Coronado 15 Project

We took a trip to the Florida Keys earlier this year to see if we enjoyed sailing. Turns out, we loved it. When we got home, we really wanted to buy our own little boat that we could practice on. Sailing is one of those things that you really do need to practice to get good (and comfortable).

You may ask yourself, how can we sail in Colorado? Where is the water? We learned that Colorado actually has one of the largest sailing communities in the country. There are a lot of large lakes that are sailing-accessible, and quite beautiful, you know with the mountain range interspersed between rolling hills and big beautiful trees.

We bought a Coronado 15, which is a racing sailboat. We got it from a family-man who wanted to upgrade to a larger boat to fit his family. Plus, this little guy was a bit too much for him to handle solo. Because it is a racing boat, it is self-ballasted. That means that the weight of the people in the boat are what keep the boat from tipping over (as opposed to a heavy hull or keel/centerboard to do that). Its great for racing though, because it forces the people in the boat to not only understand the physics of sailing/wind power, but it is also quite adventurous if you are travelling in any kind of medium-to-heavy wind.

This was the original boat:

…and it was perfectly satisfactory to operate as-is. Jake and I wanted to take it a step further, however, because we really wanted to understand all the pieces and parts that make a boat work…all the lines, metal pieces and fittings, pins, screws, etc. have different names, and very important functions. We thought that if we could take the boat apart, make it “prettier” and then put it back together, we would shorten the learning curve, and we sure did!

The refit took us about 3 months in total, and we basically took out everything; refinished & painted the bottom and topside decks and hull; added teak trim (wood) around the outer perimeter of the boat; refinished the wooden pieces (rudder, mast-partner) and gave the boat a new name, “Bosco” (after our dearly beloved dog who passed away 2 years ago). The process was a lot harder than we thought it would be, and a lot messier too. Our 2-car-garage in Louisville served the perfect location to do all the work. It was coated in yellow dust for several months, but in the end, the final product was a beautiful masterpiece, and now dubbed “Bosco”.

Here’s a gallery of images of the refit to enjoy!