1959 Hinckley 42 Yawl

[Hinckley or Die]

So it took so long (meetings and business) for me to respond it booted my response out, and it was a good one....so here is another attempt:

I am going to attempt to clarify what my desires are for purchasing a wooden sailboat. (Which I have just realized this in the last few months) I want to restore a boat. I will not however rebuild a boat. That is not my desire. I want to take something that is serviceable and make it a jewel. I like shiny winches (sorry salty, I understand the love of gaff rigged boats and the simplicity), shiny bright work, shiny hulls...and I like the work that goes into it. I have decided to engage instead of just read in this forum because I have respect for people that live the cruising life, do the work it takes to live that life, and I am humble enough to KNOW that they know more than I. Cruisers and Sailors do all their work in the worst possible conditions (usually on the water, far from home).

So information and knowledge is the main reason. So all the input is desired, negative and positive. Condescending is not, but I understand that is human nature...ego is a strange and wonderful thing. That brings me to say, "Stavok, please forgive my response to your post, I did not detach from my ego and was somewhat aggressive" I do however thank you for your feedback.

I run all my decisions through a hybrid OODA Loop:
1) I consider time and timing
2) I run it through 4 laws of combat
3) I determine what role MY ego is playing in the decision
4) Perspective, this is where I am in the loop. I try and gain as much perspective as possible. I try to have a bias against my decision (sometimes hard, that sticky ego again) That is my purpose for joining 5 boards, for asking the questions, and listening (reading) points of view. I try hard to detach from my emotions and take everyone else's emotions into the calculus. I ask all my family, friends and now subject matter experts.
5) Mission- does this decision forward my strategic mission (as I head into retirement, yes, yes it does on many fronts)
6) Relationship capitol/Leadership capitol: If i have to force this on the people I care most about, it is a bad decision.

All that being said I am in the orient stage of the loop. I am seeking input and working toward a decision. A figure that will be prominent in that orient phase will be the surveyor. I need to know where the boat lies between brand new and it's so tired a rebuild is needed. I don't have that knowledge or expertise, nor will I gain it from the volumes of books I am reading. I will defer that to a professional. I have an excellent resource on another forum that is going to help me through that process. I will actually go see the boat, any boat during the process before I spend $$ on a survey. I was very much enamored with S&S designed Tartan, but my wife hated the cockpit. (TOO small and cramped, poor location of the traveler, etc.) I was not willing to spend the relationship capitol to force that. I also was able to move on without spending more than a day trip (which I loved) and gas to get there (not as small an investment as it used to be)

I look at this as an investment in self. Some of the comments are about ROI. I have stated that doesn't matter. It doesn't in the typical way ROI is measured. I measure it like this: When I refurb/refresh a boat, what knowledge will I gain? What skills will I learn and perfect? How more patient of a person will I be? Will this make me a better human? Then there is the strategic factors of when I am blessed to be a grandfather (many years from now, the daughter is 16), how much will this enrich that relationship? When I am retired will this give me purpose? As I go into the sunset years how many friends will I have made simply because I redid a boat? The community built is priceless.

Also, what conversations will spark an interest in others in restoring wood boats? How would that be a bad thing? More people ridding overcrowded marinas chocked full of rotting wooden boats (sorry, sarcasm got the better of me)

Thanks everyone for your opinion and input, please keep it coming. I will post questions and continue this thread until I get a Hinckley or Die