Why respecting the boat's age is important - my rambling essay

This post was inspired by the speedo I picked up today, which I'll get to at the end.<br /><br />35 years ago I massacred some good period, now antique, furniture that'd be worth a lot of money today if I hadn't thought that everything needed to be stripped and sanded back and refinished, so it looked like new.<br /><br />Gradually I learnt to appreciate the beauty and the history in a piece of furniture revealed by its scars and blemishes, and to preserve the patina of age which gives the finish its depth and character from countless waxings and polishings.<br /><br />Boats can be the same.<br /><br />Sure, some are so badly beaten up they need a full reconstruction.<br /><br />But some, like my slightly ugly duckling, are fundamentally sound and just need a lot of elbow grease to revive what was always lurking under the surface. They won't be new again, but they're like the antique table, scars and burns and all, whose dull surface comes back to a reasonable semblance of life with a bit of effort and the right techniques. <br /><br />I lost the plot with my boat for a while. <br /><br />I wanted to make it new again, or even better than new. It still crosses my mind often enough, as recently as today.<br /><br />But then it'd be like a custom car that has had thousands of hours of labour put into it. The sort that look great with chrome diffs and chrome pulleys and painted springs and braided pipes but never get driven if there's a risk of rain. They're mobile ornaments, not cars.<br /><br />Mine is a working boat whose main purpose is as a fishing platform.<br /><br />I want it to look good but I ain't entering it in any competitions.<br /><br />It's a boat over 35 years old.<br /><br />You'd expect a boat that age to have some signs of age, along with its original fittings.<br /><br />I picked up a speedo today 'cos I just liked the look of it, which is a bit of a pity as I have another one not half as nice winging its way towards me from the USA that I bought on eBay.<br /><br />When I got the speedo today it was tired and dull and with those little pinhead bubbles that'll turn to pitting. <br /><br />I decided I'd get it re-chromed.<br /><br />Tonight I cleaned it up. All the chrome is intact, but there's tons of those bubbles.<br /><br />My choices are to get it re-chromed or use it as is.<br /><br />I'm going to use it as is.<br /><br />That'll save a useful bit of money on re-chroming, like enough to buy another fishing rod or two.<br /><br />It will also result in a speedo that looks like it's been on the boat since they were both new but is still in pretty good condition.<br /><br />Like Robby 6950 said at http://www.iboats.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=26;t=002529 <br /> Unless you paint the whole boat and redo the inside, it will look like a 90 year old lady fresh out of the "Beauty Salon" with perfect hair over all the wrinkles......... <br /><br />Unless I redo everything on the boat, it'll look like the old dame with the flash hair.<br /><br />I pulled the speedo apart tonight and cleaned the face and lens and spruced up the case. It ain't that bad.<br /><br />So I'm going to instal this less than perfect speedo in my boat, but it'll look right for the boat and dress it up nicely without screaming at you like a perfectly re-chromed one would against the original aged gelcoat.<br /><br />The reality is that this is probably the only time I'll polish it until I sell the boat. <br /><br /> <br /><br />

Re: Why respecting the boat's age is important - my rambling essay

Tinkerer,<br /><br />Boy, oh boy, I can't agree with you more. I too would love to have the 'concourse' restored boat sitting in a garage. But then I would never be able to use it.<br /><br />Years ago I built a 40 Ford convertable hot rod. After it sat in the garage for 3 years or so supplying housing to mice, I decided to use it. And I did. Became a daily driver. Got paint chips, some scratches on the bumpers, a door nick or two, the carpet got full of sand and grit. So what? I was actually ENJOYING my car rather than hiding it in a garage under a cover. I used it and then sold it a few years later for exactly the cost of the parts to build it. Not a bad deal in hind-sight.<br /><br />My boat is sort of the same as that hot rod. I want it to be safe and reliable and have the 60's period look. But not at the expense of having an ornament I can't use. Yep, it has a few hairline cracks in the gel coat, and a few gouges in the hull that were filled, but still show as a shadow. So what? This boat gets used and seen. Seen is actually half the fun! (I mean socializing kind of 'seen', not status symbol type of 'seen') Nice folks always talk to you about it. People always wave to you. <br /><br />I don't mind going to the marina to launch by myself, because I know that there will be someone who will want to talk boats for half an hour just because they wanted to get a closer look and share some memories of something similar they had. Now with the Retro look craze going on with the Gen X'ers, I have young folks asking me where to buy one. My brother said "...I didn't know this was a chick magnet..." (don't tell my wife) LOL! <br /><br />As long as my boat looks great from 5 feet away, I am happy. If you're the type who has to stick their nose up against the finish and comment that there are scratches or left over wax in the corners, go talk to someone else.<br /><br />So stick the tach on your dash and display it with pride and get your enjoyment and use out of it.<br /><br />Mark

