How Serious Do We Take Our Boats' Needs?

I was digging around this afternoon, and found some pictures of the work that we completed on Knarr US 103, roughly 4 years ago. This was another one of those winter projects, that just never seemed to end. I have not found any of the pictures from the start point, but you should be able to get the idea.........

Let's start with a little back history........ After the 1997 WBRA Season, my father was approached by long time folkboat legend, (And at that time, current Knarr owner) Mickey Waldear; curious if he would be interested in a three way partnership along with Russ Williams in Mickey's Knarr; US 103. He accepted, and that winter the boat was brought to Hayward and turned into a racing machine. The whole time she spent on the hard, was making everything lighter, stronger and faster. The hull and bottom, faired to the thickness of a pencil mark. A different mast (please note: I didn't say new !!!). All the time while Russ worked on a new sail design. There were no thrills on the boat at that time. It was strictly a race boat. Mickey had previously had some work done by Soren Hanson; which was one of the first Knarr's done here in the local fleet. Many have since followed. The major re-fit was a plywood deck at that time. Below is a picture of the boat during the 2002 IKC........At the end of the 2003 WBRA season, Mickey and Russ both expressed the desire to sell their partnerships in the boat, and my father accepted. Now that the boat was his, and it was a proven race winner, (1998 - 2nd, 2000 - Season Champion, 2001 - Season Champion, 2003 - 2nd, 2004 - 4th, 2005 - 3rd) it was time to make her as pretty as she was fast.

So, During the 2004/05 winter he did just that. The boat headed to Soren's shop first, and that is were all the "Rough Framing" took place. Soren would work on the boat during the day, then my father and I would meet at his shop and work. The list was extensive. The first of the major projects were the keel bolts. Below is a picture just after the keel went back on.......Then came the major retrofit. My father had always loved Soren's cabins, cockpits, and toe rails. They basically tore the boat apart at that point. The following pictures are at different stages along that process......... And I can't forget about the boat needing a new stem....... She kind of looked like she had a broken nose there for a little while........Then the cabin top was cold molded and then placed.......

The new toe rails were completed shortly after, and I was called in to pick the boat up and bring her to Hayward, where she would have all the finish work done before heading back to the race course.

The following three months were spent staining, varnishing, and polishing. I do not have, or have yet to find any, pictures of that stage, but here are a couple the day that we loaded her up on the trailer to put her back in the water..........

Just thought that I would share...........