Or, better, more than one Trumpy. Thus called “Trumpys.” Most of our love may be vicarious, but we can all dream about “one day…”
ProBoat managing editor and frequent WoodenBoat contributor Aaron Porter brought me up to date on old friend Jim Moores’ latest restoration, the Trumpy HONEY FITZ. (Aaron covered Moores Marine in WB #207.)
(Photo courtesy Moores Marine. The photo is NOT of HONEY FITZ in the slings.)
And what a great story. Jim describes it so well, as here:
“Dear Friends,
I’ve said it before but it bears repeating: I never had the nerve to dream this big. We just started work on the Honey Fitz, a 92-foot, 1931 Defoe cabin cruiser built in Bay City, Michigan, also known as the eighth presidential yacht and ‘The Yacht of Camelot.’
She was originally built for Sewell Avery, chairman of Montgomery Ward, as Lenore. President John F. Kennedy renamed the boat after his maternal grandfather, John Francis “Honey Fitz” Fitzgerald, mayor of Boston. Reportedly, one of Kennedy’s favorite photographs shows him on the aft deck of the Honey Fitz with his daughter Caroline.
Recently, Honey Fitz hauled out at the Rybovich north yard to do some shaft work. Rybovich called us in to laser target the yacht because proper haul out and blocking of wooden boats are critical. After the survey, Rybovich executives contacted us again about the boat, particularly Mike Rybovich. She needed more than shaft work.”
Sadly, I never knew Jim when he lived in Maine. (Only the most robust of us survive here. Or maybe it’s just deep denial?) But I love his dedication to grand wooden boats, whether SUMMERWIND or HONEY FITZ.
His YouTubes of the restoration process can inspire or frighten us all. See here:
http://www.woodenboatrepair.com/
Too often, in my boat repair days, I was the guy holding the post that the other guy was pounding on. I’m still amazed I have both wrists intact.
In terms of “Every wooden boat has a story,” Jim Moores is living them all. Keep up the great work, Jim. And hopefully a bunch of us will hit lotteries soon…
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Speaking of old friends and Trumpys, great friend Jock West is part of a consortium building NEW Trumpys. And they’ve figured it out: everything from high-end launches to new Trumpy designs and builds.
If this doesn’t appeal to you on aesthetic grounds, I don’t know what will:
(tender and yacht)
TrumpyYachts.net
(Photo courtesy Trumpy Yachts.)
Go to www.TrumpyYachts.net
It doesn’t matter who we are: The prospective buyer of a new Trumpy, the owner looking for a restoration of his/her older Trumpy, or the newcomer looking at the lines of a Whitehall and wondering “Can I do this?” We are all in this together. And I’d like to think we appreciate beauty of design and execution as these two companies do….
My hat’s off to you both, and to all the rest of you. Wait: I don’t wear a hat. But I hope you know what I mean.
