Brian Gilbert - Fix It and Sail: Everything You Need to Know to Buy and Restore a Small Sailboat on a Shoestring

FIX IT AND SAIL

Everything You Need to Know to Buy and Restore a Small Sailboat on a Shoestring

BRIAN GILBERT

Copyright 2006 by International Marine. All rights reserved. Manufactured in the United States of America. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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DOI: 10.1036/0071458093

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I am deeply grateful for the support of many people, during both the reconstruction of my little sailboat and the writing and production of this book. I received many suggestions, tips, and notes of support from the members of the MacGregor e-mail list, sponsored by SailNet. John Acton, Bert Ward, and Jeff Lackey, whom I'd never really met other than through e-mail, all drove several hours to help me celebrate my inaugural sail, which was a really nice gesture.

Bill Van Allen, another individual whom I've only known through e-mails, has been a phenomenal help by proofreading and correcting the early text, suggesting improvements, and so on. He has spent many hours reviewing material, and this book is vastly improved because of his input. Tom Stockwell has also reviewed later versions of this book and made good suggestions, and I'm grateful for his effort.

Bob White graciously posted restoration images and comments on his website, www.macgregor-boats.com , and has donated much programming time and Web space. His website gave me the idea to expand that information into this form.

I am also greatly indebted to the folks at International Marine, whose time and efforts transformed this manuscript into a real book. While I appreciate all who worked on it, I need to especially recognize Bob Holtzman, my editor, whose suggestions have made this book much more readable, and Jonathan Eaton, who had the faith to take this job on in the first place.

I'd also like to thank a few close friends, Mark Kennedy and Suzanne Boisvert, for sailing with me and putting up with my constant chatter about all things sailing so many years ago. And my slipmate, Larry Lee, who was always ready to lend a tool, or a hand, or a sense of humor whenever anyone was working on a boat.

And naturally, I owe a tremendous debt of thanks to my wife Karen, who never once laughed at me or questioned my judgment when I brought a floating trash pile home to decorate her side yard for two years, nor as I continued to throw money into this project. Her continual support has been extremely gratifying. It reminds me of a toast that I read about in Mathew Wilson's Cruising Guide to the Bahamasa toast to:

The wind that blows,
The ship that goes,
And the lass that loved a sailor.

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This book was written with the hope that more people can experience the joy and freedom that sailing in your own boat allows. I've always been hooked on the idea that sailing is for everyone, and that voyaging in your own little boat can be done for a lot less money than many people believe.

This book is ultimately about dispelling some of the myths of sailing. Big, showy boats have been used for ages to demonstrate wealth. In my local library, there's even a sailing book with the subtitle The Beautiful People and Their Beautiful Boats.

Fix It and Sail has nothing to do with that type of boating.

The idea of saving money and sailing may sometimes seem to be mutually exclusive, but my intent is to reconcile these two thoughts as much as possible. A sailboat is a big investment, but it's well within the means of just about anyone as long as you have the desire. Owning a boat and sailing it well are some of life's great pleasures, and they can be enjoyed by you.