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I bought an abandoned Kelt 760 in April, 2010. It had stood in its cradle in a Toronto area sailing club for 2 years during which time it had been burglarized and left open. As a result it was occupied by a family of raccoons. Needless to say the destruction and the stench were overwhelming. The overall health of the hull,copit,and deck encouraged me to make an offer to purchase the boat.
Job #1 was to evict the occupants. Wearing a ventilator to avoid the smell, and rubber boots and gloves to avoid the coon shit,a friend and I examined the interior but could find no sign of life. My friend grabbed the boat hook and started to poke around in the empty inboard engine compartment. I was standing in the cockpit and heard him shout that he had a bite! A sound behind me made me turn around to see a small black hand sticking out under the starboard locker hatch. Suddenly the hatch exploded open and a verylarge female coon leapt into the cockpit snarling and baring her teeth at me. I was between her and the companionway which was where she sweemed to want to be. However, after sizing up the situation, she turned and disappeared into the outboard motor well and shot through the very small gap between the motor shaft and the sides of the opening in the floor of the well. How a creature that big could go through a space that small I do no know. That was enough for one day so we locked up the boat and the hatches so that she could not get back inside and left. Two days later I returned and spent a couple of hours cleaning up the chewed-up foam rubber that was strewn around the cabin and the v-berth As I was leaving I saw a movement in the hanging locker behind the head. A little furry head emerged from under a floating cushion. I held the little guy off with the boat hook and removed the cushion to find three more of the beggers under there.I tried to interest them in getting out of the cabin by trying to herd them towards the door with the hook but all I accomplished was to get them good and angry. They obviously took after their mother. I had no choice but to leave them in there thinking that without the mother being able to get in and feed them that they would starve to death. It wasn't a happy thought but I was prepared to benefit from situation.
When I returned two weeks later with my friend, we were surprised that the kittens were not dead in their nest. We could not see them anywhere. We had come armed with a metal mesh bait net and a wooden pole with a noose on the end of it to remove the decomposing bodies to no avail.
Our next job was to remove the damaged and soiled upholstery and anything else that was in the line of fire when the raccoons relieved themselves.
That meant nearly everything. It got to the point where I was throwing out 100ft long extension cords,ropes,cutlery,plates,foldingchairs,tools,flashlights,flares, you name it, just because I could not face cleaning off the really disgusting coon doo doo. Add to that the valuable stuff that the thieves had made off with and very little of use was left in the boat.
Shortly after my friend crawled into the v-berth I heard him shout,"I found them!" The kittens were all curled up in the point of the berth behind the ceiling and wall fabric that had been torn down forming a curtain which had hidden them. Being a farm boy in his youth gave him some expertise in this sort of thing and he called for the metal mesh net. I could not see past the bulk of his body as he went to work but I could hear all manner of hissing, snarling, and snapping going on. Then I saw the net appear above him and disappear out of the fore-hatch. After a vigorous shakinf of the net I heard a soft whump outside the boat. I got into the cockpit as the net dropped back down through the hatch and saw on the gravel below a kitten lying motionless. Oh dear. However, in a few moments, it moved slightly and then scuttled into the trees where doubtless his mother was waiting. I watched as three more of them came up through the hatch, hanging on for dear life to be shaken off and launched over the side of the boat and land on the ground 12 ft down. It made me think of Monty Python and the Holy Grail ! They all survived and to be nuisances to somebody else very shortly.
I washed the entire interior with Murphy's Oil Soap which did a great job of removing the excrement but after two applications the smell was as strong as ever.
I then used diluted ammonia, nope! bleach, nope! vinegar,nope! extra strength vinegar,nope! borax,nope! Each of these I left diluted in the bilge for periods upto a month in length. After three months the smell was still there, perhaps not as strong, but not what you could possibly stand to be in for more than a few minutes.
Then, by pure chance, I went to the home of someone who had a very nice Honda 9.9 for sale that I ultimately bought to replace the very tired Mercury that was on the boat. His neighbour was in the business of cleanig houses that had suffered smoke damage, mould problems,critters, and all manner of things that
cause nasty odours. He recommended something called "Benefect". It is a anti-bacterial dissinfectant made entirely from thyme. Non-toxic, natural, easy to use and death on bacteria, even to the extent that microbes cannot build up an immunity to it. I washed the interior twice and I made sure that the bottom edges of the bulkheads got a good soaking. The smell ? Gone, and the boat smelled like
spaghetti sauce. That smell has now faded away also.
I have removed all the woodwork except for the v-berth and companionway bulkheads. It has been sanded down and re-varnished with 4 coats of Woodlox satin finish varnish and re-installed. The interior now smells like a new boat.
Now I come to the real reason for writing in. I need to replace the stuff that was stolen and could use some help. I need the measurements of the following items. The #1 jib, the #3 jib, the mainsail, and the spreaders, I also want to know how the boom is attached to the heavy aluminum hook on the mast which I assume is involved in that function.
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Re: Kelt Owner Association (Comment or Suggestion) (Various - Pot-Pourri) Posted by: Yves JULIEN (IP Logged)
Date: 01/23/2011 09:03PM
edward tait Wrote:
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Now I come to the real reason for writing in.
> I need to replace the stuff that was stolen and
> could use some help. I need the measurements of
> the following items. The #1 jib, the #3 jib, the
> mainsail, and the spreaders, I also want to know
> how the boom is attached to the heavy aluminum
> hook on the mast which I assume is involved in
> that function.
What an adventure you had there ...
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