In the beginning...

Here is how she looked when I began. Although her appearance was rough, there was almost no structural damage. Note the peeled fiberglass sheeting on the port side of the transom near the shear. The transom is of teak plywood, which cleaned up surprisingly well.

My boat was built by a dear friend of mine, Arv Cunnington. He took about three years to build it, and launched it in 1968. After about 10 years of active racing, he pulled it out of the water, supposedly just for the winter, to do some reworking of the cockpit and the interior. For a variety of reasons, he never did get it back in the water, and ever since I've known him, the Thunderbird has been a fixture in his back yard. It was something of a family treasure, and combined with the dim hope that someday it would float again, they just couldn't part with it.

By the first part of 1995, I was out of school, my loans were paid off, and life was starting to get better. When I mentioned that I was looking to buy a boat, he asked if I'd be interested in fixing up the Thunderbird. Of course I was interested, but the question was a bit more complicated than that. Although I had a preference for wooden boats, I really had in mind something more classic, like possibly a gaff rigged sloop. Although I found the Thunderbird to be quite attractive for a hard-chined boat, it still didn't have the kind of charm that I had in mind. Still, the idea appealed to me both due to the sentimental factor and because the Thunderbird is a lot of fun to sail. The boat had been sitting in a cradle in his back yard for over 20 years. He had tried to keep it covered, but as I can tell you, a tarp sitting out in the weather has a finite life span. Every few years some member of the family would climb up in it and assess the possibility of getting the old girl back in the water, and clean up wind blown leaves and rearrange the tarps in the process. The thought of 20 years of fresh water running through her didn't exactly fill me with encouragement.

The idea had enough appeal that I decided to call for a survey so I could make a more educated choice. Asking around the Seattle area, the name of Roy Dunbar kept coming up as the local Thunderbird expert. I called him, explained the situation, and he agreed to come out. I found out later that he came fully expecting to find a basket case, and to save me a lot of time and money by pointing out the kind of problems a backyard boat has.

When Roy arrived at the boat, the weather was mercifully good. Roy showed up with a flash light and a few small tools, and climbed up the ladder to have a look around. He clearly had a short list of problem areas to check, and he went straight for the stem hook, the chain plate blocks, and a couple of other areas. Finding no problems there, he then started a more systematic going over of the boat. At the time, a four foot long piece of the garboard plank had been removed, and he joked about "one really obvious problem here." After spending 45 minutes or so going over the boat, he told me that it was really one of the best backyard boats he had ever seen. He was a bit concerned at the loose arrangement that Arv and I had regarding the purchase. Neither the price nor the terms were really nailed down, and he cautioned that this was not the best way to proceed-- especially when the purchase was between friends. Arv and I both nodded, and then the conversation moved on to how best to procede with the work at hand. Although Roy owns his own boat yard, he is himself active in the Seattle Thunderbird fleet, and he was very generous with his advice, explaining in great detail how to fix the garboard hole, rework some of the peeling fiberglass, and fair the keel.

The only advice of Roy's that I ignored was the part about the purchase agreement. Arv and I have been friends for a long time, and after discussing it between us, we really just preferred to just keep the agreement simple. We agreed on the price, and that I would be permitted to leave the boat in his yard while doing the work. As long as I showed satisfactory progress by showing up regularly, the time frame would be left rather open ended, although I figured I could get it in the water by the end of summer. Arv just smiled at that part...