THE VITAL QUESTIONS: - Will this boat do what I/We want?
- Is it a good boat of its kind?
- Is she a family heirloom?
- Is she worth restoring?
More details:
Will this boat do what I/We want? i.e.
Will it sail/row/paddle/motor well?
Is it the right size for us?
Is it light/easy enough for us to launch/recover, and move on land?
Frequently people fall in love with a boat because it `has lovely lines`. That`s fine, but is no guarantee that she will sail well. On size, some of the large classic racing dinghies from the `50s are wonderful boats, but not necessarily suitable for a family with small children who need to land on shore to `stretch their legs`. They can also be very heavy to manoeuvre on land.
Is it a good boat of its kind?
Was it well built in the first place?
Was it designed with an eye for beauty?
Very few boats have ever been built for which cost was not a factor in the building. Dragonfly`s builder was clearly a good craftsman but curved grain oak for the stem & timbers was expensive even in 1913. It would have needed Mr Tims, the owner of the yard & hire fleet, to keep a large stock of pieces drying for years in sticked-up piles, and the craftsman would have taken more time to find the piece with the right curve. So her stem was cut from a straight grain board. It had broken along the `short grain`, as had almost all her timbers. But she is elegant and good at her job, so people have been willing to put in time & money to keep her going.
Is she a family heirloom?
If she is, and you can answer the first two questions above positively, do fill out the ENQUIRY form and I will be able to discuss with you the possibilities for restoration. Phoebe (see HOME page thumbnail) had been in the owner`s family from new. She is a most beautiful canoe and very carefully built with superb materials. She was perfectly suitable for picnic trips for two on the Dart, quietly watching wildlife without disturbing anything. She was eminently worth restoring. I will put up further pictures, which will reveal some surprises.
Is she worth restoring?
If you think so, but you fear the job will be beyond your resources, it would still be worth filling in the ENQUIRY form because I might well be able to suggest solutions that would deal with the problem. It really is a shame for you to be stuck with a boat you cannot use while she is there constantly reminding you of the problem of what to do and you are feeling guilty that you "haven`t found the time to restore her myself" or "know it will be too expensive to ask a professional to do it".
Some further remarks:
- If the boat when all gleamingly restored will not do what you want, it will not be worth spending any time or money at all on it.
- "But if I restore and sell it?" You will not get your money back. Second hand prices of even good boats are extremely low. So, unless there is no more than perhaps 10 hours` simple tidying up to be done, and you paid almost nothing for the boat, you will make a loss. The same applies, even more so, if the boat is not a good one of its kind. - "She is a family boat and I don`t want to see her rot away."
It looks like you have an emotional attachment to her. Beware! Attachments to boats can be pricey! All the more important is it that the boat be a really good one. An excellent customer of mine has a collection of forty or so beautiful boats, of which I have restored three fine Canadian canoes. He has told me he sets out to spend on the restoration no more than twice the market value of the restored craft. It often worked out in the end to cost rather more than that, but the lesson is clear - you must want the boat for her value to you. Then accept that the cost in time and/or money will be considerable.
- Benefit from my experience and save money!
Quite often people get beguiled into laying out money for a boat which looks lovely and "shouldn`t take long to get on the water."
At this stage, many people make a judgement themselves, without asking a professional to look at the boat. I can think of a traditional Canadian canoe that a customer asked me to look at after he had paid quite a price for it. He had asked my advice six months before, and I had recommended he ask me to look beforehand at any canoe he was thinking of buying, before laying out good money. Then he would know how much work would be needed. The canoe he had bought had breaks in the keel and plenty of rot in the timbers and gunwale, which meant £7,000 worth of work... far, far over his budget.
I only charge £30 an hour for advice. I will probably have to travel, but we can come to an agreement about that if I can travel by train. Then half an hour with the boat is plenty to tell you just what the outlook is. So for a very moderate sum you may well save yourself thousands. Does this all sound depressing? Don`t worry! You and the family can often do much of the work, if you think of it as a worthwhile, medium-term project to tackle together. If you ask me to advise you on how to go about this, you won`t need much of my time. But you will have the enormous satisfaction of doing the job properly and getting it finished. Pssst...the secret is having Working Parties (accent on the parties, see below). Here are the Three Routes To Satisfaction: 1 I do the work.
2 WE do the work. You do most, I do only what you want me to.
3 YOU do all the work, drawing on my expertise when you need it. Which route you choose depends on your budget versus your time.
Other factors come into the equation too, eg space available, how good you are at cajoling other people to lend a hand on occasion, what skills and tools you have or can call on. 1. I DO THE WORK
Restoration often starts with the owner asking boatbuilders for an estimate.
BEWARE!
It is almost inevitable that there will be more work needed than appears at the start. If the boatbuilder doesn`t take this into account on the estimate....
You may be extremely lucky. He takes all the risk, sticks to his estimate even tho` more work is needed, and makes a substantial loss.
Or you get an unexpected blow in the wallet
Or the work will be skimped in order to save time. If you ask me to restore your boat, this is how it goes: - I quote a price for stripping out and providing a detailed quotation for the work that will be needed.
- If you accept this, I strip out, list what needs to be done, and prepare a quotation or an estimate. I try to do a quotation because then you know exactly what it will cost. But if you want improvements, or are not decided what you want in the fitting out, then I do an estimate.
- You don`t need to accept this. I don`t mind at all if you get someone else to do the work because you will have paid for my time. But you will need to take the boat away to whoever is going to do the work.
- If you accept my quotation or estimate I will do the work with care and in the knowledge that this boat is your pride and joy. I will keep you regularly informed about progress and I keep a strict record of hours which you are welcome to inspect.
