Zack's Boat Fire Recovery

Three days ago I lost my home, my boat, and most of my belongings to a fire. Thankfully these are all just things and no one was hurt, but this drastically sets me back financially and Ieaves me without a home. For those that are able and willing, I'm asking for your help.

 

 

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Zack and I've been a liveaboard on my sailboat for 5 years and have loved every second of it. Living on my boat has allowed me to live an environmentally sustainable, affordable, and minimalist lifestyle. It hasn't been without its hard moments but its always been worth the compromises and has been a wonderful way to share my passion for the water with people. My best memories of the boat are those spent in the evenings watching the sunset from the bay with friends. The boat has served as the perfect venue and reason to gather people and spend time with one another.

 

 

The Boat

Rascal was a 1971 Challenger 32, a bluewater capable coastal cruiser that was my dream boat and home. I'm still at a loss for how I was able to acquire this boat, it was everything I ever wanted and I'm extremely grateful for the time that I got to spend with it.

 

I found this boat two years ago on craigslist, it was out of the water and neglected for 10+ years. The original owner was a retired vietnam vet that had passed away after investing himself into this boat in the 1990's and traveling the pnw with it. It was his pride and joy up until the day he died. I financially stretched myself as thin as I could, sold my other sailboat, and dove head first into this project. His widow was very excited to hear that I planned to bring the boat back to life and give it the love that it deserved so that his legacy could live on.

 

 

Over the past two years I've invested every spare dollar and hour of my own labor that I could to bring Rascal back to life. I can't remember how many sleepless nights I had trying to figure out how to fix things or the amount of youtube videos that I watched to learn how to do boat maintenance. All that investment in time eventually paid off as I was able to get the boat back into ship shape and shining once again.

 

 

The past two summers have been a dream of travelling all over the San Juan islands, multi day adventures, sunset cruises with friends, and media trips and projects with industry friends. Rascal was turning out to be quite the reliable vessel and was fueling the fire for more trips in the coming years. I had dreams of sailing the inside passage to Alaska, making a crossing to Hawaii, and travelling to B.C. for more mountain biking trips.

 

This is the boat that I was going to keep for the rest of my life, to continue sharing adventures with family and friends, to travel the PNW with, and to eventually pass down to the next generation to keep Rascal's story alive.

 

 

 

What Happened

While I was away from the boat for two days I received a phone call from the harbor that my boat was fully on fire and the fire department was on the scene. The shore power connector (original from 1971) shorted itself out and started a small fire that eventually lead to a complete interior fire. Luckily no one was on board and no other boats were damaged by the incident, but Rascal is now a full loss.

 

I lost the boat, all of my clothes, books, personal possessions, and the tools that I've collected over the years to this fire.

 

The Goal

To responsibly dispose of Rascal and to find a similar project boat to replace her with.

 

A relationship with a boat is very intimate and it's hard to quantify the total loss after all the years of hard work and personal labor that I invested in this boat, but I will need $8000 at a minimum in assistance beyond my own savings to achieve this.

 

 

The Method

Donations are much appreciated, but I'm also willing to put in work if anyone wants to book me for a chartered overnight trip in the Islands this summer or for a sunset sail on the bay with friends. If you're interested in helping me out by booking me for a trip, send me a message.


Thank you!

Zack Paukert

 

Insta: @that.guy.zack