Mistress -82 restoration
 

Last evening I received some SMS messages from Ragman saying that he thought I should post a thread about my restoration of a Cigarette 35 Mistress -82 which has been going on for a couple of years as my hobby, so here we go.

The start of it all was when I saw an ad putting the boat up for sale. I called the seller the same evening the ad went out and talked for quite some time about the boat but I wasn't sure about the deal so I said I would get back to him the next day. So I slept on it and decided to go for it, but before calling the seller I tried to look at the ad again but it was gone. Anyway I called him and said I wanted to buy the boat and asked why the ad had disappeared after only one day and his explanation was that after talking to me about the boat he had realised he didn't really want to sell it anymore so if I didn't buy it he would keep it.

I don't really know the history of the boat but it was located in Spain for at least 10 years before the guy I bought it from took it to Sweden. Finding some old papers in the boat from the early 90's it appears it was located in France at that time, but before that I have no clue about the history.

So here are some of the pictures I got from the seller showing what it looked like at the time of the deal.

And after some time when I had got the transportation arranged I got the boat "home" and here are some pics showing the boat at that time. The plan from the start was to quickly get the hull repainted and put engines in and then have some fun, but the plans have somewhat changed along the way...

And here are some pics taken by Ragman. I really love the hull lines but the paint job and design are not really to my liking.

Keep the pics coming :)

If you don't stop me you will get a lot of posts and photos since I have thousands of them showing the different parts of the restoration work in detail.

But here I really want to know the function of this detail. So far nobody has been able to give me an answer to the purpose of it. (Once I get an explanation I guess it will be quite obvious.)

The boat had been standing outside, but under roof in Spain without being used for at least five years before it was brought to Sweden, and if you look at the following pictures from the inside you realise just how much the outside had suffered from that treatment. The pads that had been stored inside the boat were still crystal white compared to the slightly grey/brown hue on the pads that had been left outside. Partly the miscoloration outside had been caused by sand that had blown in from the Sahara desert to the south of Spain.

Post away! These threads are what makes the site great!

Peal,
Thanks for shareing your restoration pics!
The photos in post 5 are what is known as a "Hause Pipe"-it is for anchor line. The fitting comes out when anchoring, when not in use, the weight of the chain holds the fitting down. Not many performance boats have this now-but very common on cruisers/sailboats.
Keep the pics coming!!
Bob

The plan with the project has from the start been to restore her to what she might have looked like when when leaving the factory, but without the restrictions of restoring her to original. Engines was not decided upon when the project started. I knew there had been 400 Cyclones installed, but I wasn't prepared to try to find that so I kept my eyes open for what might turn up. Also I knew the instruments didn't work so I had to find new ones, but I wanted the new ones to look like they could have been installed in 1982 and so on... But I still wanted to keep as many of the original parts as possible if they could be restored without spending too much time or money.

After some meetings and long discussions with the guys who would do the repaint I realized I had to raise the bar considerably compared to my original plan to get the job done quickly. Anyway it was decided that I would strip the boat of equipment myself and then they would take over after that and start the repaint. Here are some pictures from the first day when I started the job of removing equipment. Some of the detail work I wasn't too impressed by. Look for example at the aluminium plates helping secure the cleats.

Thanks for the comments! Then I'll continue posting. Just let me know when you have had enough! :whistle:

Thanks a lot for the explanation and settling the issue. That has been one of my guesses but I have (apparently wrongly) discarded it as being too impractical since you would have to drag the anchor up on deck and fastening it to the chain every time you wanted to use it.

And in my previous post I among other parts removed the swim platform so let's look at what has happened with that. The teak was quite gray and boring, and there were some screwholes that needed plugging so here we go. First trying to get the wood color back.

Then the tools and the steps taken in plugging the no longer needed holes . (Isn't it somehow possible in this forum platform to add some pictures and then text and after that more pictures in one post?)

And finally some oil on the swim platform to get a nice finish. Yes, I know it's going to get slippery when wet and it won't be very practical, but it looks good.

