Is 50 too old to start......

[CactusCruiser]

I'm 50 years old, live about as far from the big ponds as one can get, have always loved boats, have only built one simple one and am hooked. I am unemployed and need a change-desperately! I have been in the civil engineering and surveying field, but I want to get involved in boats. Drafting/design, building, apprentice,....., whatever. Am I too old and crazy to think this way? Anyone have some concrete ideas? Would you toss me a ring??

[NormMessinger]

Can you start any younger?

[Hughman]

ROFL! smile.gif

Yer Back! Wit attitude!

[Popeye]

nobody is older than norm

[Hughman]

Originally posted by CactusCruiser:
I am unemployed and need a change-desperately! Ok, mid life crisis. not a good time to make permanant decisions.
So, sell all your stuff, hop a bus to the coast, buy a copy of the American Sail Training Assn directory, and go to sea. (Google Picton Castle, for instance)


but I want to get involved in boats. Drafting/design, building, apprentice,....., whatever.??How does one make a million dollars building boats??

Start with two million. Folla? (sorry DF!)

have fun! smile.gif

[Con LanAdo]

at our age if we haven't learned it's all about personal satisfaction we never will. So Catus don't even think about it - full speed ahead

[uncas]

I have one question...and it does not relate to age....You live in SD...I'm not familiar with any large lakes etc...Are you planning on moving?

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Cactus, I'm just old enough (not near as old as Norm) :D to figure out that it's not all about money. If you weren't enjoying what you were doing, and think you would really enjoy "messing around in boats" follow your heart. I don't suspect that my biggest regrets at the end of my life will have any dollar signs associated with them at all. ;)

[Frank E. Price]

I reckon not giving it a shot would be worse than not "succeeding." If you don't do it, what would you do? The same old thing?

Frank

[bamamick]

Some time ago I attended a Wooden Boat School course. At the end of the time my instructor, who was in a position to do this, offered me a job at his company in Maine. I was flattered, but with a wife and three kids there was no way that I could even think about it. When I told my instructor this he just laughed and gave me his card, which I still have. He said that you would be amazed at the number of middle aged guys who show up in Maine looking for work in boat yards. According to this gentleman it happens all of the time.

It makes sense when you think about it. Those of us with family 'obligations' for lack of a better word, are going to work for the money from the time we are 20 until we're in our fifties or so. The, when the kids are gone and there is a little more time on our hands we will begin thinking about what we WANT to do rather than what we HAVE HAD to do. This guy, who taught me so much in such a short period of time, told me before he left that usually these older apprentices will stay for a year or two then drift back to wherever they came from.

There are some great wood shops in the Seattle and Vancouver area, and of course in the east there are many such places. If you honestly want advice I would recommend attending one of the schools for awhile to see what you think. That way you can have one foot in each pond, so to speak. You may find out you'd rather do something else.

Mickey Lake

[George.]

Originally posted by CactusCruiser:
I'm 50 years old, live about as far from the big ponds as one can get, have always loved boats, have only built one simple one and am hooked. ... Anyone have some concrete ideas? Would you toss me a ring??Forget drafting or design for others. Design and build your own boat. It sounds like what you want is a purpose, and there is no purpose like your own.

You wouldn't even have found this forum, let alone post in it (after lurking for god knows how long, like everyone else ;) ), if you didn't have it in you at heart. The thought of helming your own boat to windward in a breeze, a la Jack Aubrey, and to hell with capitalist he-who-dies-with-the-most-toys-wins or socialist perfect-society-and-I-helped-cheer-it-into-being theory.

You want a concrete idea? Concrete ballast.

You want support in chasing an impossible, but attainable, dream? Stay here, we are all mad... ;)

[uncas]

Mad...me mad...where is my straight jacket? OOps..left it next to the foul weather gear!!!!

[ 03-02-2005, 04:47 PM: Message edited by: uncas ]

[brad9798]

"...it's not all about money. If you weren't enjoying what you were doing, and think you would really enjoy "messing around in boats" follow your heart."

Right on PMJ! THAT is the truth.

Do what you love.

[Hughman]

CACTUS!! RUN!! FLEE!! You have fallen in with a bunch of subversives!

You should redouble your efforts to work for the next 17 years in a USEFUL JOB!!

These people are bad for you! Some of them are LIBERTARIANS!

DON'T LISTEN TO THEM! Think, now. Why would perfect strangers want to encourage someone to invest in a WOODEN BOAT. with SAILS!!!

[Leon Steyns]

Originally posted by uncas:
Mad...me mad...where is my straight jacket? OOps..left it next to the foul weather gear!!!!Uncas! You're brilliant! :eek:
I'm going to sow flotation foam onto my straightjacket right away... :D :D

Greets, Leon Steyns.

