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Restorers Of Fine Woodwork

International yacht, fine wood refinishing & restoration.

Renova Refit is an international yacht refit company specializing in the art of fine wood finishing and restoration. Located in the yachting capital of the world, we are South Florida’s interior refit experts. For over 25 years, we have been handcrafting beautiful wood finishes and today we are just as passionate about our pursuit for perfection since the day we started.

Renova Refit sets the gold standard in high auality restorations & repairs

Excellence in hand craftsmanship & detail, exceptional workmanship, we restore your most precious investments.

Our client’s tell us that it’s our exceptional workmanship and attention to detail that really sets us apart. We enjoy hearing that, but for Renova, our ultimate goal is to continue to ensure the lasting value and beauty of our client’s most precious investments. This is what makes us smile!

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International Yacht Restoration School – Newport, RI

I.Y.R.S. is recognized as the ACBS Associate Member of the week.

The International Yacht Restoration School or I.Y.R.S . is an Associate Member of the Antique and Classic Boat Society.  ACBS recognizes them with gratitude for their support of our organization. 

I.Y.R.S.  EMPOWERS STUDENTS TO MAKE, BUILD, RESTORE & MAINTAIN ALMOST ANYTHING!   They have been an Associate Member of ACBS since 2012. And they have been the recipient of Scholarship funds from ACBS since our scholarship program began.  

I.Y.R.S. , located in Rhode Island, welcomes newly graduated from high school students as well as those seeking training for a career change.  They offer major programs in these areas:

Boatbuilding & Restoration – a 20-month program which enrolls each September.

IYRS’ Boatbuilding & Restoration program is a comprehensive two-year program which combines the time-honored craft of wooden boatbuilding with the modern problem solving skills to succeed in today’s thriving job market. IYRS’ curriculum is regarded as the best in the industry, training the next generation of master craftspeople.

Marine Systems –  a 6-month program which enrolls in March and September

IYRS’ Marine Systems program is an immersive learning experience with a curriculum guided by the needs of industry-leading companies. Covered over six-months are techniques and skills needed to maintain and repair all essential marine systems, as well as career planning, key certification exam preparation and real-world internship experience.

Composites Technology – a 6-month program which enrolls in March and September

Considered to be the wave of the future in the manufacturing and design industries, IYRS’ Composites Technology program offers students unique exposure to composite building materials, emerging technologies, mold-making and infusion processing, all with a heightened focus on career preparation and certification.

I.Y.R.S.,  called “iris”, has a great website with many videos.  Click here to enjoy one of their videos:  International Yacht Restoration School – Newport, RI

The Antique and Classic Boat Society appreciates the extra support given to our organization by Associate Members.   Click here to see this year’s list of Associate Members .

If you or your business would like to support the Antique and Classic Boat Society by being an ACBS Associate Member, you may join here or contact ACBS Executive Director Dan Gyoerkoe at [email protected] or call (315) 686-2628.

Do you ever take donations of wooden boats that need to be restored? I know of a beautiful wooden 51’ Alden ketch that could be a possibility if you’re interested. Call Sharon at 1 805 -878-8201 CA

Please contact the school. You may use this link to view the school’s contact page, https://iyrs.edu/contact-us/

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Visiting the International Yacht Restoration School in Newport, Rhode Island

On yesterday’s blog, I mentioned that I spent last weekend in Newport, Rhode Island, visiting my good friends, Holly Bannister and Doug Newhouse.  It was an invigorating weekend of hiking, touring, and boating in and around that historic town.  On Saturday, we had the great pleasure of seeing an amazing school called the International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS).  IYRS is an internationally known school, focused on preparing students to enter and excel in all aspects of modern boatbuilding.  IYRS is a highly technical and deeply craft-oriented establishment that offers the most advanced technical training in Boatbuilding & Restoration, Marine Systems, and Composites Technology.  The entire focus is on making and building boats and I have to say that I was totally impressed with everything I saw at IYRS.

[albumid2 id=CaptionedVisitToIYRSGetMoreInfoOnlineAndFromDoughNewhouse]

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STEM skills at work: International Yacht Restoration School offers chance for second career

NEWPORT – Full-time teacher to full-time student? Seeking a new career at age 55?

Nick Willis of Providence didn't rush into this life-altering decision. He said he and his wife, nurse practitioner Heather Glenn, like to carefully weigh all factors before making their decisions. In this case, once they put all relevant information on the scale, the decision, while pushing them a tad out of their comfort zone, was clear.

This past September, with a long career as a software engineer for Raytheon and, most recently, two very satisfying years teaching mathematics at the Blackstone Academy Charter School in Pawtucket in his rear-view mirror, Willis showed up at the IYRS School of Technology and Trades, enrolled in its six-month Marine Systems program.

