For years we wanted to rebuild the pilothouse. We talked about it together and with our passengers. We explained how the David B was originally built with its pilothouse forward. We talked about how the David B’s owner prior to us moved the pilothouse aft so that the boat would look more like a halibut schooner. We talked about how we would build it. For a while we thought about building it in our backyard or at the boatyard where we do our spring haulout. We talked about building it out of wood. In fact we talked about it a lot. We talked about it enough, that one of our passengers alluded to the fact that if we didn’t get around to doing it, at his age he’d never see it get done.

So last year, in the fall (November, 2015), Jeffrey and I were drinking coffee in our living room. One cat was asleep on the couch, the other hopped up on my lap and Jeffrey started the conversation again, “Well, should we do it? What if we did? What if we didn’t?” He asked a lot of questions. I thought about it and said, “Why don’t we just put it out there? See what people think. If we can raise the money, let do it. If there’s no real interest, then we might as well keep the boat as is.”

A week later and after some conversations with our accountant we put the idea of building a new pilothouse out to our guests, friends and family. Our plan was to build the new house out of aluminum and so we gave the project a fancy name — The Tin Hat Project.

In a little more than a month’s time, we’d raised the money, contracted with a naval architect, and talked with an aluminum fabrication company. That’s how it all started. We’ve put together a few videos showing the progress of the Tin Hat Project. It was completed in April of 2017 and everything we hoped it would be! Jeffrey and I invite you to see the videos below to watch our progress through this project.

-Christine