My Trawler Odyssey

As cliché as it is, Welcome aboard! My name is Andy and I bought a wooden 1972 Grand Banks 42 Classic trawler, and it needs a lot of work.

Why on earth would I buy an old wooden boat you may ask. You’re not alone, a large number of people, especially boaters are seriously anti-wood boat. I have read so many post from “seasoned boaters” putting the fear of God into potential buyers of an old woody, explaining how it will be too much work, cost too much money, be a nightmare to maintain, and then proceed to list everything you will “need” to do if you plan on going through with this horrible idea while questioning the intelligence and judgment of the poor soul who up until now was super excited about a really cool old boat he or she saw the potential in and was simply looking for some advice.

Personally, I feel these old boats are an important piece of boating history and for all those out there who want to save that history by keeping these old gals wet and reminding onlookers of what class and style looked like when boating became a real thing for those who would otherwise never experience a nautical lifestyle, follow that dream! However, do know that the naysayers aren’t completely wrong. An old wood boat will most definitely be a lot of work to restore and or maintain, and if you don’t plan on learning new skills and doing the majority of the work yourself it will get very expensive very quickly.

With that said, if you have the desire, ambition, and energy knowing you are going to need to learn new things, and understand you are going to make mistakes, freak out, make more mistakes and eventually figure it out and celebrate those wins like no other, you can make the dream reality. Why do I believe that? I’m glad you asked. Let me tell you my journey that has made even me wonder if I have made the worst decision of my life to date.

I have had a few boats over the years, if you count dinghies and canoes 13 in total. As for “real” boats, 6. All of them being of the “good old boat” verity. Ill post a pic if your curious and you can check them out. In order of ownership they are:

1960’s 16’ Clippercraft runabout

1976 C & C 26 Encounter Sloop

1982 Ericson 36 Sloop

1978 Mariner 40 Ketch

1975 Stamas 24

1972 Grand Banks 42 Classic

As you might have noticed, most of my time on the water has been sailing. I consider my C & C my first real boat. It had to be kept at a marina and I got my first real taste of all that was involved in the cost of ownership of a boat.

I have such a vivid memory of buying that boat. It all started with an eBay auction for a completely different boat, a Catalina 30 over by Detroit. It was list through Boat Angle, a boat donation site. I continued to bid on the boat to the very end of the auction and lost it by $10. One of my let’s say quirks, is once I set my mind to something I don’t much like failing or losing, so from that point on I was pretty set on buying a sailboat. A few months later I came across Wind Affair, the C & C 26 at a local boat yard. I called my wife Linda at work and said “Don’t make any plans for Saturday, we are going to look at a sailboat!” She responded with “Do we sail?” and I excitedly replied “we will”. We ended up looking at 3 or 4 different sailboats that Saturday, a week later Wind Affair was mine and we were learning about anti-fouling bottom paint, standing rigging, running rigging, sail types and slip fees. It was the beginning of a journey that truly changed our lives and provided ample adventures as well as introduced us to a whole new world, “marina life”. Every boat since has been different with its own personality and set of problems and needs. Each one giving me new knowledge and teaching me new skills. My wife loved to watch the transformation of the latest “project boat” and helped and supported me through the successes and frequent “oh crap!” moments. I lost her to cancer in `23 before we could finish sprucing up the Stamas, which I finished and sold last spring. I will miss her dearly on the new project boat being my encouragement and sanity, but I know she will be keeping an eye on it all along the way. She taught me so much about how to live life and what you can achieve when you put your heart into it I know Odyssey is going to be amazing when she is finished. This one will be with me for a long time.