Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2010/08/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Dick writes: A friend just asked me offline if "Freedom" was really that old. She is, and was recently restored, viz: http://www.woodenyachts.com/media/PDFs/EBrochure.pdf http://www.woodenyachts.com/Media/PressLibrary/IYRS_RQ_SUM09.pdf - - - - - Wooden boats CAN last a long time if they are properly maintained. The Charles Morgan, the whaler on display at Mystic Seaport is 100 years old and the Constitution, on display in Boston is over 200 years old. Of course both have had a ton of money poured into them. Typically, though, most wooden boats live only 30 years or so before the cost of keeping them seaworthy adds up to more than the boat is worth. Most of the great clipper ships of the 1800s lasted only about ten years. They were sailed hard to make as much profit as possible then were scrapped or converted into barges. The lower portion of New York's Manhattan had its waterfront extended by grounding these old hulks, filling them with rocks and sand. Occasionally construction projects along the waterfront dig into the remains of these old ships while excavating the basements. My old wooden boat, Cognac, was 30 years old when we bought her and it lasted another ten years before the man we sold her to let her smash on the rocks in a bad storm. It probably would have lived another 20 years, not as long as the Morgan or the Freedom, but as long as my Leica M3. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/9_+Cognac+just+after+launch.jpg.html Larry Z