From steamships to classics

[Steamshipwebmaster]

My name is Lee Rusetzke from White Lake Michigan. I am new to the world of classic fiberglass and wooden boats but have been involved in steamship preservation for many years. Our latest project is the Bob-Lo Steamer Ste. Claire.
The Ste. Claire is featured in the new Transformers 4 movie and you can see her first hand on the big screen in the months ahead. I also have a tribute site to the Bob-Lo Steamers. The site forum will not allow me at this time to post links.
I am thrilled to find your site and hope to purchase a classic boat in the next few months, most likely something that someone else has already done the hard work on. I am disabled and cannot do the physical work of restoration, as on the steamships, I am the webmaster and not the hard working volunteer. I love the Dorsett line of mini cruisers, and the stunning mahogany classics. I look forward to participating and would be more than happy to donate my services, graphic design, photography or web site contributor. Thanks for accepting my application for membership. As we say in the steamship business, Full Steam Ahead, 3 Longs and To Shorts to Classic Boat Club (Masters Salute)

[Kelly]

Welcome aboard the fun!
Steamships sound like a lot of fun.

[Helmar]

Welcome aboard Lee. Its good to have you.
At this point we have all the help we can use but will sure keep you in mined. Also you might check out our Gallery.
Sorry but its still being worked on but still, lots of pictures of past events.
Here is one of the Dorsetts that might not be in the gallery as of yet.
[ATTACH]14965[/ATTACH]

[Steamshipwebmaster]

Thank you for the gracious welcome, I saw a Dorsett El Ray for sale but didn't pull the trigger fast enough. Saw the 58 Glaspar below on Fiberglassics for cheap but it needs everything, when I contacted the seller that also does restorations they said a complete restore could go for between 5-15 K depending on how I wanted it done, well that is just too much. Don't see many of these fiberglass classics in Michigan but I am looking. Not being an experienced boat buyer I am a little gun shy on purchasing anything. Hate to hire a surveyor only to tell me the boat is junk. I think I can determine this myself. All you good folks appear to be on the West Coast, that's a long drive to buy a boat and shipping from there would probably cost 4 or 5 times the purchase price. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome, if this is not the proper place to post this response please.
1958 Glasspar del Mar below for sale
They were asking 1200 on another forum, now it looks like 750 if you don't have them do the work and 350 if you do, but a 5-15 K restoration
is out of this retired mans reach.
et me know.
Thanks again
Lee

[Helmar]

5 to 15 having it done is right in the ball park for around a 40 dollars a hour fee.

If you looking for project boats (which I know you not able to restore) We have a fair amount of them for Free.
The idea was to try and score the boats, look for a person that wants it restored and have a job.
That was about 5 years ago.
Having a surveyor looking at the ones we restored 5 years ago, they felt the Resto boats were Safer, Better Built and were not like new boats once they were taken off the showroom floor. Once off the showroom floor, they lost Thousands of dollars...
The Resto boats we did, they felt the value was there and once out of the Resto shop, they Held there value.

I don't think I will ever see that again in my shop but would almost like to start teaching this fiberglass restoration trade before all of us are retired.. Due to the economy taking time to come back (we all knew that and if not, head in the sand...) we might not have anyone around to teach the trade any longer.
Sorry, books are good information but you need real experience to make this stuff happen.

I am hoping to restore one more and that is the Dorsett Catalina. I have most of the original parts...

[TheBronze]

Welcome aboard, Lee. Keep looking out there and you'll find something.

Helmar,

Great write up on the world of boat restoration. With the help of forums like this and with enough interest, I think that there will be many years of restoration of oldies to come. I think that the best way for these skills to pass on would be something like the wooden boat museum in PT. A working shop like that is a great way to introduce young people to the art of restoring these beauties. The trick is, it takes a good deal of cash to get a building in a good public place with walk through traffic. I think there would be interest if people visiting a place like PT, Poulsbo, etc. A lot of people just don't know that these boats are still out there. Public visibility is key!