Boatbuilding ideas

I just posted  an article about a possible business in the wooden cruiser category. The thing is, I have a customer now with an old “Folkboat” that he wants to sell. He is willing to sell to me at a lower cost because he knows the boat will live on and be well cared for. The only thing is the money (as it always is) and if I had a source of cash that I could spend on the boat, I would get it cause I know the condition of the boat and what is needed to make her ready for another 20 years.

It would be cool to have this 26′ boat because I have been reading about Folkboats for years and their reputation is impeccable. This boat needs some ribs sistered and I will do that with steam bent white oak. She’ll be stronger than she was new, when I am finished. She is bright finished as well but, does really need to be stripped and re-done to make her look perfect.

An afternoon wine and cheese cruise would be fun in this boat and the fact that fuel would be a minimum cost to keep her going is a plus. I’ll have to write her up as an option for a charter boat. In the past, the current owner did in fact charter her during the evenings on weekdays and on weekends. He loved sailing his own boat and giving some history lessons on board, while getting paid to sail his own boat. Sounds good if the customers are agreeable and not too uptight.

Well, just finished a day in the shop, pulling fasteners, removing butt-blocks that were suspect and plugging old fastener holes. Next week, we will have her sanded inside (below the water-line), sealed with penetrating epoxy to harden up any soft spots and painted. Then the new ribs go in and any cosmetic work can begin. She’ll look like new if I have my way.

Back again soon,

JFH

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 7th, 2010 at 3:18 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.