The Wanderer Story
or, How a couple of car guys took this:
and turned it into this:
It started as a very simple dream: find a old sturdy boat, clean ‘er up, bolt some nice motors on it, take it down to Costa Rica and go fishing.
I bought the Wanderer March of 2009, figuring I had what I needed in the form of my auto shops in Jacksonville and my good friend Captain Jack Weinnman (an experienced angler in his own right and an ASE Master Mechanic).
We also enlisted Matty from the car lot, who despite knowing absolutely nothing about boats seemed willing to perform the manual labor, keep the shop clean, and run out for parts/food.
The Wanderer herself was for sale in nearby Mayport, FL by the widow of the late Captain Jack Woodruff, a local legend in the Northeast Florida fishing community.
The Wanderer was a 1983 T-Craft Cabin Model with inboard diesel power and had been rigged for light fishing and heavy relaxation: Full interior lighting, shower, heating, air conditioning, five-speaker surround sound…you get the idea.
With the team assembled and the boat at our shops in Florida, we began the first task of stripping the Wanderer of all major systems and components…basically all the way down to the stringers and the hull.
It was during this process that our respect for Captain Woodruff and his boat began to take shape. EVERY bolt, nut, washer, and screw was tight and properly serviced. He had poured so much time and energy into the Wanderer that I knew we were going revive this boat to perfection.
We quickly learned that things don’t come out of boats quite as easily as they look…if you don’t believe me try to pull a 300lbs. Markon AC Generator through an opening the size of a doggie door.
Calling on Captian Chris Savitz and his father for an assist, Jack and Matty gutted the boat over a three week period. The finished the teardown bypulling the diesel inboard at the end of May.
At this point, the guys in the shop got back to cars and I took the Wanderer to South Florida. At Whitewater Boat Corp. in Miami, FL she received a fresh coat of blue bottom paint, new deck panels, and a sturdy transom for the forthcoming Yamahas. Then it was over to Blue Water Towers in Boyton Beach, FL for the canopy tower.
Around this time in the project it became apparent that we must think ahead to the kinds of problems boats have years after their built. The Wanderer is bound to live out her years in Costa Rica roughly 1200 miles from a decent boat shop. This was very apparent when we saw the condition of the fuel tanks.
Clearly this tank was not ready for Costa Rica. Jack and Matty got the unenviable task of pulling both 200 gallon tanks and draining them of old diesel. Then using this measured graphic and some incredible phone skills Jack had a welder fabricate two perfect replacements. This is a small example of the attention to detail that is necessary throughout a project like this.
The Wanderer returned to home base in July, when we enlisted yet another car guy to make this boat happen. Martin Rodriguez is a freelance paint and body specialist who does a lot of car work for me. He is a Tico (by way of New York City) and he does really nice work. He’d never done a boat this size, but figured it was worth a shot.
Along with his assistant Dave, Martin did a fantastic job with this boat. The blue puts even the Costa Rican waters to shame.
We devised a slick way to install the live well using existing structures in the hull, and turned to Oasis Boatyards in St. Augustine, FL to do the fiberglass fabrication.
These guys did an outstanding job and even drove the 90 mile roundtrip to come help us with the final details. They could’ve made us bring the boat to them, but I feel showed a lot of class by going out of their way for us.
By the end of July we saw the Wanderer in her new colors, and we got our first glimpse of how awesome this thing could be. Jack and I built a black Lexan Console while Matty got deep into polishing and buffing the bow rails, anchor box and every nut, bolt, and washer we pulled off the boat.
It was also around this time that pictures of this boat were first included in the monthly Fishing Nosara Fishing Report, which in turn led to a flurry of calls, emails, and visits to the shop to see exactly what we were up to and exactly how crazy we were.
With tons of “advice” from these spectators we got down to installing the instruments, steering, fighting chair, tower, new rub rails and live tuna tunas, plus outfitting the interior to comfortably support twelve anglers. Jack busied himself with all the wiring while Matty and I prepped the bow rails, anchor assemblies, and teak trim.
We brought in Carl Schmidt (first mate on my boat Fishtastic and a master carpenter) to assist our refit of the cabin. Where once was a refrigerator, AC generator, and freshwater recycler is now a rack of custom tackle boxes.
September was a month of furious activity as the deadline for shipping loomed at the end of the month. We finished rigging the bottom machine, bilge pumps, tuna tubes, and a half-dozen or so other systems with about a week to spare.
The last hurtle was getting a custom piece of 1.25 inch thick steel to anchor the fighting chair directly to the stringers. My son Craig Jr. is a master fabricator and he came through with an extremely strong anchor plate that will keep that chair in the fight for decades.
The motors were waiting in Costa Rica, but everything else was ready to fish when we sent her off on September 22.
After eight months of sweat, stress, deliberation, frustration, aggravation, sleepless nights, seven-day work weeks, dozens of trips to boat/metal/woodworking/tool and die/machine shops, twelve tubes of 5200, six ruined drill bits, a few hundred pages of Customs paperwork, and a 1,500 mile boat ride…the Wanderer arrived safe and sound in Nosara in early October.
I arrived in November to oversee the installation of the motors and the final rigging of all the tackle. You can see that Alex (the Wanderer‘s First Mate, second picture down) was ready to man his station even before we had the motors on!
Using seven strong men and a stronger tree branch, we got the motors in place as our Yamaha representatives oversaw the final installation, priming and inital firing of the twin 125 motors.
For those who have never witnessed a boat launch on the beach with a backhoe, it’s certainly a thrill…especially when that’s your boat our there! These Ticos are pros, and they know what they are doing.
Eight month since purchasing the Wanderer she was back in the water on November 13, 2009.
We wanted to christen the Wanderer with some lady luck (or karmic Zen blessings, depending on whose side you believe) so we invited some of the local Yoga students to come along for the test drive.
Something worked right because the next day Mike Young, Larry Mayo, and Clyde Gardner caught this gorgeous Black Marlin…the first on the Wanderer and a Hall of Fame catch.
Then the Wanderer got into some serious fishing. On the 15th I pulled up a 45lbs. Dorado and a nice sailfish. Also our first client Jimmy Dougherty caught his first ever Yellowfin tuna.
November 16th I brought in five 40lbs. Dorado and a 200lbs. Black Marlin along with my good buddy Chris Savitz (who remember helped get the inboard motor out of the Wanderer back in the Spring).
On November 17th we lost a HUGE 700lbs. Marlin right at the boat, but we cheered up by boating ten 30lbs.- 40lbs. dorado and ten 30lbs. Yellowfin tuna. We nailed ‘em again on the 18th; along with Javier Hernandez we caught a 300lbs. Black Marlin, six 20lbs. yellowfin and a pair of 30lbs. dorado.
Finally on the 21st Matty was aboard the boat he poured so much sweat, blood, and energy into. I am happy to report that his first catch on the Wanderer was this beautiful 30lbs. dorado.
I’m loving life right now. You’re welcome to come on down and join us. Trips on the Wanderer are being booked left and right, so hurry up and reserve your dates today. Thanks again to everyone who was part of this project. It’s been a heckofa trip.
Craig Sutton
November 27, 2009
Epilogue: The Wanderer, One Year Later
Coming Soon
Daily Fishing Updates | FishingNosara | 
March 20, 2011 7:10 pm | 
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