The Story of Sunflower.

I have always had a love for boats, especially wooden ones. My love of boats came from my Father and an Uncle that worked in a Shipyard. I am also a lover of classic design and have admired vintage wooden boats for many years, Riva, Chris Craft and Century all appealed to me greatly. Always they seemed out of my price range and just a pipe dream, until I had the opportunity to go to an Auction, The 1000 Island Boat Show and Auction in New York, USA. So many beautiful boats and many with no reserve! Could I now realise my dream and have a boat of my own?

The auction started and I ended up bidding on a 1952 18ft Century Sea Maid and I was successful in my bid! The boat had been donated by a Doctor, Dr Tom Sweet to a museum and she had been on display for 13 years. She came with the original engine, a Gray Marine Fireball SIX - 160, a four litre , straight six, the top of the range for this model. 

I had her shipped to Minnesota to a company called Boat Art, to have the deck refurbished, this soon turned out to be a full refurbishment. As I wanted to do as much work as I could on her, I spent many months going to and from the States to do some of the work. I stripped varnish and uncorked her, took off the metal work and removed the steering wheel and had that refurbished, the steering wheel medallion was missing so I had that 3D printed and chrome plated, using my knowledge from the Industry. I replaced some of the bronze screws and painted the line around her. After 14 coats of varnish it was time to paint her name, she came with no name and as my Father had been such a great boat lover and also his favourite flower was the Sunflower, so Sunflower was named in memory of my Father.

I found out that there was a Century Boat Club who had a group on Facebook, so I joined Facebook for the first time! I joined the Facebook group and was able to find out lots of things that I had questions about regarding my boat. Using the Century Boat Club Group, I have found out the history of my boat, who her first owner was and what they did for a living and where she was from. I was also able to find out the factory specification of my boat and some of the things were wrong so I had them put right.

As Sunflower had been out of the water for such a long time, the first time back in the water and she leaked so had to be slick seamed. Put back in the water again and I found out that the transmission was stuck in Drive, the clutch plates were stuck together, one of her carburettors needed re building too. After the slick seaming and transmission and carburettors were fixed, she was taken for a test drive, success, no leaks and sounded amazing!

Sunflower was then ready to come home, ready to make her trip across the Atlantic on a container ship and ready to take up residency on her new home of Windermere in the English Lake District. I am looking forward to taking her round the country to various events and meeting others who have a passion for classic boats.