jUST PURCSED A 1969 26 FT cOLUBMIA AND HAVE LOTS OF QUESTOPMS. It is not in the greatest shape and would
appreciate any advice...It had no motor and no tille
was owned by wo military guys who only used it was a
live aboard..I got a 8 hp honda motor and had the
boattom cleaned twice by diver, waiting my turm to
get tthe bottom painted (hopefully no hot spots..
Got the running rigging tuned and getting ready to
paint the topdide (assume gel coat),,,it has three
bilge pumps one in the back in the cockpit, a manual
one in the galley entrance, and one up forward by
the T berth..No cushions, curtains,and battery.
Does the battery reside under the rearmost seat?
It also had no motor, no battery (on shore power)
It also has a motor mount ont he port side and I got
a HP Honda..Question is all the gas tanks and
such were on the stbd side..Should i run the
gas tanks from the port side and drill a small hole
in the back of the cockpit to run the gas hose
through to keep it out of the way??Has the topside
rigging tuned and sails are in good shape..
Just needs a lot of cosmetic work on the outside
and seat cushions and curtains...

Are there any owners manuals available for this boat?
Where is the sink holding tank for water ane how do
you fill it up??

Amu helpful suggestins on this boat )pros and cons)
have owned a 22 ft catalina and 27 ft columbia///

thanks in advace
James

That makes two of us! I just purchased a 1976 Columbia Mk2 as well; I'm also in the market for any documentation on this class of vessel. My prior experience in sailing is on 14's, so needless to say this is a big adjustment.

Best regards,

Paul Worthington
paul_w_5150@hotmail.com
Columbia 26 Mk2 "Balance"

I am looking at a 26 footer (mid sixties model) right now. how do you guys get your boats moved around, or are they all already in the water. I need to buy a trailer to move the boat home to work on it and then to the water again.

James,

I have done a lot of what you speak in the last year. I have mounted 2 each 6 gallon fuel tanks in the starboard seat locker aft. There is a wood shelf in my boat to hold these two tanks. The fuel hoses are fead through a hole drilled in the front edge of the seat locker lid. I reworked the fuel hoses on each tank to make them long enough to reach the motor which I mounted on the transome. I bought a 15 hp. Johnson which is too big to fit the motor well. Since the rudder sticks out approximately 16" beyond the transome I first made a plate aluminum box through bolted to a large backing plate on the inside of the transome. I then mounted a commercial motor mount from West Marine so I can rase and lower the motor. I plan to glass up the old motor well and make a drink box out of it. This gets the motor out of the cockpit and I can raise and tilt the motor all the way out of the water while sailing. Helps performance big time.

I also resently made all new cushions for the boat. It came with the originals and they were shot. I went to my local fabric shop and bought the foam. 4" for the v-birth and 3" for the main solan. My wife and Mother-In-Law then covered them with a nice marine print cotton fabric I found at another local fabric store. It was a lot of work but these boats are cheap and I didn't want to spend the money for the profesional shop.

I find it odd that you have 3 bilge pumps. I have one manual pump in the seat locker. My boat leaked through the deck fittings everywhere. I have replaced the windows entirely with 1/4" Lexan, rebuilt the forward hatch, replaced the head and head skylight, rebeded the Geny tracks and installed a new compass. I am presently rebedding the life stanchions and bow pupit. Everytime I reseal something the boat gets dryer. When the deck is tight the bilge should be bone dry. I have found that Dow Corning 795 proffesional silcone glazing (caulking) is most effective for re-sealing deck fittings and especialy the Lexan windows. It has a 50% elastisity so as things move on the boat at differnt rates do to temps or movement the caulking does not brack loose.

When I replaced the windows I used a dark smoked Lexan which elemimated the need for cutains so I took them out. I plan to fill the screw holes and eventually paint the interior of the boat. I have a lot of stains on the fiberglass liner.

Under the aft dinette seat is a molded box for the battery. I have a larger battery than that box will fit so it is mounted next to this molded box under the aft dinette seat. I use a rope to tie it in place and use the orignal battery box to hold my battery charger.

There is an owners manual available on this web site under LINKS. I printed it out today and put it in a 3 ring binder to keep on the boat.

The potable water tank is under the forward dinette seat. There is a fill port located there. Thread it open and fill with a hose. There is no deck mounted fill port. My water tank had been busted and poorly repaired so I cut it out and installled a new blatter type water tank as well as a new hose to the sink and new hand pump. I plan to add two more water tanks under the v-birth later. At the time that these boats were built they were not equipped with holding tanks for the head. I plan to do some extended sailing on this boat so I will have to add a holding tank for the head. For just day sailing I wouldn't bother.

My deck had been repainted when I bought the boat so it looks ok. The hull is orignal gelcoat and needs to be repainted. Lots of stains. I'll try buffing it out when the bottom job gets done but I'm not hopeful. There is one thing that I found can help clean the hull and deck. Home Depot and Lowes sells a soap called JoMax. It is designed to clean houses. You mix one quart of JoMax, 3 quarts of bleach and 4 gallons of water in a 5 gallon bucket. Use a yard sprayer to squirt this mixture on the boat and let it sit for 5 minutes then rinse with a lot of water. Be sure to ware deck shoes as the deck gets extreamly slick with this mixture on it. It will remove all dirt, slime, mildew, etc. Very effective and not a lot of labor.

These are really cool little boats and sail very nicely. Please fell free to contact me with any other questions you may have. Good sailing.

Clifford

Hi Clifford,
You seem to have a good working knowledge. My brother just purchased a '72 mk2 26' and I am trying to help him with a spare motor.
We have a 9.9 sears at this time, but want something similar to keep handy for S.F. Bay and delta use.
What I can't seem to find is what the minimun shaft length requirements are for the motor well.
Any idea or suggestions?
Thanks for your time.
R.J.