RESTORATION

The true cost of bringing and old boat back to life

- Robbie Stone

I admit I have a thing for restoring boats. Before I was 18 years old I purchased a 1970’s Funcrafttri-hull with a rotting floor and completely restored her. Many years and restorations later I find myself pondering the logic of it all: Does restoring an old boat make sense? Perhaps a more important question is does the cost of it all make sense? I have asked myself these questions many times over the years, choosing to simply ignore it rather than confront it. My wife, who is generally very supportive of my endeavors recently asked if restoring old boats “is smart financial planning?” I wanted to say that “absolutely nothing about a boat is smart financial planning,” but I kept my big mouth shut and decided to write this article instead.

My most recent completed project is a 1975 Hurley Silhouette 17. She has a bilge keel and she sat in a field for nearly three years waiting for me to pay attention to her. When I found her on eBay, it was love at first sight. I was drawn by her unique lines, twin keels and the $150 price—the kind of expense that would require no financial-planning conversations with my wife. I eagerly drove the 300 miles to retrieve her in Baltimore and brought her home to Ohio. Once home I realized just how small she was. (I am actually a large-boat guy, and 17 feet is easily the smallest sailboat I have ever fallen for.) Despite my intentions of starting right away life got busy, other bigger boats wound up getting restored ahead of her. The R2AK bug had bitten me around the same time I purchased the boat. The R2AK, or Race to Alaska, is a 750-mile adventure race. The race is unsupported from Port Townsend, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska.