What is Project Boat Zen?

After 35 years building and repairing boats, and helping many others with project boats I started to realize there was something missing from all of the repair books and articles I have read. Not that most of this information was not good far from it. It just seemed there was always something missing. It seemed to me there was more to all this than learning how to do a good dove tail or how to trouble shoot a 12 volt system.

I have seen many successful project boats but sadly many more failures. I wondered what the difference between those the succeeded and those that failed were. Like many things in life I think there are no simple answers to this question, and no one thing that will guaranty success.

It occurred to me that like life in general a project boat is a journey. A journey that can challenge us and test our patience as well as our skills. If we pay attention it help us become better people. It also occurred to me that completing a successful project boat requires more than good wood working. mechanical. or painting skills. It requires good planning, good budgeting, and lots of patients. It also requires the help of others not only for guidance but moral support as well.

So it is with this in mind I have started this site, to provide moral support as well as technical guidance. After nearly 35 years in this business I do think I have something to offer in the way of guidance for others. Now I know I do not have all the answers and I still have lots to learn but that is what makes this journey interesting. And learning from others is what makes it fun.

I want this site to be a source of information for the rest of us. By that I mean for those working on tight budgets and without shops full of tools and equipment. lets face it most of us working on project boat are not rich and do not have and cannot afford to by all the fancy tools out there. I will try to provide thoughts information and ideas using what most of us have not what we wish we had. On my boat I use mostly used parts, I work out of a small garage and often have to make do with what I have on hand. But I like to think the results are not half bad and will produce good results sometimes better than what I have seen other professionals do. It is not what you have but how you use it I always say.

Wayne Canning, AMS
4abetterboat.com