Tips for Sailboat Restoration
Ever restored an old sailboat? If you have, you know how therapeutic in can be. Have plans to do so? What follows are my tips to make the project more enjoyable and successful. (This blog post is adapted from an article of mine that appeared in the January/February 2012 issue of Good Old Boat magazine .) I first got into sailing by restoring a 1972 Helms 25 swing keel. I'm not particularly handy, nor did I have boat restoration experience at the time. In fact, restoring a sailboat wasn't "Plan A" for getting into the sailing and cruising lifestyle. However, sometimes the winds of life (and budgets!) don't blow from behind and we can't sail downwind to our future. Instead, we've got to trim the sails and figure out how to make progress towards our windward goals. And so, I picked up a $400 project boat and started to teach myself about restoration. Hopefully you'll some of the tips below useful for your own project. Document the proce