The Adventure

I guess it all started when the family took our usual summer trip to Port Townsend Washington in August of 08. Our son "E" usually likes to hang out at the beach and hike around Fort Worden. Well this time something in the marina was calling his name. Everyone in our family likes boats, so I agreed to go and hang out at the docks.

This was something E has never done before. After about two hours looking around (something easy to do in PT, unlike Berkeley where the cops will show up wondering what you are doing behind the locked gates without permission) E spotted a small Laser sailboat with a for sale sign on it. "WOW, only 200 bucks," he said. I responded with, "only another 500 to get it to our house." E pleaded for me to buy it several times during our 10 day stay. The more he said it, the more I started thinking how cool it would be to have a boat. Not the Laser. Not just a boat to go out on the bay with, but a cool project that we could work on together. A bonding thing... A learning experience.

I think it was on the way home that I proposed the idea to the family. It was unanimously agreed upon to start looking on Craig's List when we got back home. Our budget was $500, which made the hunt a fun challenge. So... for about 2 months, I searched several times a day for our perfect boat. A couple of good prospects came and went. We even drove a couple hours down to Watsonville to check out a Higgins that turned out to be worm food.

It was some time in October 08 when I spotted the ad for the Bell Boy.

Here's a screenshot of the actual ad that I saw on CL.

The Trip to Novato
After reading the boat was in a garage for 30 years, I immediately emailed the owner, knowing that the boat would be desirable and solid. I found out that I was the first to email, and we arranged for me to come see the boat. I drove out to Novato and met Ruth and her daughter Jennifer. The two of them were quite pleasant and I knew that we would hit it off.

The garage door was open, and I caught my first glimpse of "Can Do" as Ruth called her. Ruth explained that her husband had "passed away" and that this was his boat. She said her husband used the boat to fish in the ocean out near the Farallon Islands. And... that she had never taken a ride. Plus... she didn't know much about the boat. She motioned me to take a look.

I climbed on board and went straight for the bilge. I had to move a ton of old dusty fishing gear to get to the access hatch. I think I must have let out some sort of funny noise when I opened it, because Ruth and Jennifer both said: "What is it?" "UHH, Oh... it's good. I mean, it's solid." I responded, trying to sound a bit less excited. What I was thinking was, "WOW... a 50 year old boat with solid wood." I continued to check out the boat, and answer Ruth and Jennifer's questions about what I was looking for. I explained about stringers and bulkheads and transoms and what the various fishing equipment was that they were curious about. I noticed that the transom had a crack and separation in the plywood. This was probably going to be the biggest job in the restoration, aside from the motor work (if I decide to to take that on) I chatted with them about growing up in Seattle around boats, and how this was to be a father and son project. I told them what a perfect boat it was. They expressed some anxiety about how I was to get the boat home, since the trailer was in such poor condition. I assured them that with a little elbow grease, I could make it work. As it turns out, the trailer was in horrible condition. It looked as though it had been dipped many times in salt water without being washed afterwards. Something that can totally ruin a trailer in a short time. There was about a 1/4 inch of iron oxide on the surface of the metal making it difficult to assess the condition of the frame. Plus... one of the hubs was missing. Argh!

Well, I decided to go for it. I said that I would go and talk it over with my wife and son, and get back to them with an offer. I drove back home with a lot to digest.


Taking the Plunge

Well after talking it over, we decided to offer Ruth $200 for the boat. With another $250 for the towing to Richmond, it would be under budget. I telephoned Ruth and offered her the $200. She seemed a bit disappointed with the amount, but very happy that the boat would go to somebody who would cherish and restore such a wonderful old classic. So I drove out to Ruth's house and gave her $200 in cash. I promised to take her and her daughter for a ride when we got the boat on the water.

The next day, I drove to Novato to check out the condition of the trailer and consult some towing companies. First, what I discovered was that the right hub was missing all together, and the spindle was a non-standard size. A wheel hub would have to be found somewhere. Some local parts suppliers said it would be impossible to find. Second, the towing company would not put the load on their flatbed without both wheels intact.

With some of the air in my sails gone, I took some measurements of the spindle and went back home to regroup.

The Plan
After a sleepless night, and some hardcore figurin' and sipherin', I came up with a plan.

The next day, I went to my neighbor's junk yard and showed him the drawing I had made of the spindle with the dimensions. I told him it had to be a six bolt hub. It only took him 10 seconds to remember off the top of his head where in his yard he had an old Chevy pickup hub that he thought would fit. I found the hub in his yard, and measured the bearings. I thought I might have to grind the spindle a bit to get it to fit, but it was probably going to work! I tried to pay him, but he gave me the hub and said to bring it back when I was done with it. I told him I would bring it back, and the trailer too. He laughed and said he could use the scrap.

So off I went to Novato with my grinder and old Chevy hub in hand.

When I arrived, I jacked the trailer up off the blocks it was on, and carefully slid the hub onto the spindle. I discovered that the inside bearing fit perfectly, but the outside bearing needed to be just a tad larger. So I fired up the grinder and took off about an eighth of an inch all around the outside of the spindle. I retried the hub, and it went on with no problem. Now, since I had ground down the outside of the spindle, the threads to hold the nut were gone. Rather than re-thread the spindle, I just temporarily put a washer and cotter pin on it. I wasn't going to drive it away, but rather have it put onto a flatbed. I put the wheel on it, pumped up the tire, and felt that would satisfy the towing company.

I called them up, and they were there in 30 minutes. The driver didn't even bat an eye, hooked up his chain-hook to the tongue of the trailer and pulled the boat right out of the garage and up onto his waiting truck.

Here's a picture of the moment when this old lady saw sunshine for the first time in 30 some odd years.

Follow the restoration here: http://shareaproject.com/pages/projectTut,p,509,00.html