The boat always had gas engines because grandmom got sick on diesel fumes, but she will be diesel now as she should be} So the owner of the marina and myself proceed to pump the tanks. Bubby one question though- How could you put that nasty rusty looking sheet in your van's tank? LOL. I think the van was bucking a little coming back from lunch now that I think about it. Anyway its gets near lunch time and I have one engine ready to pull and the second near ready. After lunch Bubby asks if I am ready and within a few minutes the owner of the marina shows up with the cherry picker. Into the salon comes the boom and out comes the starboard motor-well almost. I thought the motor would fit out the door with only one exhaust manifold removed, but hanging from the boom we realized the other manifold had to come off. Anyway we get lucky with the bolts and we have the other manifold off withing a few minutes. OK then out the door and onto a pallet. Finish a few things on the starboard motor, clean up, and call it a day around 4:00 PM. So here is a recap- Remove loose gear, remove batteries, pump three tanks, remove one engine, ready one engine for removal, and clean up. Not bad for a first day's work and the progress makes me feel a whole better. I know Bubby has a lot of pics to past throughout the process, but the real work won't begin until after the holidays.

One more thing- Thanks Bob & Bubby for making it fun.

[clt_capt]

Thanks for the update. She will be a work of art when complete. Please keep the updates coming.

It sounds like a great project - even more special due to the history you have.

[Robja]

Thanks for the update Fritz. Are you going to post pics of the rework?

[Fritz]

Thanks for the update Fritz. Are you going to post pics of the rework?

That's the plan. Bubby has some from Sunday that I will post as soon as he forwards them or he might post them himself. Thanks for asking.

[SNAKE EYES SPORTFISHING]

fritz, here i thought you were already married, now you married a boat...best of luck...dave

[dunn6253]

Looking forward to reading more about your project, be sure to take plenty of pics along the way. Good luck with her.

[Gillagorilla]

I remember reading your post about being able to buy this boat back into the family and it was great.

Really looking forward to the progress photos and recaps along with the final out come, which I'm sure that it will be top notch.

Good luck

Also what part of VA is this boat yard at? Might be able to stop by one day for a first hand look if you don't mind.

[Captain Jay Kavanagh]

Bubby is the man.

Says so on his surf board.

[bigfish4me]

Great to hear you started bringing her back to life, its a labor of love....cant wait to see the pics of the progress.

[Fritz]

Bubby's wife has some pics and I expect she will be posting them over the next day or so. More to be done over the holidays, but the real work won't begin till after the New Year.