Ahoy fellow ocean lovers

[Freeranger]

I am not sure how to dive in here but being that I am not as shy as it would appear, I feel I can do this.
At the moment I am selling my bright hulled 38 mast head sloop and beginning life anew with a 1927 teak yawl that is a mirror of her blueprints (which were still aboard). Being an artist there seems a defiant part of me that refuses to accept the practical application of other than wood hull materials. I see the value in any boat that gets you there though and am not ever looking to stir the feud up between old and new except in good humor.
I can't help having wood, after all a purest who still uses real pigment and a fanatic about details even now. That is why a wood boat is for me.
I like entertaining the idea that a certain mystique dwells in the wood boat that if I want to believe in ghosts they are there.
That said, I am a father and husband and not on the market for any of what the internet seems to be drowning itself in.
My wife is a kiwi and my son still spends time here at the home place and is mildly autistic. My plan is to sail to Alaska's inside passage next spring but selling my other boat is hard since I am reluctant to hand her over to just any greenback toting buyer.
I don't drink or take anything that impairs judgment cause I am happy with myself, unlike the many years I was lost in the wilderness.
Not that I feel a need to point out other's weakness's at all.
I live and let live but like my moods somewhat consistent to the norm when at all possible.
I fix most things on my boats and gather good advice from many friends when I call upon it. First and foremost I am a talented craftsman and fine artist.
A carpenter, hand engraver, a writer and too many other things to even begin to put here I feel I have bragged enough.
It is late so I am going to leave this first entry as it stands
and say good night for the moment.
FreeRanger

[Alan Wheeler]

I dunno, these artistic types. Heads in the clouds. Well it's good that you have a Kiwi girl to keep you firmly planted.
There is something about the beautiful old wooden boats. And they can't really be built in anything else other than they were desinged to be. Majic. I have come across an old beauty of a wooden vessel here. I am so tempted, but I know I will bite off more than I can chew if I buy her. So I am in this internal struggle of, no I shouldn't, but she is so beautiful and then back to no I shouldn't.
Look forward to hearing more of your journey.

[Freeranger]

The amount I gave for this wood boat makes me so guilty I can't tell you. It took two weeks to unload just her spare bronze fittings and extra gear that was stuffed away until you couldn't even get below. Her 26 years (many in Sausalito) saw her owner like a squirrel storing up nuts in a tree. All kinds of cool stuff I had to put in storage just to see her frames. If I pay rent for the next 25 years on it I could still step into a good profit.
Her 14 thousand pound lead ballast would more than pay for her.
Since I adore her so much, that will never occur!!!!
She is to me the most beautiful and sound boat I have ever come across even at a hundred times the cash.
Her three inch 316 SS fasteners through one and a quarter teak planks into rot resistant frames states that best. 2x4 Frames set on 16 inch centers!
I have none of the usual concerns or issues I had with mahogany. I have several restorations under my belt already so my virginity is as lost as my faith in politicians.
The hard bit now, is the part where I return to my old boat and ready her for sale.
Compared to the new 'mistress' she stands like an ex-wife on the courthouse steps with her hand out for more extras.
PS... You are so right.
A kiwi girl is behind it all.
Without her loyalty and tight fisted accounting for money I would not be here.
She could have been three times the worst and I'd not trade her for the lot...

[David M]

Nothing is more beautiful than a well maintained and sailed old wooden boat. If you have the bucks and/or the time, then a wood boat is a perfect fit for you. For us mortals, plastic and metal is what best suits us in time and money.

BTW...get rid of those stainless steel fasteners holding those below the waterline planks. Replace them with bronze. You are asking for electrolysis problems. Stainless is higher enough on the Nobel scale to eat away at your bronze. If you want proof, then put a volt meter on the DC millivolt scale across the stainless and the bronze while the boat is in the water. See any voltage difference? If there is none then good, but I would not bet sinking my boat on some stainless plank fasteners.

Hey!...you look just like a Mike that I know. I recognize Angel Island, Tiburon and Belvedere in the background! Is that you Mike?...the Ichthyologist. You know who David M would be from where you used to work in Tiburon.

