HOWB 026 – The Smith’s restore 1929 wooden boat “David B” for floating B&B - interview - 03.15.12

Interview – Christine & Jeffrey Smith of Northwest Navigation
Christine had dreamed of having a bed and breakfast since she was a kid, and David loved wooden boats ever since living in Maine where he was a deck hand and eventually captained on several wooden schooners with Windjammer Charters. Their passions and ideas blended together and they determined to have a “floating B&B” ala a wooden vessel. At first their plan was to build a wooden schooner, but the economic downturn nixed that idea so it was on to PLAN B – find an inexpensive wooden vessel and restore it.

A friend suggested they meet up with a gentlemen on Lopez Island that owned several wooden boats which “needed work”. They traveled to Lopez Island, fell in love with and purchased a 65ʹ former “monkey boat” built in 1929 named David B. Jeffreys best estimate was that it would be a 2 year restoration project. EIGHT years later in 2006, the restoration was done and their floating B&B company – Northwest Navigation – was launched. Christine has written an exciting book chronicling the David B rebuilding adventure.

Faster Backwards: Rebuilding David B.

Tune in to this podcast to hear Christine and Jeffrey talk about their dreams, the gory details of their restoration project, how their floating B&B works, and other cool topics.

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You can contact me at woodenboatdan@gmail.com to share your comments, feedback, stories, and wooden boat adventures.

Keep the bright side up and the barnacled side down - Wooden Boat Dan over and out :D

PS Please note this podcast was recorded several years ago - some of the links, email addresses, phone numbers, and promos mentioned are outdated and no longer valid.