Offshoreonly.com - dont get angry

Quote:

Originally Posted by rak rua (Post 4358883)

I understand the reaasoning behind preserving old race boats, what they stand for and what they did for boating as it exists today, BUT..........
How do we preserve these boats?
Most of them end up rotting away in someone's barn, a very small number get restored and used 5 times a years for a trip down memory lane but do any get restored and end up on show where I would like to see them? Not really.
As the title says, "Don't get angry", but I would like to hear about a well known old race boat been rescued from a long drawn out, slow, painful death in someone's barn and put back in the water and enjoyed by many boating fans.
Imagine having such a piece and using her every weekend. Hull intact, cockpit and cabin remodeled to suit current usage, power updated to 2015 and the boat can still perform handsomely alongside the newer designed boats of today.
Go ahead and breath life into this well known race boat before it's too late. If people still say you have to move away to stay safe from the racing loyalists, ship the boat to me, I'll build a garage just for the boat and I would be proud to give her a nice run every few weeks. You can visit and use her any time you like, I'll make up the spare bed and pick you up at the airport!
RR
EDIT: Don't change the name on the side, where I come from, it's bad luck to change a boats name.

How, is a good question. For the most part real race boats are not made for the general market because of the way they are constructed. In the early days they were built like tanks. Everything was doubled if not tripled along with other ribs and bulkheads. Too heavy for a normal set up. Then the race boats got real light. Only built to last a season or two at most. To add insult to injury when they were made to last only a year or two anything that worth a penny was stripped out of the old and installed in the new boat when the time came. Making the hull basically worthless. Look at what nascar cup cars cost to be put together and how much they go for on Craig’s list just a couple seasons later. Then there’s the one off modifications. Holes cut and drilled for this and that. Box covers made out of paper mache. Motor configurations and placements that makes no sense except to the one person who built it and then sourcing the parts that they had on hand to make it all work. Sounds kind of insane when I think of it. Lol.
I have to say though I would have never bought mine if I didn’t plan on putting it back together as a race boat. Why bother? They usually cost as much or more as a comparable “normal” boat and if you plan on changing it to a normal boat it’s going to cost you way more to convert it to one then if you would have just started with a normal boat and fixed it in the first place. It’s like reinventing the wheel to me.
Also I take mine to the St Michales ACBS boat show every couple years and if you want to see it I’m more than willing to show within reason. And you said something like “but I would like to hear about a well known old race boat been rescued from a long drawn out, slow, painful death in someone's barn and put back in the water and enjoyed by many boating fans.” Well it’s your lucky day …. :whistle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA-bAhO101g

Quote:

Originally Posted by thebondtrader (Post 4359052)

Saw a great old race boat in near perfect shape butchered a few years ago to install turbines.........
Totally up to the owner to do what he/she wants but it doesn't mean the cringe factor is any less.

The same way I hate seeing 4X4 pickup trucks slammed to the ground with low profile tires on it. Or those little 20hp cars with those loud ass tailpipes that sound like a lawnmower that lost its muffler. Different strokes ....