Greg & Angie Wheeler's Blog (14)

We listed Leprechaun (Hull 70) on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace on Saturday afternoon and she sold Monday morning for a full price offer! Thank you Jesus! It was all Him. We had 14 interested people checking out the boat, when I arrived down there Monday, there were 2 people, both wanting to buy her!

The new owner had never been on anything larger than a dinghy and paid me cash and right afterwards left the dock just him and his dog to take her south from Morro Bay, to LA harbor…

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Leprechaun is finally emptied out of all our gear, the waterline raised 6"! Here is a link to the craigslist ad, if anyone has an interest:

https://slo.craigslist.org/boa/d/morro-bay-newporter-40-ketch-yanmar/7782735103.html

I thought the Yanmar was leaking oil, and I was mistaken, it doesn't appear to be, it was low on oil when I took it over from my son, but the oil is full…

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My son Joshua, passed Leprechaun on to us, he has 2 young kids that keep him too busy to maintain her. We will be selling our current Newporter "Grace".

Joshua offered Leprechaun to us and she is so much further along than Grace that we couldn't say no. She has a much newer Yanmar diesel, aluminum masts, nice sails, the hull and house have been completely re-glassed over, all new electric........

The story with the boat is that back in the early 2000's she was inherited along…

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Just an update on our progress, we have purchased new/used aluminum masts that we have had painted (white) and now we are in the process of getting the heat exchanger replaced. I have done my best to find a marine mobil mechanic for over a year to work on the old Osco 172 diesel ,we finally have someone that is a boat delivery captain/rigger/diesel mechanic, and just came back from a delivery and I am really trying to get all I can get done, before he leaves again. We live in a fairly remote…

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Just an FYI for anyone looking, a 1956 Newporter was just put up for sale on craigslist in San Francisco for $3,800 obo as expected it looks pretty rough but it has a rebuilt mast and 3 year old sails and a newer 50hp Perkins check it out http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/boa/5358708097.html I would be many $$ ahead to buy it to scrap it out for the sails, masts and engine, all items I'm going to need to replace. I just don't know… Continue

I just saw on Yachtworld that hull 47 Jim Sherk's old "Proof" is for sale in San Diego for $34,800 with a new name "Braveheart" http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1957/Newporter-Ketch-2794785/San-Diego/CA/United-States#.VIX2tb4-Ay4 In case anyone is looking for a Newporter I know Bo was looking for his 3rd Newporter. 

I am missing all the engine gauges, does anyone know what Tachometer will work for the original Ford Lehman? The engine is also needing a new heat exchanger and possibly a new starter. When I purchased the boat the engine was running well now I can't get it to start up, it doesn't seem to have enough power in the starter to get it going, it turns over but not very fast. My first thought was that I needed a better battery as the one that came with the boat was just a car battery. I have since…

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We just bought a new wheel, the old one was in very poor shape. When we removed the old wheel we came to find out it was missing the nut, it was held in place with corrosion, it was so corroded in place that I had a heck of a time even removing the old wheel, I thought I was going to need a gear puller but after much persuading I managed to remove the old wheel. Anyway now that I have the new wheel on I really need to locate a nut to hold it on. It is a 3/4" shaft and I am no machinist but to… Continue

My Newporter currently is missing the cockpit benches and I am thinking of making the starboard bench into an L-shaped bench. I measured and I have 40" from the cockpit coaming to 2" short of the mizzen mast and then I can go aft along the cockpit coaming aprox. 60" which I think would work. The port side bench is going to have to be aprox. 16" wide by 60" long, 16" is all the space I have between the coaming and the door. It's just a thought at this point but I need to figure out what I am…

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I just finished painting the brightwork trim, and now my next project is painting the hull. All of the rub rails had been removed by the previous owner and what is left is a line of screw holes where the rails were, rather than bother with a new rub rail I am thinking of just filling in the holes and just painting that area, I plan on repainting the stripe and I will just paint over the area that the rub rails were.  From what I can see they don't offer any protection, the point of impact if…

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I am in the process of restoring hull #40 which is in such a state that I am starting from scratch on much of the interior. I was thinking of possibly stealing some room from the pilot house so as to give the head a little more space. What I am contemplating is pushing out the aft wall of the head and stealing about 18" into the pilothouse and in that space I would install a recessed sink into a small cabinet with a mirror above. Then I could possibly get a faucet that has a long shower hose…

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