He recently completed the on-campus program and is now honing his electrical systems drafting skills, and making a few dollars again, in the school's externship program.

Willis said he had a “great career” at Raytheon and labeled Blackstone Charter teaching the best job he's ever had. He said the students were amazing, the faculty passionate, and the leadership committed to maintaining “a wonderful school." Leaving BACS was not done without emotion.

“IYRS really tugged at my heart, though, and I felt it would create an opportunity in the future to be teaching something a little bit more pragmatic than factoring quadratic equations,” Willis said. “There's a lot of talk about the importance of STEM. Well, if you want STEM, you need look no further than a marine diesel engine or electrical system.”

How the International Yacht Restoration School programs work

IYRS was founded, in 1993, as the International Yacht Restoration School. Founders Elizabeth Meyer and John Mecray envisioned a a true wooden boat restoration program. The school over three decades has grown to now offer four programs of study – boat building and restoration (20 months), composites technology (9 months), digital modeling and fabrication (9 months), and marine systems (6 months). All four programs have been accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges.

According to Julia McCann, IYRS director of marketing, the majority of the school's students are career changers, and the externship program is a key component of making the switch effective for students. She noted that IYRS collaborates with highly-regarded industry partners for both externships and job placement. Students and alumni can access the IYRS job portal. The school, she said, has an 85 percent job placement average for grads, with hobbyists accounting for a portion of the 15 percent.

“IYRS graduates typically excel fast in their new careers,” she said, “rising to new roles and opportunities with their employers.”

More: RIC's cybersecurity institute plans to grow with AI courses and new 'cyber range'

In a blog post on the IYRS website, Willis noted that marine systems students enjoy multiple field trips to boat yards, electronics shops, and suppliers and get to hear from guests speakers and enjoyed a career day filled with employers from Maine to California. One day, he said, three vice-presidents from nationwide Safe Harbor Marinas visited the students. The students, he said, also had the pleasure of Al Thomason, co-founder of engine-base charge control company Wakespeed, spending a day with them.

The IYRS' very concentrated education model – essentially five full work days per week – rapidly takes students from Day 1 to work force ready. Willis said that with their savings and his wife's income and some spending adjusting when needed, they were able to financially handle his paying for school and being out of work for half a year. They saw it and now see it as a wise investment. He described his wife as “incredibly supportive” during the new career adventure.

Students of all ages and experience levels

Willis said his fellow IYRS students included those right out of high school as well as people retiring from the Navy and Coast Guard. He said he immensely enjoyed the support of his cohorts. Some of his fellow students are taking a career paths to Maine, to the Caribbean, with others sticking around to help continue the state's history of master boat building.

Willis said he was experiencing some nerves leading up to his back-to-school start date. Those nerves were soothed, he said, on Day 1 when IYRS brought all the students into the boat building and restoration area and emphasized the inclusive school culture. That, he said, was followed by two weeks of message reinforcement.

“They could write the book on what it takes to create a safe learning environment, and I don't just mean safety with tools, although they are good at that, too,” he said.

Combining technical knowledge with practical skills

Born in England and raised on Massachusetts' North Shore, Wills said that while he lived most of his life near the ocean, his passion for boats and the maritime world did not surface until 2020. Due to COVID, he and his wife were itching for outdoor activities. They took sailing lessons. (“She enjoys it, I'm a bit of a nut about it,” he said.). They subsequently bought a 37-foot sailboat built in 1999.

When he was teaching algebra and pre-calculus at Blackstone Valley Charter School, Willis said that when he showed students pictures of some of the electrical work he was doing on his boat, some of them said they weren't smart enough to do such work. Wills said he knew his students were plenty smart enough, and got him thinking seriously about IYRS and that perhaps what he really should be doing is helping children connect into the maritime trades.

That dream still lives.

“I am exiting the Marine Systems program with what I feel is world class fundamental skills as a marine electrician/mechanic,” he said. “There is huge demand out there for this, with the opportunity to become highly skilled and specialized.

“I still want to teach, and eventually would like to be involved in a 'semester-at-sea' style program that is accessible to kids who may not have had the chance to be out on the water, and also includes a maritime trades element in the curriculum.”

Want to be a guide?: Newport Historical Society tours are expanding to meet demand

The cost of the marine systems program starting in the fall is about $25,700. Federal financial aid and other grants and scholarships are available.

Willis said the starting pay for marine systems graduates ranges from $25 to $30 per hour. He said he plans to work part-time and then enter the IYRS' 20-month Boatbuilding and Restoration Program. Local boat builders, he said, have told him marine systems plus BBR is a “highly desirable combination.”

“Nick’s story,” McCann said, “is typical in that most of our students are seeking to align a passion or interest to work with their hands with a way to earn a living or follow through on a life-long dream. In Nick’s case, he was initially looking to combine his love of teaching with his passion for sailing. After completing IYRS’s marine systems program, he is exploring other opportunities that he wasn’t aware of prior to enrollment.”

We’re a team of about 22 refinisher, painter, professional problem solvers who works around the clock to make CHI Yacht Refinishing the most powerful marine restoration and a go-to source for routine maintenance and service.

CHI Yacht Refinishing provides you the solutions you need, and takes great pride in meeting the most discerning quality expectations and standards whether your yacht requires exterior painting, interior refinishing, detailing, special coating, fairing of additions and extensions while maintaining a fair pricing structure. CHI Yacht Refinishing is the source for all of your marine vessel service needs, from small projects to total vessel retrofits.

CHI Yacht Refinishing started in the early 90’s and was built up on a strong family foundation . After several years of active involvement in smaller yachts on both east and west coast of America, we discovered a shortfall of professional yacht restoration services and expended our reach and based our- selves in South Florida – The yachting mecca of the world.

Even though CHI Yacht Refinishing was founded in the USA, we offer our services at Global scale to service private and government yacht anywhere in the world. CHI Yacht Refinishing is proud to be part of the global marine industry and a well-respected, trusted company in South Florida and International waters.

” Extremely competent and very professional company that is reliable and willing to walk the extra mile. I would highly recommend CHI Yacht Refinishing to anyone that requires specialized finishing to professional yachting standards in a timely manner.”

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International Yacht Restoration School

The institutional mission is: To teach the skills history art and science of restoring maintaining and building boats and their systems; To preserve the knowledge heritage craftsmanship and aesthetic genius inherent in these boats; To safeguard our campus of historic buildings as an important part of America’s working waterfront; and To show that honest work integrity and mastery of craft are among life’s greatest achievements.

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School Information

• 449 Thames St Newport, Rhode Island 02840
• (401) 848-5777
• (401) 842-0669

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* All data is provided by the school or compiled from IPEDS as of December 2018

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Building, restoration, and repair with epoxy

International Yacht Restoration School (IYRS)

By cynthia goss.

Photo above: IRYS Students splash the Herreschoff 12.5 they restored during the school term on launch day. Image courtesy of IYRS.

If you travel to the campus of the International Yacht Restoration School , you might think you are walking into the past. The staff offices are inside a restored 1831 mill building. Students restore wooden boats from the 19th and 20th centuries while learning plank-on-frame construction inside a cavernous building from 1903. And hanging off the IYRS docks are majestic classics from a bygone era.

But surface appearances are deceiving. This Newport, Rhode Island school looks forward. The IYRS trains craftsmen for today’s marine industry while continually developing their programs to keep up abreast of the skills needed in the modern marketplace.

An overview of Restoration Hall, originally built in 1903 as an electricity plant. A 6-Metre restored by second-year IYRS students is in the foreground. Photo by Caitlin Wood

To develop new programs, the IYRS canvasses industry partners to learn about their workforce needs and coordinates with organizations such as the Rhode Island Marine Trades Association and the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC). This has helped them to develop a family of programs, using their core two-year program in Boatbuilding & Restoration as a successful model.

Beginning in 2004, IYRS added evening and weekend professional development courses. In 2006 they added a nine-month Marine Systems program that teaches students to install, maintain, and troubleshoot onboard systems and trains them to sit for the relevant ABYC certifications.

Students in the IYRS Marine Systems Program learn to install, maintain, and troubleshoot onboard systems used on classic and modern boats. Photo by Jack Renner

In September of 2010, IYRS’s third full-time program in Composites Technology opened for business. The nine-month program emphasizes advanced composites. Advisors in the composites trades have lauded this curriculum for its deft mix of hands-on work and theory. “Think of a tree,” explains Director of Student & Industry Relations Clark Poston. “The trunk is our core restoration program; the other programs are our branches.”

The technologies taught at IYRS are diverse, but there are common threads among the programs. All students learn to master a craft while developing their skill on real-world projects. Restoration students restore 12′ Beetle Cats in their first year, and move onto new challenges in their second year. These may include restoring 6-Meters, a Concordia yawl, and a series of motor launches. Composites students study with lead instructor Henry Elliot and learn their craft while building a fleet of Moths. IYRS’s Susan Daly said, “We wanted a building project that would teach and test our students, while also capturing their imaginations.”

Students in the Boatbuilding & Restoration Program at IYRS work in teams of two in their first year to restore 12-foot Beetle Cats. Photo by Jay Picotte

These diminutive single-handed hydrofoils have been clocked at 27 knots and will be more than an effective teaching tool. IYRS will partner with a Newport public sailing facility, Sail Newport, to bring these high-performance dinghies to the public. “Our sport does a great job of teaching young kids to sail, but we don’t do as good a job at keeping those kids engaged in the sport as they grow into young adults,” said Sail Newport Executive Director Brad Read. Once built, the dynamic Moths will join the Sail Newport fleet as the perfect magnet for young sailors who might otherwise migrate from the sport.

Each summer, IYRS has a unique graduation rite. After certificates are handed out, the graduation crowd walks to the school docks for a ceremonious launching of the boats students spent their year working on. In summer 2011, when the first Composites students graduate, traditional Beetle Cats will be splashed alongside otherworldly Moths. That scene will signal what many already know: IYRS has grown from its historic roots into an institution that trains students in the many technologies used in boatbuilding today.

Second-year students graduate from the Beetle Cats and work in larger teams on projects that present new challenges. Here, a student works on the restoration of the 35-foot motor launch Corsair, originally launched in 1939 for yachtsman and financier J.P. Morgan. Photo by Caitlin Wood

For more information on IYRS, visit www.iyrs.org .

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Five classic superyachts brought back to life from the brink

Related articles, superyacht directory.

Not every owner relishes the prospect of a shiny new-build when they have the option to restore a beloved classic. Read on to discover some of the world’s most fascinating and valuable classic superyachts, which were brought back from the brink by their patient owners...

There is something intensely magical about the act of restoration: the feat of rescuing something that has fallen into a state of disrepair and returning it to its original condition. For owners, there is a process of falling completely for the yacht – something which compels them. British sailor Tracey Edwards recalls how restoring the yacht that became Maiden ceased to be purely about practicalities. “I fell in love with her,” she remembers simply. It is something to which many owners could relate.

 The recovery of something that was once great is a venture infused with nostalgia and romance. Particularly, perhaps, when its heyday is recorded in writing or in photographs that survive. And while this could apply to lots of things, the very word “wreck” is strongly redolent of boats. 

A wreck that has been restored, of course, is no longer a wreck. But henceforth she will always have once been one – and this fact will remain an element in the boat’s story, a source of pride and interest for those who continue to sail her.

Built in 1930, Atlantide (as she is now known) is now in her 90s – a venerable old lady, sprightlier than most nonagenarians after judicious refits. She is a beautiful boat with an illustrious past.

Designed by Alfred Mylne , Atlantide served as a tender for a J Class America’s Cup challenger. Then, in 1940, she was one of the “Little Ships” that evacuated more than 330,000 Allied troops from the Dunkirk beaches, entitling her, unusually, to fly the St George’s Cross.

After a post-war refit, she spent 50 years in the Mediterranean and was given her current name in the 1980s. Then, shortly before 2000, she was bought by yachtsman and technologist Tom Perkins, who devoted time and money to the further refit that Atlantide desperately needed.

Yacht designer Ken Freivokh remembers the project with great fondness, travelling to Malta with Perkins to view the boat. When he did so he was horrified. Her condition, he recalls, was “very, very poor, half-abandoned”. She was being used as a dive-boat, and an out-of-keeping superstructure had been put on top, destroying the boat’s elegant sheer line and making her look “very strange”.

What he could see immediately, however, was her underlying beauty and potential. But she needed a major restoration, and about 90 per cent of the plating along her spine had to be either restored or replaced. Freivokh contacted an aluminium worker who built an entirely new and more appropriate superstructure.

Freivokh and his team were given exceptional input, the licence (and the money) to do whatever they felt necessary. In addition to the standard requirements of yacht renovation, they had extraordinary paintings and antiques at their disposal. They were able to commission further art deco artworks too – of a style that complemented the yacht and her era. The boat and her contents might have ended up, he reckons now, as “inch-for-inch the most extraordinary yacht afloat”: a big claim, but one that’s hard to deny.

After Perkins’ passing in June 2016, Atlantide was sent to Royal Huisman in the Netherlands by another owner and American technologist – Jim Clark, who also built J Class boat Hanuman as well as Hyperion . It is fair to say that, for all the ups and downs of her past, Atlantide ’s future looks rosy, well beyond her centenary in 2030.

Western Flyer

We might think 2021 a bad year, but in 1940, as Nazi Germany invaded Norway, the world truly “went to hell”, wrote the future Nobel-laureate John Steinbeck. Far from these hostilities, having published The Grapes of Wrath to both acclaim and notoriety the previous year, Steinbeck motored along the coast of Mexico and California, into the Gulf of California. There, as he had hoped, “the great world dropped away”.

In an out-of-season sardine-fishing “purse-seiner”, then named Western Flyer , he and a small crew examined and collected marine animals, negotiating “wrecks and wayward currents”. Though they marvelled at “the incredible beauty of the tide pools” and “the swarming species”, it was no idyll. Things seemed “to sting and pinch and bite” worse than in other places. The region was “fierce and hostile and sullen”. Written up as The Log from The Sea of Cortez , largely as a result of Steinbeck’s enduring fame, the venture has entered literary folklore – and attached added renown to the boat.

During the decades since, the Western Flyer has – like all fishing boats – pursued catches (different species, caught often in quite different areas) as marine populations have shifted and declined: perch; king crab; salmon – far to the north or further south. The story of Western Flyer is the story of the Pacific west-coast fishery, and the story of humanity more broadly.

Rechristened Gemini , at times her ownership was hazy. Located by her unchanging call sign WB4044, she had come to resemble a ghost ship: paint peeling, mud-spattered, strangled by weed and timbers rotting. She has sunk at least twice, become completely unseaworthy, and all the time the price of restoration has grown.

She is owned now by a marine geologist called John Gregg who is restoring her with the help of Tim Lee, a shipwright from the west coast. Whereas the wheelhouse, Lee remarks, could remain remarkably intact and original – around 90 per cent of it – the hull was in a shocking condition. The starboard side, in particular, he remembers, was “completely rotten”. “If the boat had rolled over” she would probably, he remarks, “not have been salvageable.”

While some backbone timbers are original, it has been necessary to basically build a new hull. Time cannot be denied. But she – and the wider world – are lucky indeed that she has found people enthusiastic and committed enough to restore her, and to ensure that this piece of literary history can continue to “fly” along the western coast.

Shenandoah of Sark

More than once the famous yacht Shenandoah of Sark has been pulled back from the brink. As others have observed, she has really lived. She has seen all sides of life and come, in the process, perilously close to extinction.

First built for an American financier in 1902, she was in Germany before the First World War and then confiscated by the British Navy. She was given the name Shenandoah after the war, then rechristened again, this time by an Italian prince – another boat to be called Atlantide . She spent the Second World War concealed in a Danish shipyard, her masts and one of her engines removed to make her unseaworthy (and less appealing to thieves). Her post-war history included an almost year-long zoological and oceanographic expedition along the African west coast, as well as time spent smuggling in Central America – her precise location is unknown. Seized by French customs in 1962, she was tied up and left to rot before being bought and restored by a French industrialist.

Working as a charter yacht, she was sold in 1986 to a Swiss businessman who ordered a complete restoration at New Zealand shipyard  McMullen & Wing . The majority of the riveted hull was replaced, and the result was impressive: in 1996 she won the ShowBoats International award for Best Classic Yacht Restoration.

Together the owner and the yard have lavished attention upon every detail: from polished teak or redwood planking, to art deco lights and a unique, detachable deck cockpit. Further attention since to her rig and her mechanics has ensured that this is one yacht in a very fine position to advance far into – and perhaps complete – her second century.

Well past her centenary (having been built in 1913, on the eve of the First World War) Vagrant is one of the oldest yachts still afloat. There are a small number of older human beings living – but not many. And the comprehensively refitted Vagrant will almost certainly outlast them all. In 2017 she had a major refit – for almost two years – in Dutch restoration yard Royal Huisman. Her owner’s instructions were that “ Vagrant should be ready to last for another one hundred years.” Well, who can say? It certainly isn’t impossible.

Back in the distant past, Vagrant ’s designer, Nathanael Greene Herreshoff , dominated the America’s Cup between the late 19th century and the early 1930s. A boatbuilder, he was also a proficient sailor, placed in the National Sailing Hall of Fame, and helming in the America’s Cup at least once.

Vagrant was built for Harold Vanderbilt, of the famous dynasty. Herreshoff built boats for the financial big guns – William Randolph Hearst, John Pierpont (JP) Morgan, Jay Gould. Yachts, like houses, were (and are) a symbol of wealth and success, and Herreshoff’s were the finest.

Now, under relatively new ownership, Vagrant – one of the most revered classic yachts afloat – is being restored to her former greatness. Her steel hull needed substantial work (sandblasting areas of corrosion left some plates too thin and in need of replacement). But her teak interior has justified the wood’s reputation as the best natural material for a marine environment: beautiful, hard, rich in protective oil, resistant to rot and little prone to warping.

Sure enough, when removed and examined, much of the wood in the cabins could be treated and reused, even after so long (with the redesign to accommodate things such as electric lighting, plugs, heating and air conditioning, which were absent from the original boat). This clear link with the past serves to emphasise that this is very much the same boat.

Other departures from the original – aluminium masts, for instance, with internal furling for the mainsail and fisherman’s sail – seem an update rather than any kind of insult to the original maker. She might still sail under her old name of Vagrant but she has, very clearly, a loving home.