And the parts holding the swim platform before and after.:)

I love the look of freshly oiled Teak. It should be too slippery if you keep it oiled. If you seal it with something, that's when it gets slick. The problem with leaving the Teak bare and oiling it is you will be cleaning and oiling it often... Very often.... I had a similar platform on an older Baja, I loved the look of bare teak with oil but after one weekend in the water it looked terrible and had to be cleaned and oiled again. The cleaners are very harsh so after a few cleanings the wood grain began to diminish... I was forced to seal it with a product called Sikins. While it looks decent, it lost some of its natural look and was slippery when wet. Good luck with the restore!!!

Thanks for the input. What I have used on the platform is Owatrol D1 followed by Owatrol D2 that is an oil varnish. This should give a quite durable surface that does not require cleaning too often. Or at least I hope so.

http://owatrolusa.com/index.php?lang...s-deks-olje-d2

The carpet in the cockpit wasn't looking too fresh.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517441[/ATTACH]

So out it goes!
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517442[/ATTACH]

And then I continued stripping the boat to make it ready for the paint job
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517443[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517444[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517445[/ATTACH]

Great work!!! Keep posting pictures!!!!

Thanks for the kind comment, but so far I'm just posting pics of pulling things apart. But in a couple of posts we're gonna start with the rebuilding process that I suppose will be more interesting. Here are some more pics of parts removal from the stern.
This wire looks like it needs to be replaced...
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517487[/ATTACH]

Trim tabs are taken off
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517488[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517489[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517490[/ATTACH]

Now it's starting to look a bit naked.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517491[/ATTACH]

And finally also the "slightly" corroded water pickups have been removed. Looks like I will have to buy new ones.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517492[/ATTACH]

And now for the deck.
Cleats are gone and the navigation light is about to come off.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517493[/ATTACH]

The rub rail is starting to be removed.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517494[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517495[/ATTACH]

The rub rail has been totally removed, and also the docking lights and the vents, and the grab rail is about to be removed.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517496[/ATTACH]

And now the deck is starting to look ready for going to the paintshop. Since the boat was standing outdoors the deck hatches were left in place until the boat was moved indoors
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517497[/ATTACH]

And then the last thing to go was the windscreen. In order to be able to remove it I had to start disassembling the interior to be able te reach the nuts and bolts holding it.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517498[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517499[/ATTACH]

But after that it was a pretty straight-forward job with the starboard side.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517500[/ATTACH]

But the port side was more difficult. Here one of the bolts holding the windscreen was placed in such a way that I would have had to remove a major part of the interior to be able to access the nut on the inside so I decided to saw that bolt off. When fitting the windscreen again it will be enough to move the bolt about 1" forward to make it easily accessible from the inside without having to remove anything at all.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517501[/ATTACH]

So it took some time of thinking, but once the decision to saw the bolt off was taken the rest was easy.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517502[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517503[/ATTACH]

And now we were ready for the paintshop.:)

And here we go, my first ride in the boat.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517516[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517521[/ATTACH]

It's been a long time since she was this close to water, but we're not going in today
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517523[/ATTACH]

Instead we head for the paint shop.:)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517525[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517526[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517527[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517528[/ATTACH]

And a photo by Ragman from the move.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517529[/ATTACH]

If you wonder why the instruments and some grab rails are still mounted that is because the plan at this point was to only repaint the deck and sides of the hull. However that plan changed a bit later on.

Nice Resto!

Great work! Keep the pictures coming.

looks like a sweet base for a build! i like how the cockpit looks farther forward than the modern boats

Thanks for the kind words, and pictures will keep coming!

