I found my old boat...

...in the back of a yard in Port Towsend. It was in excellent condition when I owned it circa 1981 and took it to Alaska to live on. I'd spotted it here 10 years ago but it was gone when we were here 4 years ago. Turns out they just moved it to a more remote corner. Here is the smallest Romsdal ever built:

You should buy it as a winter project to restore (well OK, a few winters!).

Ins't it bittersweet refugio? I too saw our old boat during the preparations for Tropical Storm Isaac a few years back. The new owner (a charity/ the boat was for sale) allowed my daughter and I to walk with ghosts.

It was sad to see her but I'm glad I did.

I'll always wonder about the boat. My life was that boat. I was conceived aboard her in the forward cabin and born there too. Starboard side. So like all girls, I'm Always Right.

Steel boats require love, constantly. I fear that often bringing back a vessel is too much even if the heart is willing, the money and time are often not.

I do sort of wonder if I would have the energy to restore it. And the resources. It was really something at the time, delivered with a complete set of dishes with the silhouette of the boat enameled. And complete glassware with it etched. And a half hull. And the plans, builder's letters of instruction, and construction photos. All or most of which are almost certainly gone - damn I wish I had copies but that was before digital photography.

refugio said:

...in the back of a yard in Port Towsend. It was in excellent condition when I owned it circa 1981 and took it to Alaska to live on. I'd spotted it here 10 years ago but it was gone when we were here 4 years ago. Turns out they just moved it to a more remote corner. Here is the smallest Romsdal ever built:
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I have been here in Port Townsend for 20 years and I believe it has been here, in the same yard on the hard for the entire time!... there are a few boats in the two yards that have been stored that way for the same amount of time.. something I find rather odd.. to keep a boat that long and not have EVER used it.
HOLLYWOOD

hollywood8118 said:

I have been here in Port Townsend for 20 years and I believe it has been here, in the same yard on the hard for the entire time!... there are a few boats in the two yards that have been stored that way for the same amount of time.. something I find rather odd.. to keep a boat that long and not have EVER used it.
HOLLYWOOD

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I managed to get in touch with the owner 10 years back. He worked on the pipeline and this was his off time project. He was all excited about running a heavy duty welder off the engine to, you know, "improve" the boat. I mentioned I could be interested in buying the boat and he said he thought it was worth more than $100k. I didn't stay in touch.

1981 may seem like yesterday in our minds but 34 years real time considering that she looks OK

Was looking through some old slides to find a pic for the Butedale thread - this was taken somewhere past there heading North in 1982:



Keith

My old boat...my winter project!

"That will buff out"

I think seeing what has become of items we owned is often going to be filled with disappointment. We kept items so well, but what about the next owner? Then maybe something that was great for us just became a major problem. I recall driving by the house I grew up in. It was a disaster that they appeared to be doing a major rehab on.

The one exception was my wife's Miata which we sold when we moved to Florida. A father bought it for his daughter's 16th birthday. We drove it to their house right at midnight, snuck it into the drive, put a bow around it and hid. Then we got to see her face as she saw it and walked to it. My wife and she became best friends and still email over three years later. It still looks like new too.

But the house I grew up in and the boat the OP owned apparently had similar caretakers after us.

Xsbank said:

My old boat...my winter project!

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Nothing a little Rustoleum won't fix.

Reminds me of a little Key West center console we sold my uncle that he bought for his son. His son uses the crap out of it and doesn't take care of it, just runs her hard and puts it away wet. A few months later my uncle bought one of our pro line center console form himself to take to his vacation house in MI. He keeps her in tip top shape, funny how it works.