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I just read a reply from Rhenium in "My 1974 Boston Whaler 13". A tear welled up in my eye. It had me reflect on why am I restoring an old boat. For me, it has several parts and for the record, I am a nostalgic old fool.
My parents are no longer with me. Growing up my father owned a small tackle shop in Pequannock, New Jersey, called "Fishermans Den". As a child I remember early morning wake ups, jump in the truck with his buddy Arty, and off to the Jersey shore. There we would rent a 16 foot aluminum hull with tiller steering and into the Atlantic we would go. At times he would let me steer the boat with him. I also remember my whining when a big party boat would go by and I wanted to be on the bigger boat. Now that I am older, I wonder what was in the minds of the fishermen in the party boat, passing this little dinky thing with a father letting his kid steer it. I always loved the marinas, especially the derelict hulls in the yard, because I could vision them on the water. The tackle shop did not last (even in the fifties and sixties small shops could not compete with big box). Then high school, girls, sports, college, grad school, no fishing. Then hitch hike to California.
I ended up at the Sausalito waterfront (teaching in a high school or heroin detox counseling at the Haight Ashbury clinic in San Francisco was not for me). A very interesting place back then. Anchor-outs living on boats and a host of one man shops. A hand shake was a binding contract (not that great, there were still lawyers and flim-flam men, wait a minute, I already said lawyers). Your resume on the waterfront had hand designations. "Jouneyman hands" meant folks would hope you would work for them, "hands" always employable at a great cash wage, "hands but..." had hands but something not quite right, "green hands" the most sought after. A willingness to work and learn at 1/4 of the journeymans wage. I started as "green hands" and I am still learning. Everyone would hire and work with every one else. Carpenters, mechanics, welders, boat builders, etc... . A co-mingling of trades and respect for professions. Much coffee drunk and watching what the other fellow was doing and lending a hand (also a beer or two at "Smittys). Then marriage, house, kid.
This is my first boat restoration. I have a restoration resume including tractors, motors, machinery, wood structures and landscapes. I think that little kid who was at his first marina, looking at the stripped derelict hull, always wanted to renew old stuff.
So "Why am I restoring a boat"? Because I think of my parents and they are with me out on the water (the boat was christened "JoeAnne Too" named for my father and mother). Because I re-acquaint myself with the remnants of the waterfront life (workshops are now studios and Smittys is now a college hang out). Because when working in the evening with Frank at Werners Welding, Gordie Nash (boat builder) or Jon Mair (wood worker), or any of the old crowd walks by and they want to lend a hand and we reminisce. Because my wife comes on the boat and sees a sunset. Because my son is on the boat fishing with me and he is questioning the need for college (a talented kid with a full scholarship to Boston University) and he decides to stay in school, not because of me convincing, but because he is looking over the water.
My finished boat is going to have flaws. Non structural screw holes in wood are not going to be plugged, my gel coat will show repairs without a perfect blend, among any of a number of other things that are not safety or structurally related. They were part of the early life of the boat. I have any number of scars and dinks on my body and I do not get cosmetic surgery, but I do get a hair cut and dress nice. My wife says I clean up well for "special events". This boat is my "special event" but it is allowed to have a dink or two and maintain the dignity of an earlier life.
Is this topic appropriate for this venue. I do not know. Is it written by a Greenwich Village hitch hiking "free thinker". You bet. When I read the forum and read of a fellow remembering his grandfather, or see the smiles on the crew of a New Years boat ride. That is why am restoring a boat and I get the sense that a majority fellows on this forum have a inner feeling for what they are doing. It is a blast.