Having been built in the late 1920s, the sailing yacht Cambria was assumed, like so many, to have been destroyed during the Second World War. In fact, she had fallen into complete oblivion: vanishing not only from the present, but also from the historical record. One authoritative book on the yachts of William Fife , the renowned Scottish boatbuilder responsible for Cambria , omitted her completely. Only subsequently has she been rediscovered in every sense – restored to history and restored in the present.

Cambria was built originally for a newspaper magnate – Sir William Berry – who rose from complete obscurity (having left school in South Wales at 13) to become owner of the largest media empire of the day: publisher of titles still active and well-known, like The Sunday Times , Financial Times and The Daily Telegraph . Berry’s publications happened to include Yachting World , giving him a route to its editor. 

Soon after its construction, Cambria won an early race, then for a few years raced some 50 times a year. Her beauty was much admired, and fame seemed assured. (Berry asked his wife whether she might like a matching yacht, an offer she sadly declined.) Rules of the time hindered Cambria , however, and not long afterwards she changed hands. Her name was changed and she retreated, during the 1930s, into obscurity – and then into oblivion.

Her sketchy post-war history includes an ill-fated circumnavigation during the 1970s, before being bought, and mothballed, in Australia, until finally she was rediscovered near the Great Barrier Reef. Her basic structure, mahogany planking on a steel frame, remained intact and was remediable with careful repair work. Only in the 21st century did she return to British waters, after more than half a century. With a new mast, of spruce pine, and a thorough refit in Southampton in 2006 which saw Cambria stripped back and the boat’s stem reworked. There is no doubt now that Cambria does once again fulfil Fife’s basic requirement of a yacht – that she be both “fast and bonnie”.

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Home » News » SWD News & Stories » Boat Renovations and Restorations 101

Boat Renovations and Restorations 101

Posted on March 8, 2022 and filed under SWD News & Stories

There’s an intangible, but visceral feeling we get when we hear the rumble of the engine and smell the exhaust of a Porsche 911 2.7 Carrera RS or view the way the bow of 1962 Riva Aquarama cuts through the water. It’s almost hard to put into words other than to say it’s magical.  And despite the best efforts of the modern design world, there’s just something about the classics that can’t be replicated or replaced. Some things simply can’t be improved upon.

This mighty 1937 Purdy commuter yacht, Aphrodite , was completely restored at Brooklin Boat Yard with design support from Stephens Waring. Her rehabilitation shows how traditional design and technological innovation each have their place on the water. With redesigned propulsion and steering systems, new tanks and plumbing systems, and completely revamped interior, she offers a thrilling glimpse at what yachting was like in the 1930s—with all the comforts of today. Photo credit: Benjamin Mendlowitz

And in the fast-fashion world we live in, where it seems like half of what we buy has been replaced with a newer version before we leave the store, it gives us a good feeling to keep something old going, or better yet, to bring something from the past back to life.

Stephens Waring worked with the owner of this classic 45’ Huckins, called Northern Spy ,  to rebuild the hull structure to accept the most modern of power plants: twin Volvo IPS drives. In the classic Huckins QuadroConic hull form, the IPS performs marvelously, boosting speed, cutting fuel consumption, and increasing maneuverability. Photo credit: Alison Langley

But for every unicorn rebuild project, there are plenty of renovation and restoration disasters along the way. Conversely, there is a mountain of smaller, less illustrious restorations and renovations, implemented successfully, which didn’t require the net worth of a Saudi Sheik to accomplish, but still extended the life and enjoyment of an old and beloved boat.

Big or small, iconic or sentimental, the key to any successful restoration project is figuring out how to identify the right fixer-upper and arming oneself with the knowledge to enter into a rebuild project with a clear understanding of the challenges, costs, and risks along the way.

Renovations vs. Restorations

The terms renovation and restoration are often used interchangeably. And while they may be close cousins, the goal and outcomes of a renovation or restoration project can be quite different in terms of objective, scope, and cost.

What is Restoration?

The bridge of Aphrodite was restored to match the original materials and controls of the vessel. Materials including varnished mahogany were carefully matched and rebuilt based on the original design specifications. Right image photo credit: Benjamin Mendlowitz

The primary objective of a restoration project is to bring a boat back to its original design and construction as closely as possible.  Good restoration experts put significant time into researching the origins and background of the original build including understanding the history of the designer, construction techniques of the time, design philosophy, parts suppliers, and material sources.

In 2014, French & Webb and Kurt Hasselbalch, curator of the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Hart Nautical Collections, began restoration of Marilee originally built in 1926. In early winter 2014 they began with a 3D scan of the existing hull. This, combined with a CAD drawing created from the original Herreshoff plans, enabled the team to accurately examine Marilee’s current shape and compare it with the design from 1926. Photo credit: Alison Langley

Restoration experts often embark on a difficult treasure hunt as they scour the world for rare and comparable historical parts. This process can almost be as time consuming as the construction work itself.

