Matthew P. Murphy
Viable boat-restoration candidates often exist in seemingly hopeless cases, if one can see beyond the peeling paint to sufficient sound wood and fastenings.
There are few objects as handsome as a traditionally built wooden boat. Owning and sailing one can be a joy, and a wooden boat can have an intangible draw that can cloud the judgment of even the most cautious mariner.
Although most old boats need some sort of repairs, the question is not whether a boat can be fixed. Anything can be fixed. The question is, do you really want to fix it? How much time do you have? How much money? When do you want to get it in the water? This is not to suggest that you shouldn’t tackle a major boat-restoration project, but rather to offer guidance on making that choice, and seeing it through.
Boatbuilding is a bit like assembling a jigsaw puzzle; repair, however, involves plucking random pieces out of the completed puzzle, replicating them, and replacing them. It can be tedious, time-consuming, and expensive. Fortunately, we have tools, techniques, and materials that did not exist when the boat was built.