Watt's Shepherd

JIM & MERRIDY WATT'S

1954, 18 ft. Shepherd

"Twilight"

Twilight had facelift and engine work recently (Summer 2003) at Clarion Boats - Campbellford Ont. The Watts decided it would be beneficial for their type of boating to have it be a completely dry boat. Discussions with John
in the fall of 2006 resulted in Twilight coming into John's Little Boat Shop in the winter of 2007 for an epoxy bottom. While she was in the shop a few fresh coats of varnish were applied.

Jim was more than willing to come over to the shop and help out by being the second pair of hands during Twilight's restoration.... Here are Jim's words about his time as an "apprentice" in John's Little Boat Shop:

Want to restore or refinish your boat?? Afraid to do it yourself??
That was the situation we were in with our 18 ft 1954 Shepherd runabout in the fall of 2006. The engine had to come out and have some work on it. So out it came in October and off to Ptbo Automotive.
But what about the rest of the job? I wanted to put a West system bottom on, fix a few minor irritants and freshen the varnish. At a regular meeting of the Trent-Severn Antique and Classic Boat Association I happened to talk to John Hendren who, besides burning boats, actually does restoring in his garage. John agreed that he would tackle the job under one condition and that was that I had to help. What better way to learn about your boat than to do the work yourself.
So about February we started. Took the boat off the trailer and put it on slings in John's Little Boat Shop. Off with all the hardware (yes we marked where it came from) including the windshield, lights etc. Then very carefully we flipped "Twilight " over. Half way thru this event I asked John what the biggest boat he had flipped and he said "you are looking at it". Time elapsed "One hour and 20 minutes" to very carefully turn her over and stabilize her on the working platforms.
Next was to apply splash paper over the varnished areas and then strip the bottom. Then came the West system and the sheets of fiberglass. Let it dry and then a full day of sanding with every available sander in John's shop. Apply a coat of brown paint then two coats of bottom coat and "Twilight" was ready to come back over. Time elapsed "only 22 minutes".
Now the sanding of the varnish and several coats of new varnish, with the last one being done by the "Master" as the "Apprentice" was not allowed to interrupt.
Hardware back on, including new stainless rub rails, new hose for the blower and a repair to the hose mount on the rear grille. A couple of other minor repairs then scrape and apply new gray paint for the inside bottom around the engine.
Time to do all of this was 77 hours with yours truly helping all the way. I can now say that I truly know my boat, I don't just drive it.