[paladin]

go for it.......fifty izz just getting started....

[uncas]

Leon..Thanks and your suggestion just gave me a reason to throw away a lot of old life jackets which probably wouldn't pass the Coast Guard test...Now I will have room to throw more stuff on the boat...and not worry about space...
Cheers mate
jamj

[ 03-02-2005, 05:47 PM: Message edited by: uncas ]

[PeterSibley]

I second George ....cos I couldn't say it better ;) His boat is sailing smile.gif smile.gif while mine is still a very gaunt assemply of big lumps of ironbark,redlead and copper.

[uncas]

Mine isn't sailing yet...Give me 29 days, 10 hours, and I'll give you the minutes... ;)

[CactusCruiser]

You know what I'm talkin' about!! Great conversation, mates! I guess I need to "sell all my stuff" and head for a school or a patient builder, or.........
Thanks for the encouragement. I think the same way, just not knowing how to go about it. Do you think anyone would take me, maybe somewhere in Maine or Vancouver or something?
Keep tacking, sawing, hammering, glueing, stuffing, cussing, ...

[Con LanAdo]

Just wait for those big bike mamma's ta come in to Sturgis, grab the 1st one heading back to Port Townsend, Wa. Best little town i have ever been in & that was 20 yrs. ago & i hear it got better - Me. is ok maybe even darn nice but it's too old yankee & ya'll be treated like ya had the pox for another 50 yrs. - thats why new folk don't stay more than a yr. or so. But then Ish is still there.

[Katherine]

They're coming to take me away ha ha. :D Yes we're all nuts but we all love our woodies.

[Norske3]

Miss K...yes we all love our woodies...'cause we are all "Woodenheads"...when I mention to people who chase little white balls over the grass with iron sticks that "wood boating" is my hobby they always look at me and giggle...

Oh, an Cactus...for starters..FORGET LEARNING BOAT BUILDING FOR NOW...RUN, FLY, GET YOUR SELF DOWN TO THE CARRIB AND START CREWING...ON A NICE BIG WOOD SAILBOAT. THEY WILL HAVE PLENTY OF WOODIE JOBS FOR YOU TO DO WHILE THE CUSTOMERS SCUBA....THERE YOU CAN LEARN THE ROPES....then decide...should you buy into a boat or head for Maine and start sanding and planning and etc...get outta that frozen state...suck up some Southern sun..get healthy..start learning to sail...and get a tan. :cool:

[ 03-02-2005, 09:48 PM: Message edited by: Norske3 ]

[Katherine]

Norske, my problem is I want to save all the lonely wooden boats out there. Unfortunatley reality gets in the way somedays. tongue.gif

[Peter Malcolm Jardine]

Yessiree, if I ever win the lottery, I'm going to make money on wooden boats until it all runs out. :D

[Norske3]

Miss K..I stopped thinking of saving every oldie I came across long time ago...however, when I start thinking of all those poor dogs sitting in the pounds...well,I wish I could have more than one ...but.. :( ...the wife rules here.

[ 03-02-2005, 09:58 PM: Message edited by: Norske3 ]

[Mrleft8]

First answer is:NO. As Jethro Tull once said, "Yer never too old to rock'n'roll if yer too young to die". Second answer is: Life jackets are supposed to float?

[ssor]

Cactus, stop looking at the damn calander to decide how old you are! Satchel paige was asked his age and his reply was,"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you was?"
I bought a fixer-upper in 1989 and launched her in 1999. and we sail her from april to november. I was launched in 1938. You ain't gonna get no younger!!!!! :D

[bamamick]

Cactus, if you just want to sand and get a tan then I've got a deal for you! I've got a 40' schooner that features varnished topsides and varnished cabin sides. Plus the cockpit interior is varnished, and the whole inside of the boat except for the centerboard trunk is varnished.

By the time you get all of that varnished in the Alabama sun, you'll have your tan. I figure I've got to spend at least part of one day a week for, well, forever, doing this particular job.

And you wanted to do this why? lol.

Mickey Lake

[George.]

Originally posted by PeterSibley:
... George .... His boat is sailing...Yes, but seven years into construction, and still no operating galley or shower! :D

Rule number one - everything takes longer and costs more than you thought.

Rule number two - ignorance is bliss. If you knew how long it would really take and how much it will really cost, you'd never start.

Rule number three - don't keep track of how much you are spending. That gets depressing fast.

