Photos of the Boat Barn!

Week 1

The first week of the Sea Ox's restoration saw a lot of progress, all things considered! Over the course of two evenings, I was able to remove the deck and completey gut the hull, revealing a sound, beautifully laid up, 25 year-old hull. There weren't any real surprises during this phase of the project, except maybe for the number of beer cans, soda bottles, and weird items that I managed to pull out from beneath the Ox's deck...hard to tell whether most of them were left there during original construction, or whether they worked themselves in their over the years. The stringers beneath the deck were thoroughly rotted out (as expected), due to the length of time that the Ox sat (shoreside) uncovered and waterlogged. I removed the deck to within an inch or two of the hull walls, and removed the longitudnal stringers to within an inch of the hull floor. I intend to make some accurate measurements of the locations of the deck/stringers before removing them entirely....I also intend on designing the boats new layout in AutoCAD to maxmize material use, as well as make it easy to see how different layout options would look in the boat. By far the most satisfying part of the removal came at the end of the second night, when I took the pressure washer to the gutted out hull, cleaning out all the rotten debris and revealing the hull glass....Also, good news! The original fuel cell was constructed out of aluminum, is very sound, and the previous owner actually thought to empty it out when he took the boat out of service! This should save me several hundred dollars in replacement costs if the cell had been fiberglass (new ethanol loves to eat old glass resin) or thoroughly fouled.....also started to take a look at the outboard, which appears to be circa late eighties....I was able to preserve the controls...she'll turn over, but will definitely need some love before she'll be running smooth. Being that the motor is rated at 88 HP, we're definitely going to repower the boat, whether that happens before or after next years boating season remains to be determined. Next week will be dedicated to erecting a 12' x 20' shelter over the boat, made possible by my mom, who bought one of those "event tents" several years ago. It should be perfect for the upcoming winter of work, and should definitely extend my working season!

The Lady K.

Living on Cape Cod pretty much necessitates having a boat, or at least having several friends that own a boat. It's difficult to appreciate what an incredible place the Cape is, until you've spent time along it's coast and in it's harbors.
My wife and I purchased my in-laws (thanks Ma & Pa) 1998 16' Blue Fin center console in the summer of 2005, and wasted no time in getting familiar with several coastal areas on the North and South sides of the Cape. While the Blue Fin was (and is) a great boat, solid, fast, and fuel efficient, it's a bit on the small side. It wasn't long after we purchased the Blue Fin that we started thinking about our next boat......
We're fortunate to have several friends and relatives in the boating industry, and I took advantage of their knowledge when starting my search for the "next" boat. Early on, a friend of ours had mentioned the Sea Ox line of boats....while I pretty much had my heart set on a 20' Mako, the more I read and the more I heard about Sea Ox, the more I came around.

October 23 started like any other day....got in the office, got my timesheet in, started thumbing through the week ahead, when I popped onto the Cape Cod Craigslist (something I do fairly regularly, you'd be amazed what you can find on there!). And there she was. A 1981 20' Sea Ox Center Console, beat up to all hell, with rotten floors, but an incredibly sound hull with beautiful lines. The boat was located in Monument Beach, just a few minutes drive. I waited until 9:30 before I called the seller (didn't want to seem too eager...), and went to see it that night.

The seller had owned the Sea Ox for 3 or 4 years, had never had it in the water, and wanted it out of his yard. He had purchased it from the original owner, who had lobstered the hell out of the boat for better than twenty years. I offered the seller a fair price, he accepted, and I went home to explain things to the wife.....