Save-A-Boat - The Forum for Plastic Classic Rebuilds!

We've all had projects that have just snowballed and run amok, right?

My current mire is the roof rack for my wife's beetle. What began as a quick shot of rustoleum on the mounting brackets has grown to a full strip and repaint, complete with varnishing the wooden bits and replacing all fasteners. Fifteen minutes stretched to a dozen hours spread over two weeks..... Three dollars stretched to something like $60 or so.

I imagine that this is what happened to the guy who turned his Fatty Knees dinghy into one severely-overpacked-pony of a "lifeboat" (see the November/December issue of Good Old Boat). I mean, COME ON NOW! That must've been one really long winter.

Fess up, everyone. What have you gotten yourselves into lately?

Hmm. Lessee... I have no cabinetry installed on the port side of the saloon.... no engine in the boat... no hardware or wood remaining on deck...

The 'quick, dirty, and cheap' framework that was to hold the tarp over the boat has blossomed into lightweight, engineered plywood I-beams and three weeks of mind-numbingly repetative construction. While it will be wonderful to not have a boatload of snow to clear after every storm, I rue all that time spent on the frame. Note to self: K-I-S-S!

I once managed to turn a well-intentioned, but ultimately naive, notion to restore a small sailboat for $10,000 into a "might as well" bonanza of all-new systems and equipment costing significantly more. Very much like Figment's ski rack, but on a larger scale. (Of course, I'm thrilled with the results...)

Not only that, but that little innocent project led to the procurement of additional project boats--first another derelict sailboat for which I envisioned a drastic reconfiguration...then an antique wooden powerboat, which required a complete renovation...and then, helpless knave I be, I couldn't pass up a barbequed beauty. Just what I needed, of course.

Of course all this necessitated the construction of a large building in which to rebuild those projects. And now even that building is growing too small, so ultimately I'm sure there's something larger in my future...

And so goes the obsession. The thing of it is, I've never had so much fun in my life!

Sounds like a great story. If only there were a website to tell the whole tale.....

Figment wrote:Sounds like a great story. If only there were a website to tell the whole tale.....

I wish I'd thought of that. Rats. I should have documented more, too.

Well, I bought an older 32' ketch with a lot of little problems and 2 or 3 bulkheads that needed to be replaced or repaired due to rot, and expected that to be the end of it...3-5K and I'm done. I'm now trying to remember if I recharged the 18V batteries of my sawzall in preparation for totally ripping out the interior of the salon down to the hull and starting over...I wasn't looking for a project on quite the scale of Glissando, nor do I really have that much cash at the moment, but, since I own it now...

Geez, the things we get ourselves into. Oh, and the rebuild should be interesting, since I really have to shop available...if it can't be done on the boat, it takes a WHOLE lot of creativity.

oh at first it was Ill just touch up the varnish inside and sail it...now I'm getting ready to sand the bejesus out of it inside and out build a new tiller and haul it out somewhere so I can redo the hull and get a new rudder. Already I've shamelessy leered at those sexy chrome lewmar winches with the self tailing option. For God sake man I have Paint chip samples snuck into the garage and a water proof tool box for paint strainers. The madness ...the madness...

Too bad no one here on the forum thinks like you do.... ;<)