I agree, there are many 'project boats' sitting at the docks or in storage
yards that deserve a new life. And there are many like myself and Bill who
want to rescue all or as many as possible..

It's easy to dream of bringing an old boat back to life and sailing over the
horizon while the reality is, it takes time and much much money to do it.

I have found, one of the primary expenses, the cost of moorage or yard
storage while I do the actual work.. DIY repairs and restorations take about
10 times longer than a boat yard. Often it takes even longer because you may
go for several year, accumulating parts, material and capital.. All this
time the mooring/storage bills still must be paid.

In my 40+ years of boating I have fallen in love with a half dozen old boats
and jumped in head first. I had my regrets at some point, but enjoyed
everyone of them. Never, ever got my capital investment back, let alone my
labor.. But still enjoyed the overall experience. Someone once said,
"There's No Such Thing as a Free Boat".

There have been even more that I dreamed about restoring but ultimately
passed on because of the logistics or because I already had a boat. I'm
talking about boats that were over 60 years old at the time. The oldest that
I actually ever owned was 45 yo and I owned it for another 5 years. Did the
Baja in her.

Eventually as I got older, I realized I couldn't rescue them all. Life is
too short.

In places like California, many old boats, both wood and fiberglass are
being scrapped because of the cost to store, moor and refurbish by people
like Bill or myself. Most marinas won't allow a project boat in or allow
major repairs at the dock.

To bad! At one time I looked into setting up a project boat yard in Costa
Mesa, CA where I would allow boats to be stored and refurbished. The overall
scheme included a small RV park so people who lived some distance away
(inner city) could come in on weekends to work on their boats. Had problems
getting permits for either yard or RV park. Not code compatable, etc.


--
My opinion and experience. FWIW

Steve
s/v Good Intentions