My wife and I would love to go for a day sail on a beautiful old boat like that regardless.

David

[Morgan Paul]

Hi Freeranger

David M said:

Nothing is more beautiful than a well maintained and sailed old wooden boat.

I will say, "Nothing is more beautiful than a well maintained and sailed old wooden boat with a beautiful Kiwi girl at the helm."

Welcome and good luck man.
Paul

[ssullivan]

TEAK???? OMG, that is definitely the coolest thing I've ever heard of. I have no idea what a boat made of teak would be worth. Care to enlighten us?

I have dreamed of a teak sailboat - no worms, no fungus, no problems. Just keep her free of bottom growth and you're good to go for hundreds of years.

Wow...

[Freeranger]

Originally Posted by David M

Nothing is more beautiful than a well maintained and sailed old wooden boat. If you have the bucks and/or the time, then a wood boat is a perfect fit for you. For us mortals, plastic and metal is what best suits us in time and money.

BTW...get rid of those stainless steel fasteners holding those below the waterline planks. Replace them with bronze. You are asking for electrolysis problems. Stainless is higher enough on the Nobel scale to eat away at your bronze. If you want proof, then put a volt meter on the DC millivolt scale across the stainless and the bronze while the boat is in the water. See any voltage difference? If there is none then good, but I would not bet sinking my boat on some stainless plank fasteners.

Hey!...you look just like a Mike that I know. I recognize Angel Island, Tiburon and Belvedere in the background! Is that you Mike?...the Ichthyologist. You know who David M would be from where you used to work in Tiburon.

My wife and I would love to go for a day sail on a beautiful old boat like that regardless.

David

Hi David, that is not me. The pic is my wife and a race crew member named 'Tim' in 06'
He is a boatwright and grew up on the Bay sailing/racing.
He still races and works on old wooden boats like a certain schooner
he skippers.

[Freeranger]

Originally Posted by ssullivan

TEAK???? OMG, that is definitely the coolest thing I've ever heard of. I have no idea what a boat made of teak would be worth. Care to enlighten us?

I have dreamed of a teak sailboat - no worms, no fungus, no problems. Just keep her free of bottom growth and you're good to go for hundreds of years.

Wow...

I hate to say this cause it taints it for some but she was not pulled for 26 years so the price wasn't relative.
She had been turned down so many times the owner was ready to give it away just about. He was honest though and did tell me.
I had to hammer a lot to find rot but could not find any.
The engine was froze but not before it contaminated the bilge.
Oil is a great preservative.
As far as stainless goes that is true about elctorlisis. Her prop broke up like an oreo cookie but she was never bronze fastened she is almost all converted stainless below water line . I was not able to find any corrosion in the through hulls YET.
Maybe due to oil content in teak but conductivity is lower than other woods.
I may replace them but the strange thing is they all still work and have their own grease cap fittings.
Currently I am shopping for a different engine. I may repower her with the same Westerbeke 40 /Perkins 107 since the entire engine bed is also stainless. I am thinking the prop will be a kiwi feathered 3 fluke.
She was originally built in Los Angeles with galv fasteners .
Each frame is top strapped, bracketed and then bolted to her floors.
Never seen such anal work.
I will be examining the huge bronze keel bolts though. Better safe than sorry.
Electrolisis is still a mystery to me.
Some bronze's are effected more depending on what the mix is?
Legally I can't disclose what I paid for her. It's part of the deal.
Thanks for the comments though.
Don't confuse the two boats.
One is a famous Farallone Clipper (Wooden Boat #159). That one is a 1955 38 foot mahogany Masthead sloop with a bright hull.
The other is a 1927 teak 54 foot yawl. The mast on it is 58, boom is 28. Her L.O.W. is only 35 and 6. Beam 11 and 6.
Mizzen is 28 high. With all that sail and a fine entry like she has she will be fast as fast goes.
Both are great boats but hardly for the safe and sane for making long or hard crossings. I would in a hot tick but no accuses me of having all my oars in the water.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Freeranger,
Welcome aboard!! I loved and owned a wood boat for many years. I know why but it is hard to explain to others.
Kind Regards,
JohnL