I bought Pluto around 1986, right before I started working for Anchor Jensen at Jensen Motor Boat Co. in Seattle. The boat seemed in fairly good shape at the time, the exception, some decay in the lower frame ends where they socket into the keelson.
The boat was designed by Laurent Giles for single handed cruising around the estuaries and tidal flats dotting the coast of Great Britain. It was built in 1953 in Great Wakering, UK and fitted with a swing keel and port and starboard careening planks so it could lay on it’s side on the flats when the tide was out. I managed to crack the swing keel one day while tacking up the passage on the east side of the Gulf Islands in a spanking gusty breeze. The crack put a kink in the swing keel making it difficult to raise or lower, which was a nuisance.
Long story short, around 1993, my wife Cally and I decided to 86 the swing keel and instead, add 16 inches of draft via a new section of dead wood, turning Pluto into a full keel sailboat. The idea was it would track way better through the water, especially when sailing to windward, which we are happy to report, it does. Well… it is a wooden boat, and one thing leads to the next, so that project turned into replacing pretty much everything below the water line. 80 frames, all the floors (I tripled the number of floors) keelson, deadwood, forefoot, stem, stern post, lots of planks, the rudder, and all the little bits and pieces that tie it all together. Cally and I also gutted and re-built the interior so we could live aboard, which we did for roughly 3 years.
Most recently we replaced the old 11 HP Volvo Penta diesel with a new Yanmar 3YM30. This project included new engine beds, exhaust system, rebuilt fuel tanks and lines, electrical systems, and everything from the engine back to the prop. The mast and boom were rebuilt and the standing rigging was replaced about a year ago. The final touch (for now) is the new main sail built by Carol Hasse’s team right before the sail loft changed hands.
The refit and upkeep has been a long slow slog with way more time at the work bench than away from the dock, but luckily Pluto was sailed a lot when first bought, so we have that for inspiration. There were lots of solo trips through the islands as well as excursions with gobs of people on board (I remember 26 for the 4th of July fireworks on Lake Union one summer) Pluto still has lots of life ahead, and we plan to enjoy as much sea time as we can in the years ahead. There’s nothing like memories from life afloat.