Project, free

I like to think that my paintings are an extension of my ego. I think that the same applies to the boats that I have restored/refitted/resurrected.
I come very close to beaming with pride when total strangers walk up to admire the lines of my old Wauquiez. She will be 46 next March and I'd much rather be on her in a storm than on a modern AWB. But that that's just me! ;)
 
Ludd said:
Then again, there was this totally impractical project started by a fellow called Slocum---and look where THAT got him!
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Brilliant project, that nobody would touch now, as it was way past it's sell by date, It got him fame and a little fortune, well deserved! But it 'got him' run down by a packet boat on the way to the the carib.
 
DownWest said:
Brilliant project, that nobody would touch now, as it was way past it's sell by date, It got him fame and a little fortune, well deserved! But it 'got him' run down by a packet boat on the way to the the carib.
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How is the fact that it was a project boat relevant to its being "run down by a packet boat"? Is there a correlation between the two?
 
An interesting project for someone having the time, money and skills. I don't! But I agree it doesn't look in too bad shape considering it has been stripped back. . The easy but has been done. Many projects only get this far before the dreamer gives up, beaten by the sheer scale of the project. For every days work stripping out, there's a months actual work to make good,, they say.

There's three types of boat owner in my experience. First uses his boat to go to sea for whatever reason. Cruising, racing or just pottering. Second is really only interested in building/ restoring and maintaining his boat. He is quite likely only to take his latest completion out once or twice before selling up and starting again. The third never gets beyond the clubhouse bar, living on borrowed anecdotes.
 
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DownWest said:
Brilliant project, that nobody would touch now, as it was way past it's sell by date, It got him fame and a little fortune, well deserved! But it 'got him' run down by a packet boat on the way to the the carib.
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How Slocum was lost is unknown; being run down is one possibility that was widely assumed when he went missing. Another is that "Spray" was of marginal stability (high initial resistance, but low AVS), Slocum's mental state was severely deteriorating in his later years (it makes sad reading) and that she simply went over.
 
I wouldn't pretend to be an expert on anything, least of all wooden boat restoration, but that looks like a more "doable" project than Tally Ho. whose restoration I'm following with much interest on YouTube. All the same, you'd have to look at it as the restoration of a piece of history, not a way to get a nice boat. If that's all you want, it'd almost certainly be cheaper to build a new one.

I love wooden boats, but I'll stick with my little lump of GRP. I'd rather go sailing than teach myself to be a shipwright. I reckon that any boat like that, you aren't the owner, you're simply the custodian, and if you don't see it that way and aren't able to invest the time and money required, you shouldn't own a piece of history.
 
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