Off the Reservation

[Blue_Heron]

I’ve dusted off the cobwebs and started a new project. You’ll probably notice that it’s not a Seacraft, but it is a classic, and this place is home to me, so here we go. The boat is a ’74 Hewes Bonefisher, a classic Lappy that I picked up for $300 in late ’08 or early ’09 with a marginal trailer and no title.
It had undergone a less than professional restoration at some time in the past, and was due for a complete refit. The guy I bought it from had done most of the demo work, but he found another Hewes in better shape and gave up on the project. What I dragged home was a bare hull with rotten stringers. A little bit of the gunwale cap, made up of waterlogged plywood with some mat and glass over it, was still clinging to the bow. The transom core had been removed, but the outer skin was still there.



I cut the stringers out and removed some of the bottom paint and blistered gelcoat.



I built a cradle to support the stringerless hull, and then ran out of steam because I didn’t want to invest a lot of time into a boat that didn’t have a title.




Before I bought the boat, I went to my local tag agency and asked them to run the FL numbers to make sure the boat hadn’t been stolen. It checked out ok, but it still didn’t have a title. Florida considers title information confidential, so they won’t give you contact info on a title holder. But you can fill out a form asking the last known title holder to contact you and they’ll send it to him on your behalf.

After I brought the boat home, I filled out the form, and a couple weeks later, the guy gave me a call. It went something like, “Listen, I don’t have the title any more, and I don’t want to get into the details, but I’ll be glad to send you a bill of sale.” And that’s what he did. But Florida won’t transfer a title on just a bill of sale; you have to have the title. Dead end, so the boat sat.



That was about the time I bought my 25 Seafari . Thinking the Seafari would be an easier project, probably only take about six months to get back on the water, I dove in. And the Hewes sat for two more years while I worked on the Seafari.

By the time I got the Seafari where I wanted it (I won’t say finished, because it’s not), I had had enough boat work for a while. That was two and a half years ago. Earlier this year, I started to get the itch again. I got in touch with NoBones because he knew a title guy that might be able to help. I made contact, provided the bill of sale and some other info, and the boat is now titled in my name. So it was time to get to work.

More to follow as time allows…