Once I`ve started the agreed work be careful of changes or `Could you just..?`. They invariably mean more time however small & innocent they seem. If there is one constant in boatbuilding and restoration, this is it: One CHANGE always brings OTHERS in its wake. If the job is fairly large I agree with you a series of stage payments, usually monthly. I submit an invoice with a record of hours. That way the final bill is not too large. You are very welcome in the workshop at any time to suit you - I know customers can often only manage weekends. But I do have to count that time in the hours record.
When you take delivery we try to have a relaunching ceremony! It`s often an emotional celebration; flowers for the boat, beer, wine, cider (We`re in Devon here),whisky,Calva (Calvados is twinned with Devon), cold buffet or hot sausages in a Thermos, whatever is appropriate to the boat and season.
2 WE DO THE WORK.
Together. You, the owners, and me.
(I write owners because a boat often belongs to a family. Dare I say this? If the husband nominally owns or has paid for the boat, it is rare that the rest of the family is not concerned in one way or another, if only that they don`t see him while he is sailing!)
This route is based on the principle that owners have skills and they are often quite up to doing many of the jobs needed. Why pay me at £25 per hour for something you can perfectly well do yourselves? If you can put aside the time and can make the space, that is.
If you have been really canny and in touch with me from the start, I will already have asked you if you want to do some of the work.
Assuming you do, we spend some time working out what will have to be done to the boat, what you will be able to do, what you would like me to do, where you will put her while you`re working on her, what the costs will be, trade-off between cost and time, and so on.
A TYPICAL PROJECT might be the restoration of a 14` clinker daysailer:
Initial Consultation
Working out what needs to be done, what you will do, what I will do, what tools & techniques you will need, how much time it might take you.
For example:
YOU: remove rotten ply deck
strip all paint and varnish
make new thwart
bring her down to my workshop I: steam in new timbers
remove centre-plate box, make and install new one
scarph in section of transom
For the jobs that I do, I charge £25 per hour. YOU: collect her
make new bottom boards
fit new deck
sand, prime, paint and varnish
I will tell you how to go about the jobs you are not familiar with, charging my workshop rate, £25 per hour, i.e.£5 cheaper than AdviceLine. That means you get exactly the help and expertise you need very economically. This can make the difference, quite literally, between failure and success.
It`s great for me too. I enjoyed teaching for 18 years and I get a tremendous buzz out of helping people develop their skills on a task that they want to undertake. Your chances of success will be immeasurably increased and, if you take the tip below about parties, everyone in the family will feel that tremendous buzz too. HANDY TIPS: - I try to be realistic when telling you about how long you will need for the jobs you are going to do. You should be realistic too, and plan regular time for members of the family to work on her over the period of the restoration.
- Friends will badger you to know when she will be finished. Try not to make any predictions or deadlines about the finish date. They create stress, work will be skimped, and above all they spoil the enjoyment.
- Buy your tools at the beginning of the project - don`t struggle to save money and then give in and buy them near the end!
- The key to success is to make the whole project enjoyable for all the family. Any excuse for a party, celebration or mutual pat on the back!
A couple, who are great friends, built a Spray 40` steel yacht a while ago. She had hot water, shower & bath, master & guest cabins, saloon,two steering positions, full sailing rig. They spent seven years living aboard, exploring the canals of France, over to Italy and then Greece. They completed her for a tiny fraction of the professionally built cost in barely 5 years. Phenomenally fast! How? Dedication and parties.
For the Keel Laying Party, they invited all their friends. Live music, a fanfare for the placing of the keel itself, then everyone fell on the food and drink.
The husband had prepared the frames in advance. With a few `trusties` helping, they were erected within the hour in their correct places so that the shape of the boat-to-be was outlined for all to see. General astonishment and loud applause!
Each guest was issued with a certificate saying they had helped at the keel laying and this entitled them to two weeks free holiday on board whenever they would like. Of course, the owners knew very few would take them up on the offer, but help and encouragement, useful items, tools etc. were forthcoming in abundance as a result.
P.S. My wife & I took two weeks on board in the French Canals, two years running. So how about:
A scraping party - every guest does a bit of scraping and earns a beer or a glass of wine for their pains. Make it a laugh and the keen ones will come again.
Once you have got your tool sharpening arrangements organised, teach two or three `trusties` how to do it. Whenever they come over, they`ll be delighted to sharpen every tool in sight. Especially if there`s coffee and home-made biscuits on the go........
Lots more ideas welcome.
CONTACT ME and I`ll put them up on the ON THE WATER page. Lastly, as part of the service I provide,you are welcome in the workshop to learn how to do one of the jobs needed on your restoration project. You get a real kick out of learning how to do a job and then doing it on your own boat. If the job is steaming in new timbers, as in the example of the 14` dinghy above, then you could: - Bring the dinghy down to the workshop on Friday night.
We flash up the steamer on Saturday, bend in a few timbers & rivet up. - You take her away that evening + enough oak, nails & roves to do the rest of the timbers, and you`ve gained all the knowhow to complete the job.
- 6-8 hours work = £150-£200 + materials and you can even hire the steambox & boiler for a few weeks. How`s that for a deal?
3 YOU DO THE WORK.
This route is simply AdviceLine.
You will probably need some consultation at the beginning and it's much more efficient if I can see the boat first.
Then some problem-solving as the work progresses. This can usually be done on the telephone. At the beginning of your call I start the watch and stop it at the end. I can give an enormous amount of help in a half hour call. We agree the time, I log it and invoice you when it is appropriate.
This way works best if you have some woodworking experience, are determined, take the time needed, and make sure you have the willing support & help of all around you.
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