Moe Boat Works

David Moe

Classic Cutters Rendezvous

Owners of Cape George Cutters, Bristol Channel Cutters, and Falmouth Cutters are invited to rendezvous in Port Townsend late summer 2011 for a weekend of fun and sailing. The event is hosted by Cape George Marine Works and Moe Boat Works. Point Hudson Marina has been reserved for the event which is close to downtown Port Townsend and the NW Maritime Center. Come celebrate the rich heritage of owning yachts of exceptional quality and durability. Share your stories and adventures with other classic cutter owners. It is time to plan a sailing trip to the Pacific Northwest to the sail in the San Juan and Canadian Gulf Island after enjoying Classic Cutters Rendezvous in historic Port Townsend.

“How to Launch a Dream” or “Get that Boat Out of My House”

We left off at a boat for auction, so...

Skookum 28

skookum 28 at moe boat works
500 dollars? I had heard that a person could make killer deals buying a boat in a distress sale. The auction was at the local boat yard which had the dubious distinction of being called the boat yard of Broken Dreams. It is true that boat yards could be called Dream Yards. Boats represent freedom and just getting away from the burdens of land work. But some boats never make it out of the boat yard.
The boat yard was just a ¼ of a mile up the hill from where I worked so I made an appointment meet the owner, who goes by the name of Dauby, to see what was in the Dream Yard. I had had a San Juan 28 that I sold in 1991 when I moved to Seattle after a divorce. She got the house and I got the boat. Take the boat and shove off – so I sailed to Seattle in 1989 to start a new life. I met Renee, who was into horses and did have the passion for owning a boat. I was ready to let go of the boat. I ended up trading for a down payment on an apartment house in Anacortes. Then for years The boat owning disease lay dormant in my psychic.

Dauby was waiting for me at the yard with a curious look on his face. "Where is this boat up for auction?" I asked, thinking that I might be ready to make the deal of my life. He took me to a back part of the yard where up against the fence was a fiberglass hull that had the back half covered in blackberries. The bow of the boat look interesting but I didn’t know what it was. As I moved to the back of the boat something really struck my eye. This was a double ended 28-foot hull which didn’t have a full keel or wasn’t a fin keel. Being a Norwegian, I can’t resist rubber necking at a sailboat with a canoe stern. Great hull design for sailing in rough weather where you might have to deal with following seas. Some men can get enamored by the back end of a beautiful woman, but it takes a Norsekie to lose his mind admiring the back end of a sailboat. "Dauby, what is this?" I felt a major attack of boat fever brewing in my brain. I might be falling in love. The underbody of this hull was so sweet that it looked like it could ride easy through the waves and take me to far off places.

Dauby must have seen that he might have found the person who would get this problem out of his boat yard. "Come back on Friday and bid on it – you might buy it for $500 dollars." I have often thought what it would be like to own a Baba 30, which is a beautiful yacht built in Tiawan during the boating boom of the 1980s. But this was different and even better in my mind because it wasn’t a full keel. It would turn quicker and be lighter in weight. A great hull for sailing in the San Juans and Gulf Islands. It didn’t matter to me that the hull was covered in blackberries, that the deck beams were rotten, and that it had a small bush growing in the place where the lead ballast should be. I felt like I had just discovered a beautiful woman in raggedy clothes that everyone had overlooked. Truly a diamond in the rough. Dauby said the owner of the boat the last few years wouldn’t pay the storeage fees each month so after a year of unpaid fees he would put it up for auction. I was hooked and left thinking how I was going to make the deal of the century. That night I fell asleep dreaming of sailing to the San Juans with my grandchildren aboard. After a few hours of peaceful slumber I woke in a sweat full of guilt. You can’t steal someone’s dream. You wouldn’t want someone to do that to you. Wake up, you crook. I could not get back to sleep. I would have to find the person that owned the boat and talk to them.

A good deal?That day I called Dauby and asked if he could give the boat owner’s name. His name was Mike and he lived in Port Angeles. That night I called him and expressed my devoted love for his neglected dream boat. "Mike, I would like to buy your Skookum 28 hull in the boatyard of broken dreams." Mike said, "Really, are you serious? I have more projects than I have years left in my life. If you pay the back storage fees you can have the hull and then I have a deal for you. I have piles of treasures that I have collected over the years that I can sell you for pennies on the dollar. I have the mast, boom, rudder, and boxes of bronze fittings and other stuff that will make you feel like it is Christmas every time you look through the boxes. You know that bronze fittings are almost as valuable as gold."

My mind was spinning with thoughts of finding a gold mine. I was going to get the boat of my dreams for a pittance. My ship had come in. A year of work and $10,000 dollars and I would have a $250,000 sailboat. Mike gave me two old engines and a sail drive. I could just drop in one of the engines some weekend and put the deck and cabin on the next weekend and I would be sailing in no time. I would be the envy of all my friends. I felt so smug. We all know that boat stands for Beautiful Object And Thoughts. When a guy falls in love with a boat no one can say anything that will bring him back to his senses. Some people say a boat is a hole in the water that you fill up with money. What do they know--haven’t they ever been in love?

This bliss lasted a couple of weeks. I even completely forgot to tell my wife that I had bought a boat project, forgot that we were trying to sell our house in Issaquah, that we had bought 5 acres of property in Port Townsend, and that I would be building a house which I had never done before. My creative mind was working overtime. I could just hide the cost of finishing the boat in the home mortgage.