Rule number four - no matter how much it cost and how long it took, the first time your boat heels hard over and heads off into the breeze, you'll have no doubt it was worth it! smile.gif

[Tristan]

Fifty is a great age to start over again. Damn, I wish I was 50 again. When I was 50 I had just started my second round of graduate school. I had just completed two years of karate training. In six years I would father a son (my first, after four girls), etc. You've got to start and start and start every day of your life. One day at a time, slowly, give new ideas a try.

[uncas]

Back to the topic...You are only as old as you feel...Me? Somedays I feel 20..or 30...or 40...others well....

[Simmons18]

Cactus: Here's my line
"I build small wooden boats for fun and profit. I got the fun part all worked out".
If you can stand it financially, do it!
Good luck.

[CactusCruiser]

Great Crew!! I have always been one to believe, and live, exactly as most of you do-"never too old, follow your heart, money isn't everything(but then I've never had much, so how do I know. My saying around here is I can't eat the scenery), life is short", etc, etc. I do know sailing (I lived in Minnesota for several years-sailed those lakes and Superior and Michigan), built a plywood boat, etc. I'm wondering, though if some boatbuilder would want this ol' landbubber under his "sail", so to speak.
The suggestion of the other coast may be valid, as I have been to Maine and loved the place, but maybe it is too "ol' salty Yankee" for a rookie, huh. Port Townsend?
I think "older and wiser" may mean rigid and scared. 25 years ago I wouldn't have thought twice. 'People' have always thought I was a bit 'reckless' and 'immature'.
Ahh, rambling across this vast sea of life this morn'.
Thanks for all the good, and fun, conversation.

[Andy Bangs]

50 is a good age for a new start. I have a friend who decided to go to The Apprentice Shop when he was about 50 and tired of what he was doing. He is now happily making wooden boats up in Rockland ME, living on Bear (an old wooden motor sailer) and thoroughly delighted with his decision. Try jensandgia@aol.com. Jens is a treat.

[Victor]

That may work for some, but I tend to wonder whether becoming a wooden boat craftsman would be the best thing right now. Sounds like you're living without a woman in your life, or family. Doing wooden boats might be gratifying but there must be times when it's frustrating, and that's when the lack of female company makes itself felt. Perhaps a simple job like truck driving with wooden boats on the side? Or the Peace Corps maybe?

[StevenBauer]

Cactus, go here: www.landingschool.org (http://www.landingschool.org)

They don't just teach boatbuilding and design they have a marine systems course.

"The Marine Systems Technician program is a comprehensive, full-time, forty week program designed to meet the technical training needs of students who seek employment in the marine industry. As such, the curriculum has been designed to prepare students to install, maintain and repair contemporary boat systems to established industry standards e.g. those of the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC), U.S. Coast Guard and International Standards Organization. "

Good luck

Steven

[keithw]

Lots of bravado and support-cum-self-assertion here. Its surely a fact that as we men age, we grow out of the provider role. Then most of us want to re-assert our masculinity - that's how I see this sea-thing we have going here. We want to be wise old men, revered skilled artisans of the chisel or the wheel. Is that fair? But at 50+ we wont ever get to be totally the genuine article (ie, the professional-level of skill that comes from a lifetime of work in one area). So can we get close enough to convince ourself? Setting up an achievemment target or task is surely the right way - build a boat to be proud of, sail an impressive voyage. Doing it, tho, is only truly successful if it convinces the doer that he succeeded. In our "professional" lives we all have probably got into a self-deprecating loop in which we regard what we have done as easy and not a source of satisafaction; it would be sad to start the same loop in our beautiful new lives. So, and in line with the idea that life is a journey, we need to learn to be proud of what we do, to have a self-esteem which makes us happy, not a driven "bring on the next challenge" A-type personality approach.

Now this might be a ramble but it is meant to be meaningful: make a change in your life but make sure you leave behind whatever work-life attitudes that got you to be alienated in the first place. The change is really in your head, but nearly all of us need a change of scenery to make it happen.

Lets all keep changing; forward to the past...

[PeterSibley]

Yes, but seven years into construction, and still no operating galley or shower!
smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif smile.gif Irrelevancies !!

[Sailing-Randy]

Let's see, I've been looking at this 50 thing for almost a year now
It's called the second half, as in the second half of the game. I like that. Adds demension to what some might call the downhill. No, its the second half. how are you goig to play it Cactus?

Let's see, you wonder if your too old. If it takes you ten years to build a boat and sail it someplace special you'll be sixty. How old will you be in ten years if you don't build a boat and sail it somewhere special?

As for lakes, Norm and I live in Nebraska. It maybe the second state with the most lakes, but not normally thought of as a sailor's paradise.

Let us know what the final decison actually is.