During the restoration process, original materials are matched, and methods of construction are reused.  Modifications from the original design are generally limited to changes necessary to bring a project up to modern codes and standards including electrical and life-safety. Stepping aboard a fully restored vessel should be like taking a step back in time.

What is Renovation?

Renovation is a much broader term.  Generally speaking, it’s the process of renewing a boat or structure by fixing what’s present and adding something new or modern. This includes the integration of new materials, technologies, and even major structural design changes. We often think of a renovation as being built on the “spirit” of the original design while leaving the door open to new opportunities for creativity and innovation.

The owner of Marilee (built in 1926) had the bold vision to create an interior that reflected the yacht’s century-long provenance while creating an open space below. However, he wanted to get away from the dark “cigar room” interiors typical of so many classic yachts. The team worked with Paul Waring of Stephens Waring Yacht Design, to create a traditional and properly constructed interior with an updated layout for relaxed, modern day use. Photo credit: Alison Langley

Renovation can include adding new engines, propeller systems, updated electronics, efficient keels and hulls, and electrical systems.  It can also include a refresh of the interior design elements and decor.

In some cases, renovation can be cheaper than restoration, especially for very old or historic boats where access to original parts and materials are rare or don’t exist at all.

Often renovations are completed in conjunction with restoration.   In architecture we often see this with an old home or building where great lengths are taken to restore the exterior facade back to the original design, while inside, cutting-edge kitchens and bathrooms are installed. The effect is a blend of classic elegance with creature comfort and modern living.

What to Know Before Embarking on a Restoration or Renovation Project

There are no two ways about it, a major restoration or renovation can be costly and time consuming. They can also be extremely rewarding. The most successful projects are born from a sentimental and emotional objective rather than a purely economic consideration (although there are times when the economics pan out as well).  Key to success is starting a restoration or renovation project with the right foundation. This may includes several of the following principles:

  Starting with the Right Boat

Not all boats make good restoration projects.  In fact, most don’t. The ones that do have that special something that may be referred to as being a “classic”.  A good restoration candidate should have a historical or emotional value, or simply, a unique “wow” factor that makes it worthy of a second life.

Building on Good Bones

Zingara was originally designed by Bill Peterson, conceived to participate in the 1990 BOC-British Oxygen Company Challenge, a solo event ‘round-the-world yacht race. By the time we met her, the yacht was a long way from finished. Our renovation made the best use of her potential as a solid sailing yacht: the thoughtful design of the sailing platform, deck arrangement, and cockpit were to be functional in blue water; and down below her interior was to be spacious and comfortable, safe and relatively simple.

When possible, find a boat in which the problems are more cosmetic in nature than major costly systems repairs or replacements. At some point deterioration of major structures such as stringers and bulkheads may make restoration impractical. You should consider consulting with a professional designer like Stephens Waring to get an accurate assessment of major structural components and systems to fully understand the scope and resources necessary for a restoration or renovation.

Set a Realistic Budget and Timeline to Complete the Job

It is said that God created the world in seven days. That’s probably because he didn’t have to clean up anyone’s mess first. Realize that restoration and renovations are often as time and resource consuming as the original build itself. It takes time to undo the bad and rebuild with the good.  Sweat equity can only carry your project so far and there are many hard costs and professional skillsets you’ll need to complete a big job. Working with a professional can help to set a realistic budget and define clear expectations and goals.

Size Does Matter

It’s easy to want to bite off more than you can chew.  However, as a boat gets bigger the complexities of the systems become exponentially larger.  The difference between a 30’ and 40’ boat can be immense.  Experts generally recommend that no one attempt to restore a boat bigger than 35’ without professional support.

Where to Make Your Money Go the Distance

When done correctly, there are a number of benefits to upgrading and renovating rather than buying new. The key is to identify where to get the most bang for the buck.  Finding a project where cosmetic repairs are the main problem is the best place to get a strong ROI.  Renovations such as replacing upholstery, fixtures, refinishing surfaces, and painting can do wonders to make an old vessel feel new and increase the economic value.

Where to Start

Whether looking to renovate a boat you currently own or looking to purchase a used fixer-upper, we strongly suggest starting with a professional evaluation.   Engaging an expert to inspect the hard to reach structures and systems can save a lot of money in the long run.  A renovation expert like Stephens Waring can also help determine a solid triage strategy for what to discard, repair, and replace.  For bigger projects, having a design expert create a detailed design and engineering plan, complete with 3D renderings, can provide a way for owners to better conceptualize the scope, cost, and outcome of the renovation and finished product.

