Hello readers! I am Dr. Michael Estes, a Lansing area doctor, a physician, a husband, a father, Owner of Intessa Marijuana Clinic in Okemos and a boat restoration enthusiast. Besides being a full-time Emergency Response Medicine Doctor and a general physician in different hospitals and medical institutions, I also crave beautiful aquatic rides like a motorboat. My zeal for boats and restoring vehicles and motorboats kicked in when I was pursuing my bachelor’s in Biology and Physiology, along with a minor in Chemistry from the esteemed California State University, Long Beach, in 1999. I fairly remember those years when I used to devote all my leisure time to monthly boat magazines like yachting and wooden boats. My roommates and I were complete motor boat freaks and had bought tones of boat magazine subscriptions, but the fact all those subscriptions were bought under the name of Michael Estes grants me the real authority over those magazine piles (You hear that frank!). Those were the days when I was still an undergraduate, but today over the years have passed, but my affinity for yachts and motorboats has not even subsided by a bit. The gleaming beauties of the 90s, like the Albin 48 Cutter and Azimut 54 Flybridge, still get me to go head over heels when I gaze then.
Six months ago, my friend Alc and I bought a Chris Craft boat and began restoring it and put all our heart into it. The boat was in a very rough state. I doubt it would have made it afloat in its original condition. The moisture root deep inside the wood and the planks were swollen to double their size. A rodent family infested the cockpit of the boat. We safely removed their nest and shited them to a new home. The steering wheel seemed to be the only thing in a working state and could be reused. The boat’s interior was slim to none; cushions were shredded, slimy, and smelled of stale water. As for the boat’s exterior, the paint job was scrapping out, and even a slight touch was making it break like dried plaster. The boat’s hull had a huge dent upfront; we suspected that the ship got hit around some rocks or at the dock at some point in its life. As well there were major cracks in the wood that were the cause of massive water seepage.
Our boat, heart that is the motorboat’s outboard motor, was some cheap 60 Horsepower Parsun engine that was jammed from the inside. We opened the motor hoping that gears were still in good shape and maybe reoil them and restore the motor, but we were not in luck. The gears were completely blunt, and teeth were worn out. It was a complete mess, so I scraped the motor for junk and ordered a used Honda marine outboard motor for four thousand dollars. It was a decent machine, could spin the propeller up to 7000 RPM, and give our the boat the much-needed push.
ALC and I were boat experts but were still a couple of noobs when restoring them. So, we turned our faces to the World Wide Web for guidance. We posted the need for suggestions and advice on Quora and Reddit. Quora gave us many valuable inputs for reshaping our boat, but Reddit was gold. The boating community was the solution our every problem. They helped us decide on which wood we should order for reconstructing the hull and the side walls. Someone even gave us a schematic drawing of the circuit for the dials’ wiring in the cockpit. We also added a new stereo in the boat leisure and fun. After all, the significant changes were done in the boat, and it good to go; all that was left was an excellent paint job. We had some problem deciding the color for the boat, yet ultimately we mutually settled on the natural wood texture. It took three coats of premium varnish to give the boat the final touch it needed. Last month we finally took our boat for the first ride of its new life in a nearby canal, and the result was terrific. Now, we are going to hang a sign on the beauty saying, “The first boat ever restored by Alc and Michael Estes.”
Restoring my first boat was a wonderful experience that taught me the value of patience, hard work, and community goodness (Truly, without them, we could never have done this). The other good news is that we have recently received another ship donated by some fellow. Now, Alc and I are planning to restore it.
Well, that wraps up for, stay tuned for more this and that. Michael Estes, signing out!
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