Hoot Mon's 1st refit/ cleaning

On January 27-31, 2010 - John and Mark spent our first night on Hoot Mon after arriving late the evening of Wednesday, January 27th. Their task the next day was to unload from Hoot Mon the equipment and supplies that had accumulated over the years. It turned into more than 8 dock carts full and filled the entire bed of the pick up and most of the crew cab rear seat. It was hard for them to stay focused on the task and not stop to ponder what stories were behind many of the items. On Friday (29th), John, Mark, Pete & Peter Roach (Sailing with Grace) helped move Hoot Mon to Mandarin Holiday Marina in Julington Creek on the St Johns River. They timed the move with high tide but still did quite a bit of river mud ploughing and even bumped a good one on a sand bar on the way into the marina. Hoot Mon's 6'6" draft will be a challenge. On January 30, 2010, Widget arrived from her adapted physical education teachers' conference on Jekyll Island and started cleaning the boat. As you can see in the photos it cleans up well. We'll finish the cleaning next time we travel to Hoot Mon. John and Mark began plumbing the sinks and showers into a new sump box that will be located in the bilge. They will also be installing the holding tanks that Hoot Mon had existed without for 31 years. Up to this point, the head sinks had drained into the toilets. This was okay since the heads drained straight over board and not into a holding tank. With installation of holding tanks, the sinks needed to be re-plumbed away from the heads or we would be filling the holding tanks unnecessarily. Even though the re-plumbing task is a task, CSY's present a reasonable space between the cabin sole and the hull in which to work. The galley sink was already plumbed to drain through the hull and we'll use that through-hull for the grey water coming out of the sump box. Saturday (30th) and Sunday (31th) were cold and blustery. Getting dock lines and fenders adjusted took priority over inside projects. Tough weather for boat projects. Physically we headed back to Atlanta but our heads and hearts remained in Jacksonville.

January 25, 2010 Hoot Mon sale complete

We are the 2nd owners. We have decided to keep the name Hoot Mon in honor of its former owner, Phylis Fleming, age 87, from Jacksonville. As soon as I meet with Phylis, I will be posting the history on the boat with some photos.

On January 25, 2010....we became a CSY boat owner!

Survey of Hoot Mon

More photos
On January 9, 2010 John, Widget and Mark(2nd son) went down to Jacksonville, Florida to have the CSY surveyed. Gary Frankovich performed the survey of Hoot Mon for us. He had survey Magic, our Creekmore 36, 4 years earlier. The boat checked out; a sound hull with no blisters and a well kept Perkins 4-236 diesel, the two aspects with which we were most concerned. We took Hoot Mon out on the water with a temperature of 30 degrees and a wind chill of 10 degrees. There were NO other boats out on the water. I wonder why! The survey took 6 hours and the report we got was very positive, very few issues with the boat. The motor started right up, depth finder worked, and the sails were in good condition. The only obvious issues we could see with the boat were that the infamous CSY chainplates will need to be replaced and that it was bare. We will need to add stuff to the boat for long distance cruising.

2nd time seeing her-December 30

More photos On December 30, 2009, John, Mark and Widget (wife) went to Jacksonville, Florida to see Hoot Mon. We spent at least two hours inspecting her again. About the only thing different that was found was some water damage to the floor under the sink. That could be repaired. The motor started up first time. Every thing seemed to work on the boat. The boat inside just needed to be cleaned. Peter from the CSY forum (sailing with Grace) from Jacksonville met us and helped look over the boat. He felt that the boat seemed to have been well maintained. The only problems he concluded were that nothing was on the boat; no holding tanks, refrig doesn't work, no ac, it is just bare! There was also the classic CSY issue of the chainplates needing to be replaced. We went home to think about it! On Monday, January 4th, we placed a formal offer to buy Hoot Mon!

1st time, seeing her** November 27

More photos
For the last 4 years our boat has been a 1960 Creekmore 36, named "Magic", located on Lake Lanier in Georgia. All the projects on Magic were done and the Lake was getting boring to John. John started looking at sailboats again. We had looked at the CSY's two years ago. Everything about the CSY's was right from the solid fiberglass hull, the shower (Widget wanted), solid color panels, to the Perkins motor. In November 2009, John started looking around on Yachtworld and other sites and found Hoot Mon. She had only been listed for a couple of months. John not only called that broker but other brokers of other CSY's and I started posting on the CSY owners forum.
Our family (Bennett clan) was at Jekyll Island for Thanksgiving, so John, Mark(2nd son) and Nick(1st son) drove an hour to Jacksonville, Florida, on November 30, 2009 to see her. John called me and said, "This is the boat". The boat looked great and seemed in good condition. The only issue was that Phyllis Fleming, age 87 (1st owner), had never updated or added anything extra to the boat. It had no holding tanks, shore power, or airconditioning. In other words, it was a true, off-shore, cruising sailboat. John and Mark could do all the refits for the boat. Phyllis did maintain the important aspects of the boat, hull and motor, which was important to us. John, Mark and Nick spent at least three hours with Alan Both (Broker) looking at that Hoot Mon. The next thing was wife, Widget, seeing her.