Further Reading:

The Renovation of Marilee

The Renovation of Zingara

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Bald eagles seen nesting in Toronto for first time in city’s recorded history

Presence of birds proof of improving health of city’s green spaces, as they are highly sensitive to environmental disturbances

Few things delight residents of Toronto more than unexpected animals in unexpected places.

When a family of foxes took up residence beneath a boardwalk during the coronavirus pandemic, thousands flocked to the beach for a glimpse of the kits. When a beaver waddled throughout the city’s downtown core with a large branch in its mouth, children excitedly cheered on the determined rodent. And even when a raccoon plunged parts of Toronto into darkness , the urban critters were celebrated for their wily, indefatigable character.

Now, there are new residents: a pair of bald eagles are nesting for the first time in the city’s recorded history. Their presence underscores the dramatic return of a bird nearly pushed to extinction and of the improving health of Toronto’s sprawling green spaces and waterways.

Bald eagles, a bird perhaps more associated with the imagery of North America than any other fauna, are a rare ecological success story.

Once common throughout the continent – including in the area that became the city of Toronto – the bird was soon seen as a pest for settlers and farmers. Local authorities encouraged the widespread slaughter of the raptors, promising bounties in exchange for carcasses.

And although policies were later changed and protections were introduced, eagle populations continued to dwindle, especially in urban areas.

A deteriorating habitat was compounded by the presence of DDT, a widely used insecticide. The chemical, popular in the 1940s, worked its way through the food chain and weakened the shells of eagle eggs. By the early 1960s, there were only a few hundred breeding pair left on the continent, said Michael Drescher, an environmental planning and conservation expert at the University of Waterloo. “It was a very sad and very low point for the population.

A ban on both DDT and the hunting of eagles led to the eventual rebound of eagle populations across the continent – widely seen as one of the first major victories of the modern environmental movement.

But Drescher said that eagles are highly adaptable predators and unlike in the case of other threatened species, their two main stressors were easily identified and stopped.

“Other species on the brink of extinction, largely because of habitat loss, are much harder to help,” he said.

In May, the bald eagle was removed from the list of endangered species in Ontario – a move heralded as a success. But Drescher cautioned recent changes to the Endangered Species Act could erode protections for the birds if their prospects changed.

The unlikely success of the bald eagle recovery in many ways mirrors the billion-dollar effort to restore the green spaces and wetlands threading Toronto.

“For decades, we’ve invested heavily in ecological restoration work. And finally, it’s paying off,” said Karen McDonald, who works at the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s restoration and infrastructure division. “These eagles are a testament to that: if we didn’t have healthy waters and a healthy food web, I don’t think they’d be here.”

The eagles aren’t the only animals that tell conservation experts that the lands and waters are rejuvenating. Two years ago, an angler caught a 42-inch, 20-lb muskie in the city’s harbour – the first time the predatory fish had been found the area in more than three decades. Northern river otters were once driven from the area. Now, a pair has been spotted traveling from park to park, their five offspring in tow.

“To see these animals returning, it just warms my heart,” said McDonald.

But the arrival of eagles to the city reflects a deepening level of ecological recovery – one that suggests the thrumming heart of Canada’s largest metropolis isn’t just a suitable home for hardened, urban wildlife like squirrels, coyotes and raccoons. Instead, if all goes well, it can host a pair of birds that, despite their fierce looks, are highly sensitive to disturbance.

“I’ll admit that I’m worried. Eagles are really charismatic species and people have this intense desire to connect with nature. That curiosity can sometimes dissolve the willpower to stay away,” said McDonald.

The eagles were first spotted in recent months displaying mating behaviour high above the city, locking talons and tumbling through the air, before releasing close to the ground. In early February, a handful of residents spotted their nest – roughly the size of a queen mattress – among the leafless tree branches and reported it to the TRCA.

Initially, the city’s conservation authority kept the presence of the nest a secret from the public, but McDonald said that strategy became increasingly tenuous as more residents spotted the nest. While it remains “very difficult” to access by foot, it remains near boat and airplane traffic. “We want to give this pair the best chance at making it. We don’t want them to be loved to death by people of Toronto,” said McDonald.

For those watching the trajectory of Toronto’s seemingly endless sprawl, development and growth, the return of a bird once written off, seems incompatible with a future in which ecosystems are increasingly at risk. But however long they last in the city, the pair also suggest a tangible result to the slow and costly efforts to clean up the polluted rivers, trash-strewn forests and lifeless old industrial sites.

“It’s so easy to get really down about what’s happening in the world these days, with climate change and the non-existent winter we just had. But as someone who works in ecological restoration, I’m a naturally optimistic person. And this eagle pair is just giving me even more optimism,” said McDonald. “If people show them the respect that they deserve, I feel like they’ve got a real fighting chance here.”

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