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What to do with a treasured old boat?
You have discovered a beautiful old boat that needs serious attention. The first question you have to ask yourself is “Do I want the finished watercraft to be functional, or to be a static display?” If it is to be a static display, the goals are clear – conserve and stabilize any and all known original details without molesting their original state. If it is to be a functional restoration, it becomes a question of how best to retain its original details while securing its serviceability. There are two distinctly different points of view with regard to functional restorations. One is to preserve the materials that make up the boat, the other is to preserve the characteristics that make up the boat. Many restorers are myopic about preserving the materials to the point where the result of the restoration is a misshapen collection of original pieces hobbled together with epoxy resin, resulting in a complete loss of the original characteristics. If you understand the subtlety of preserving materials verses characteristics of your old wooden boat, then you are ready to throw serviceability in the mix and examine five different paths of action, each with a very different goal. Restoration: A restoration is a reworked hull based on repairing components on an original hull, replacing damaged original components that cannot be well repaired with new components made from materials as close to the original materials as we can locate, and machined with the same style tooling as the original, and fastened with the same style fasteners as the original made from the same or similar materials. In the process we will identify the as-built characteristics, determine why they are present, and endeavor to reproduce the process of manufacture. A restoration yields knowledge about the builders, the manufacturing process and materials. It is the goal of a Restoration to return the structure to its as-built condition, retaining all its characteristics, its strengths and its flaws. Rebuild: Solely to extend serviceability. The process will progress as many individual repairs, not a systemic approach to mirror the original methods. Damage or areas of structural failure are repaired by any practical and expedient means. The goal of a Rebuild is to render serviceable again without concern towards hiding the repairs. Replica: A replica is a completely new build based on a set of data from an original drawing, from a measured original hull or a combination of the two. While some of the best replicas are very close copies of an original, they are usually far more finely detailed than the originals. Why? Because they are not built in a production environment. Any production shop who is trying to be profitable has to set an acceptability standard and cannot afford perfection. The goal of a Replica is built by reproducing the manufacturing process without the production line problems. The result is a higher quality, more man-hour intensive product that doesn’t reflect personality of the original. Conservation: To clean, stabilize, and record original characteristics and pertinent data. The goal of a Conservation is preservation of original details; usability is a low priority with little interest in serviceability. New Build: To produce a new hull similar in appearance to the original, but with a goal of total serviceability through use of modern materials and techniques.
Containing Restoration Project Costs....an excerpt from a customer correspondence. Whenever you have any original wood or fasteners left in the hull, it is going to be very easy for all involved to succumb to “ if we just do this little bit more, we can take care of…”, or “we have it this far apart, it will be the most economical to do this now..”. While both of these statements many are true; they are the most common enablers allowing costs to escalate. To really control the costs of any type of restoration project, it has to be understood that some things will be left unresolved, and that the boat will be renewed but not new. If the restoration is successful, most of biggest problems will be addressed, and many of the smaller problems will be addressed or at least contained. And some issues will undoubtedly be left untouched for the time being. If the scope is truly understood and the project expectations are tempered by the scope, then you can successfully contain the restoration costs.
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Contact InformationBerkshire Wooden Boat
Send mail to berkwood@verizon.net
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