Bagpipe is a Mariner 31, hull # 8, built in 1968 and registered in FL as a
1969. She was originally sold in Ft. Lauderdale and was kept in south FL. In
August 1976 she was purchased by Martin and Joan Leake of Coral Gables, FL.
They sailed her on Biscayne Bay, Florida keys and the Bahamas for 16 yrs.
Marty kept a record of mileage and to date has covered about 13,000nm. In
November 1979 the 4-107 was removed and completely rebuilt. An engine hour
meter was installed and now shows 600hrs. The usual problems occurred and
were attended by various yards as Marty wasn't a DIY sailor. He is an
accountant and when the estimate for replacement of the decks and house
repairs exceeded the market value of a restored boat the put her up for
sale.
 I saw the ad for a M31 in Miami in October 1993 and it fit the bill for a
small cruiser for two that I could refurbish prior to retirement. I liked
what I had read about the boat so I went to take a look. She was in very
poor condition.  I told Marty she wasn't worth the asking price and he replied,
"Make me an offer." I told him I was afraid if I did he'd take it and I
wasn't sure I wanted a project of that size. His next step was sell her for
salvage so I figured what it would be and he accepted. A week later I went
back to Miami and closed the deal and drove the boat up the ICW to my home
in Jacksonville.  She leaked like a sieve (decks), ran like a top and I fell in
love.
 A too full work schedule meant I would have to delay the work for a year so
I anchored her in the Ortega River just off the St. Johns River and left
her.
A visit once a month to recharge the battery was all the attention she got.
 In November 1994 I moved her to Sadler Pt Marina (a DIY yard) and hauled
her for refit. The first thing was to drill a 1" hole at the bottom of the bilge
so the rain water would drain. One or two weekends a month saw the rudder,
shaft, cutlass bearing, deck fittings and toe rails removed. I retired in July 1995 and work began 6 days a week. New deck, cabin sides, aft section of top and aft bulkhead were all installed. The aft bulkhead and main cockpit beam had been eaten by termites. All wood received two coats of WEST epoxy prior to installation. When removing hardware I discovered 5 of the 12 chainplates were rusted more than 50% so I cut all of them off and replaced them with external chainplates from Shaffer Marine. I added hatches in the salon and in the lazarette (2). Two layers of 10oz fiberglass cloth laid with WEST epoxy and two coats of epoxy to fill the grain in the cloth made her  watertight.   Interlux 417A/418B epoxy fairing compound and semi-gloss white nonskid paint finished the job. Reinstalled toerails with lots of gush from the 5200 and remaining deck hardware. Epoxy barrier coat on bottom (prior
sandblasting had pitted gelcoat) and new cutlass bearing were next. I fabricated new rudder bolts from 5/16" bronze rod and replaced rudder.  I built rubrails from 1x2 fir laminated to 2x2 in by 30ft. Tapered to 3/4" on the outside painted white along with hull and capped with 1" bronze strips.
The extra 1/4" makes a driprail so no streaks on hull from deck drainoff.
Hurricane Andrew had passed over the boat in Miami (anchored behind Key
Biscayne) with no damage but had sandblasted all the varnish from masts and
cockpit. The wood was black and ugly. I sanded everything down and laid 12
coats of varnish. Next was new sheaves for all-rope halyards, new blocks
aloft (Shaffer 506 series), new dyform standing rigging with Norsman
fittings (all 316ss) and Sta-set X running rigging. The Dyform wire allowed an
increase of 800lbs strength and change to 316ss without going up in size.
Somewhere in this time frame a new cabin sole was framed and installed. The
opening over the bilge was moved to stbd a couple of inches so a battery box
with 4 Trojan T105 6Volt golf cart batteries would fit under sole. An 8"
spacer holds the box up and allows water underneath. The entire galley was
replaced and stbd settee rebuilt. A new ice box w/6" of insulation all
around replaced the old one. It's smaller to be more efficient. Every piece of wire
in the boat had been removed so a new electrical system was built. Three
stage regulator, Anchor 14ga wire, Anchor fittings, brass halogen cabin
lamps, battery switch and expanded scale voltmeters. A wired in 2 bank
charger (3 stage) was added later. A rebuilt Delco 55amp alt and rebuilt
starter were installed. All nav lights were replaced with larger side markers.
 As long as this description is,  it took longer to do. She was 31/2years on
the hill. We relaunched in July 1998. I had already been living aboard for a
year. I felt a rebuild of this scope justified a new name and she became
"Bagpipe".
 A bagpipe is a twin reed (ketch rigged) instrument of a rather baggy
appearance (spinnaker, genoa, main, mizzen staysail, mizzen) which, when
filled with warm air, makes music. Thus her name.
 We (Bagpipe and I) are presently at Lamb's Yacht Center on the Ortega River
in Jacksonville.
Stop by and say hello!