Re: Why respecting the boat's age is important - my rambling essay

Originally posted by Mark42:<br />As long as my boat looks great from 5 feet away, I am happy. If you're the type who has to stick their nose up against the finish and comment that there are scratches or left over wax in the corners, go talk to someone else.<br /><br />Mark

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Mark<br /><br />That's the heart of it.<br /><br />There's the wankers like I struck 25 years ago in car clubs who were just off the planet. The sort who'd trailer their cars to meets so the exhaust pipe wouldn't be affected by heat, and they'd clean out the inside of it with steel wool and vacuum it through their own portable power plants before the judges came around. Which caused a bit of a problem on the engine judging as there was nothing on the tailpipe to indicate how it was running.<br /><br />The stupidest example that's always stuck in my mind was a few of these technically very knowledgeable but practically stupid characters poring over (my memory is rusty) either a US Triumph TR 8 or a TR 7 converted to US TR8 specs and rejoicing about how the owner had corrected the US gap of maybe 3/32" at the top between the door and the front fender by pulling it all off and rebuilding it so it had the correct 1/16" gap. Or whatever the gap was. Or maybe it was the reverse. Who knows? Who cares? It kept them fully occupied for an afternoon.<br /><br />What you say about the 5 foot view is exactly right. <br /><br />Nobody except the owner and concours judges ever look that closely at anything. <br /><br />Same way we paint a room at home with a minor fault on the corner cornice. Every time we walk into the room for the first couple of weeks our eyes go to the fault and we berate ourselves for it, but nobody else notices unless we point it out to them. We forget it ourselves after a couple of weeks.<br /><br />Overall impressions are what matter on boat and any other restorations for average people. <br /><br />Average people wouldn't notice if it was a 55% or 85% restoration.<br /><br />As long as the overall effect is good, it looks good, regardless of how many minor imperfections we can point out.

Re: Why respecting the boat's age is important - my rambling essay

Quote: Same way we paint a room at home with a minor fault on the corner cornice. Every time we walk into the room for the first couple of weeks our eyes go to the fault and we berate ourselves for it, but nobody else notices unless we point it out to them. We forget it ourselves after a couple of weeks.<br /><br /><br />Aint that the truth

Re: Why respecting the boat's age is important - my rambling essay

also tinkerer, you're putting a pefectly fine old speedo back into use. not a newer disposable sort of thing to fill the landfills.<br /><br />that speedo shows class and appreciation....for the boat and everyone that gets to go for a ride.

Re: Why respecting the boat's age is important - my rambling essay

I have to agree with all of the above. Before getting into boating, I was "into" Corvette's. Mine were always nice, but they GOT DRIVEN ! A couple of times I went to the Corvette Museum for a special event, there were thousands of us there that drove our vettes from all of the country. There were also several hundred that brought their cars in enclosed trailers....some of these people had NEVER driven their car. At some point a bunch of us would take off together in our Corvettes to tour the countryside, meanwhile, the "trailer queens" would sit there, talking about how dangerous it was for us to DRIVE OUR CARS !! What if we got a scratch or paint chip ?<br />Bottom line....buy it, fix it up, use it, and above all else....ENJOY IT !!

Re: Why respecting the boat's age is important - my rambling essay

Right on!! I feel the same way with just about all of my toys! I've got a good collection of old racing Mercurys and ALL OF THEM RUN, and ALL OF THEM HAVE BEEN RUN! In the old motor circles there are the "sawhorse queens" and there are the runners. I own over 50 motors, and with the exceptions of those that are on the "to do" list, they all have that orange-brown tell-tale ring around the tower housing that show's they've made the trip into my old test tank. All of my racing motors have the tell-tale paint wear at the rear where the tie-down strap wraps around the tower housing. And they all have the tell-tale marks on the recoil where the rope has worn into the paint.<br /><br />The pic is of my Mercury Mark 20H "Cornpopper" conversion scaring the fishes at a race about four years ago...<br /><br />- Scott

Re: Why respecting the boat's age is important - my rambling essay

As long as it looks good in pictures, who cares. Well as long as I don't take the picture with my digital camera. With the resolution up on that thing you can look at a nat in detail from 15 feet. But then there is “Photo Shop” to make the bad things disappear. <br />I agree with you all. If you don't “use” it you just have a very large trophy. Cool to look at but I can look at someone else's and keep my money in my pocket and my hands clean.