Yes, it was a nice base for restoring since not a lot of changes or modifications had been made to the boat, except for the paint job that had been done.
However once the hull was in the paint box I could lean back and relax and let the professionals work. The first thing was to do some glass work and fill the holes where the docking lights and the ventilation in the front had been installed. No docking lights will be installed, and regarding the ventilation I will have to solve that issue in some other way because the old solution didn't look good at all.
Some pics of the glass work.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517622[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517623[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517624[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517625[/ATTACH]

And after that the sanding work started. This period of time was a nervous one. Because the hull had been repainted there could be damages and old repairs or other surprises hidden below the paint. But the hull was in good shape and no surprises appeared.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517626[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517627[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517628[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517629[/ATTACH]

And during the time the hull sides got sanded suddenly the transom was fixed with the first layer of primer.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517630[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517631[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517632[/ATTACH]

Its really nice that you have taken this many pictures Peali :)

But one day then phone call I had been fearing came with the message that a crack had been found beneath the paint.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517635[/ATTACH]

But fortunately enough it wasn't too big or serious so it wasn't too bad to fix.
Old screw-holes from the rubrail were filled.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517636[/ATTACH]

After that there was more sanding, and primer, and sanding, and primer, and sanding...
Some unsorted pictures from that process
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517637[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517638[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517639[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517640[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517641[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517642[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517643[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517644[/ATTACH]

And primer and sanding continued.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517645[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517646[/ATTACH]

But finally one day the transom had changed color and was black. (And was sanded...)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517647[/ATTACH]

And the paint guy declared he was finally satisfied with the primer.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517648[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517649[/ATTACH]

After that some clear coat was applied to the transom, and the hull was moved to another hall to let the primer cure for a couple of months.
Finally I was able to get some photos or the entire hull and to see the hull lines without any stripes.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517650[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517651[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517653[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517654[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517655[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517656[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517657[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517658[/ATTACH]

Now I think that's enough photos and updates for today.

Looking Good Pear. Redoing a 85 mistress now hoping to splash this spring. Any plans for power yet?

Thanks Ragman, but this is only a selection, I have tons more.
(And I can't take full credit, because a couple of the pictures are actually taken by you.)

Thanks for the comment!
1985, that's without windscreen but with a straight wind deflector, or am I wrong?
I'm getting to the power in a few posts, but don't get you hopes up on something fancy, I went for a "economical" solution instead of a high-power one.

It has a aluminum fairing on it. Will post some pictures soon. Had a friend paint it that does bump work for a living and redoing some of his work. I gonna be married to this thing after all the bills add up but it's by choice I think. Built a pair of 598 dart blocks and imco scx drives on boxes. Brian41 is helping with rigging them and were raising the X. Hoping the old turd breaks 80.

love those tread!

Thanks for the comment, I hope I can keep your interest up!

If I recall correctly it was about this time in the project that the guy doing the paint job put on a serious face and looked at me and said: "I hope you're not thinking about putting the deck hatches back in the shape they are in."
I didn't really understand what he meant. A bit dirty perhaps?
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517728[/ATTACH]

But cleaning them didn't help much..
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517729[/ATTACH]

If I try to polish them then? OK better but it only made all the scratches visible.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517730[/ATTACH]

So it was time to get serious first wet-sanding with grit 800 - 1200 -2000 to get rid of the scratches and then rubbing and finally polish. So now at least the plexiglass looks OK,
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517731[/ATTACH]

But the frames looked quite awful too so the only solution was was sanding, primer and paint
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517732[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517733[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517734[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517735[/ATTACH]

Or for the smaller parts sandblasting and paint.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517736[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517737[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517738[/ATTACH]

And in the end I got the hatches back to the boat ready for installation.:)
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517739[/ATTACH]

The plan was to rechrome the ventilators for the engines.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517740[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]517741[/ATTACH]

But when I heard the pricetag for that work, which was about 5 times higher than buying new ones I changed my mind.
So here I will lose a bit of the original look, but I think these vents used for Bertrams will be an acceptable alternative and fit nicely.
[ATTACH=CONFIG]517742[/ATTACH]

(Now I feel like I'm getting into rather small details...)

That's ok. Looks good and even the smallest details are appreciated. ;)