Thanks for weighing in on this, Ted, good perspective. I should add
that I myself spent over a year
and a half on a "free boat" - a 36' Yorktown - during which I spent
man-months (between jobs and on
the weekends) at Berkeley sanding a huge hull, glassing and epoxying
hundreds of blisters, rebuilding
the transom completely, reconditioning the diesel, and so many other
things. I probably sunk > $20K into it
(materials and dailyyard charges), and in the end, I ended up giving
the boat - happily - to a kid who I hope
finished the job and is living in it.
It was for this very reason that I neglected my perfectly good Santana
22: I *had no time to sail*, not
on the Santana, not as crew on a friend's boat (a nicely set up Tartan
10), and I wanted no part of
sailing for months. Took me a while to get over it all, and look at
sailing again with fresh eyes.
So, I do want to get back into sailing, but I'd prefer a mid-sized
Catalina, mostly for cruising.
And by the way, Kristy's post on the subject last night was
exceedingly thorough and very useful.
Yes, if someone's wanting to take my "free boat" and *race* it, you're
going to have to put some money
and sweat into it. If someone wants a day sailer, that's a different
matter. That's really what I had in
mind, and had assumed there was a broad audience in the readership of
this mailing list.
Russell
On Tue, Mar 8, 2016 at 11:53 AM, Ted Macklin <ctm47 at cox.net> wrote:
> Hi all,
> I would like to weigh in on this free boat conversation if I may. Few if
> any of you know me, but a couple of years ago I picked up on a Free Boat,
> and have been doing the extensive and complete restoration off and on since.
> I make no claims to expertise. The reason for this posting is not to
> encourage or discouraging anyone from taking on a project like mine, but to
> offer whatever I have learned to anyone who might benefit from the knowledge
> gained from my work on this boat. I got this boat for the learning, knowing
> full well that I might come up to the impossible and then I would have to
> junk the whole project and chalk it all up to experience. I can truly say
> that I am still enthusiastic about rebuilding my S22. (including a lot of
> work on the trailer.) I am currently about 85 to 90% completed.
> To detail all I have done is way more than could be posted here. What I
> would be willing to offer anyone contemplating such a journey as making the
> commitment to take on the free boat, is to be willing to share any of the
> things I have learned along the way. I have many photos taken during the
> course of this project, and I can relate what I came up against and how I
> dealt with the issues. I must also say I am not primarily interested in
> racing my boat. It is intended to be a safe little day sailor cruiser for my
> enjoyment. That enjoyment has already included doing a lot of work on the
> boat. It is a good feeling to stand back after a day of sanding and wet
> sloppy epoxy and know you succeeded and have done a good job. I will have a
> very nice boat to show for it when I'm done. I know I will never get back
> the money I have spent, does anyone? but I will have a very nice boat of
> proven design that I will enjoy for a long time and in the end it will
> probably cost far less than buying a new boat. This of course does not
> consider the hours spent, but I like what I see every time I look at my
> boat. What one gets out is what one puts in. If I can be of assistance to
> anyone with a decision to make or a problem to solve, send me an Email and
> we can talk. Again, I am not an expert by any means, but I now know far more
> than I ever thought possible and I would enjoy sharing the story. The Free
> Boat is definitely not for everyone, but maybe you are the right person to
> do it and if you are I can be here to help. Its been a great trip and I am
> winning the battle.
>> Sincerely
> Ted Macklin
>ctm47 at cox.net>> _______________________________________________
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--
Russell Whitaker
http://twitter.com/OrthoNormalRusshttp://www.linkedin.com/pub/russell-whitaker/0/b86/329
