Sailboats Back From The Dead
Links To Websites Featuring the restoration of fiberglass sailboats
*** If you know of any websites that feature restoration of old fiberglass boats, please send me the links!! Thanks!

Small Boats, Board Boats & Dinghies
Holder 12 - This is a Holder 12 I restored


Daysailor and Open Boats
Boston Whaler Squall - It was previously being used as a mailbox holder !!
O'Day Javelin - Dave Thierer


Pocket Cruisers & Keel Boats (Less Than 20')
Oday 19 - This is another of my restorations
Mirage 5.5 - Cecil Jorgen, it was sunk in it's slip


Sailboats Larger Than 20'
Venture 21 - Bill Tosh & I recovered this boat
American 21 - Arfon, frequent contributor to TrailerSailor.com
Shields - Salvaged after 3 years, on the bottom (under 60 feet of water) in Long Island Sound
Hunter 25 - Sank at the dock, pics from recovery
Sinking & Raising of J24 Jack Be Nimble - video

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How to find almost-dead sailboats

Restoring old boats is a lot of fun. Some people restore them to factory new configuration & condition, others (like me) put them back together with whatever is cheap, and enjoy them till they take up too much space, and we sell them off to make room for another project. I am somewhat of a almost-dead sailboat magnet. I have made a lot of sailing friends, and they all know I'll go pickup any sailboat I can pull behind my minivan. Most of them are offered up for free, or for a price so small, they are practically free. If you want to hunt one down, here are some suggestions on places to look:

Tell All Your Friends -- Tell them you are looking for an old dead sailboat to restore. Possibly a friend of a friend has one sitting behind their garage that is an eyesore to them, and the just want to get rid of it.
Sailing Clubs -- Every sailing club has a few members with an old project that they were going to start, and never did, and their spouse is ready for it to go.
Marinas -- Walk around at the local marina, put on a big smile and chat with anyone who smiles back at you. Small boat sailors are all VERY friendly, and if you express an interest in buying an old sailboat, I am sure they will know someone who has one that they want to get rid of.
Newspaper -- Place an ad in the sailboats FOR SALE category, say something like "Looking for free old junker sailboat in XX size range, willing to pickup anything".
Craigslist.org -- Same as the newspaper, but it is a free classifieds website. The website is very popular in some cities, and not so popular in others.
Sea Scouts / Boy Scouts -- Boats are donated to them on a regular basis, most of which either get stripped of parts or sold off as-is to support their existing fleet.
eBay and other Classifieds -- Probably the worst place to look, after they get to eBay, the owner is really looking to get money from their boat, plus you have a bunch of other people who will bid the price up. For a list of boat classifieds [click here]

Most important of all, when the opportunity arises, you need to go immediately, like that day or the next. People who want to get rid of sailboats want them to go rather soon, and if you don't go now, they might throw it out or give it away to someone else the next day. You should have a trailer ready, or know where the closest uhaul rental place is. A 15' truck is about $19 per day to rent, and most small sailboats will fit right in the back of them, use some packing blankets to keep from scratching her up.

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What Is Worth Restoring?
When you get a boat for free, you don't have to think too hard about it, because the only expense you are out is the transportation and storage costs, and almost every free boat comes with hardware which can be removed and used on another project. However there are factors to think about, and before it comes home, you should make a basic guess at what goals you have for the project.

Get a Boat You Will Use - Restoration can take a long time depending on your goals, if you have a burning desire and clear goal of how you will use it, you will have a better chance of finishing the project. Here are some of the features to look for: boat features

No matter what, it IS restorable - Every sailboat is restorable, it is just a matter of the amount of time you spend to fix it up. If the boat comes without a mast or sail rig, you can adapt another one onto it, or build your own from scratch, which doesn't nescessarily have to match up with the original one. For some reason a lot of people are afraid to get a boat, in which the manufacturer has gone out of business - but you have to understand that most of the time the manufacturer only made the fiberglass hull, and ALL of the rest of the parts are standard marine hardware which numerous manufacturers make, and many varieties of each piece.

Wooden Boats - I love wooden boats, but unfortunately have to admit that many which you can get for free, aren't worth the time to fix them up. Mostly the wood rots or the original construction was of a non-durable manner and the time it takes to fix it would be longer than the time it would take to build a new one. Possibly you could accept an old junker wooden boat and build a new hull for all the parts to sit on. Side story - When my mom was a kid, she found half of a wooden row boat submerged in a pond a few blocks from home. She dragged it home on top of her wagon in the hopes of restoring it. Grandpa had the unfortunate task of explaining that it was just too far gone, and took it back to the pond.

How Much To Spend On Restoration - This is always a continual changing number, and you have to really keep things in perspective, both for and against spending money on the various options. Take the finishings for example, I have seen some boat owners spend hundreds of dollars on special solvents, putties, fillers and gelcoats to repair a hull they got for free. If you are going to follow thru and turn her into a masterpiece, that is great, but using cheap materials like epoxy & wheat flour / talc powder / sawdust is just as structurally sound, and then painting with house paint or cheap home depot oil paint will produce a nice finish that looks good. After you paint it, it is a real pain to reverse and go back to gelcoat finish, but that is just one of the compromise decisions you need to make.

How Much Time - We all only have so many hours in a day which we can spend on our hobbies. Whenever you pickup a new hobby (like a new free boat), you have to give up the time you spend on some other hobby. So keep that in mind when you make decisions about other parts of the boat, and how elaborate you want to restore it. And lucky for us, fiberglass hulls last forever so if you have the space to keep it but not much time, you can put in the time when you have it, even if it is over many years.

Sail Rig Configuration - Why-o-why is everyone trying to make it just like it came from the factory? I get more emails from people asking about "factory original" sail rig configuration than anything else. The builders have a dilema, they need to produce a boat which is cheap enough for people to buy, and which has a rig that will work in many different areas of the country. If you live in a windy area, you will probably use the reef all the time, and in light wind areas, will be flying the full sails plus a spinnaker. So I think that if you have to rebuild the rig, make it a rig that will work for your situation. Also don't feel bad about buying a used set of sails off ebay that fit on your boat (but may have been made for another). And if you want a really cheap set of sails that you can make TODAY (so you can go sailing tomorrow), consider making your own from polytarp or tyvek. Yea, they are temporary, but while you are waiting for that perfect set of used sails on ebay, it is a cheap solution. See PDRacer.com for more info on tarp sails.

Grunge Factor - I have known some people that spend years and years restoring every little scratch and making the boat look perfect before it's first launch. On the other end of the spectrum are people that as soon as they get the boat, they install oarlocks and slap on an outboard for backup (if the boat is big enough) and take it out for a sail. So you have to decide which kind of person you are. Spending more time restoring the boat than actually sailing it is a legitimate part sailing, and you shouldn't feel bad about spending lots of time tinkering with your boat. Here is a longer essay on the different types of sailors [click here]

Above All Else - Keep in mind that restoring boats is a hobby, and our main goal is to have fun - no matter what form it takes. So if you feel inclined to fixup a junker free boat, then go for it. If after a while you get tired of working on it, then advertise it for free so someone else can have a chance at her.

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How To Repair Fiberglass

Shorty's Misc Fiberglass Repair Tips - from Holder 12 page





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