The Boat Restoration Magazine is Dead. So I Made My Own.
For years, boat owners could turn to TV or magazines for practical information about restoring, rebuilding, and keeping older boats alive. Much of that has disappeared, moved online, or become scattered across hundreds of websites, videos, forums, and product-driven articles. MotorCity Boat Werks’ Boat Restoration Magazine isn’t really a magazine at all—it’s my attempt to put that kind of information back in one place.
Built from my more than 30 years of hands-on experience restoring sailboats, powerboats, and trawlers, it brings together the MotorCity Boat Werks Technical Library, detailed how-to articles, technical guides and e-books. It includes the other side of old boats that has always interested me: Bucket List Boats, wooden-boat profiles, stories of Boat Motivation, and interviews with other DIY boatbuilders and restorers. MotorCity Boat Werks has become a sort of digital magazine, part TV show, part technical library, and part record of what ordinary boat owners can accomplish when they’re willing to do the work.
There was a time when owners of older boats could turn to publications such as Good Old Boat, Practical Sailor, Practical Boat Owner, WoodenBoat, and Small Boats Magazine for the kind of practical information that helps keep an aging boat on the water. Some remain, but the traditional print model has been steadily disappearing. Good Old Boat ended publication in 2024 after citing skyrocketing paper, printing, and shipping costs, while Practical Sailor ended its print edition the same year because of increasing paper and postage costs and moved entirely online. Small Boats is now exclusively digital, while WoodenBoat and Practical Boat Owner are among the relatively few recognizable print publications still hanging on.
Remember? There was a time boat owners were served by limited access TV shows like Ship Shape TV (USA) or the Boat Yard (UK). But it seems like the days of quality niche programming–that actually shows you something, actually teaches you something–have disappeared like the print magazines of the past.
We’re Still Here, But the Magazines and TV Left Us.
The irony is that the boats didn’t disappear with the magazines or TV content. The United States still has an estimated 15.4 million recreational boats, and nearly 859,000 pre-owned boats changed hands in 2024 alone. Millions of aging fiberglass boats remain in use across the United States and hundreds of thousands more throughout the UK and Europe. Older fiberglass boats still need decks repaired, engines replaced, electrical systems updated, fiberglass rebuilt, interiors refitted, and decades of deferred maintenance corrected. The audience and the work are still here. It seems like what largely disappeared was an economically sustainable printed magazine or television programming dedicated to serving them.
You could say the concept behind MotorCity Boat Werks is a new sort of Boat Restoration Magazine. I make it just for you. It’s the best parts of what a DIY magazine and tv show were all about.
Real DIY information, real boats, real passion. No sponsors. No advertisers. No BS. Just boats and restoration.
Werkers Get All My Content FREE
Join my Patreon to secure your spot as a “Founding Werker.” You’ll be able to say you were one of the first—you were there in the beginning. Werkers get access to all my digital content FREE with paid membership and discounted consulting. And Founding Werkers are grandfathered against future price increases.
E-Books
- One Less Traveled: Owning a Classic Plastic Sailboat (full book in reprint) ISBN 979-B-35092-935-5
- Sea Tiger SL 555 Manual Windlass Project
- Mustang 22: $600 Sails Across the Atlantic
- Albin 27 Hardtop Project
- Build a Pilothouse for your Compac 16 Sailboat
- Albin 27 Buyers Guide
Component Reviews and Unboxings
- Choosing a Marine Thruster: Lewmar TT140
- Choosing a Marine Water Heater: Isotherm Spa 40
- Choosing a Marine Air Conditioner: Mabru 12v 7000btu
- Choosing a Marine VHF Radio: Standard Horizon GX2410GPS
- Choosing Electrical Outlets
- Choosing a Marine Toilet: Masterflush 7160
- Sikkens Cetol Experiment Update (June 2025)
- Choosing Fiberglass Epoxy Resin
Articles
- Marine Sealant Comparison Chart
- Composite Materials Quick Reference Chart
- Installing Boat Hatches & Portlights
- How to Solve Standing Water on Deck
- How to Plan a Boat Restoration
- Sailboat Mast & Rigging Inspection Checklist
- Sailboat Mast & Rigging Inspection
- Choosing Marine Sealant
- Removing, Repairing, Cleaning a Boat Fuel Tank
- Installing Boat Handrails
- Designing a Boat Electrical System in 6 Steps
- Composite Materials & Boat Building
- Repairing Rotted Portlights
- Ten Rules of Boat Restoration
Notes and Worksheets
- Searchable Episode Database
- DIY Shrink Wrap Shelter
- Albin 27 Headliner Project
- Skipper 20 Sailboat Rudder Measurements
- Worksheet: Pilothouse Conversion
The Werkers is our community focused around amateur boat restoration and boat building. By joining my Patreon you get access to all my notes, materials lists, e-books, Behind-the-Scenes Footage, and technical library. The technical Library contains more than 30 magazine-style articles for the amateur boat builder or restorer. All content is original, written by yours-truly, and exclusively for members.
Real Magazine Articles
For more than 20 years, my experiences with restored boats have been featured in your favorite sailing and boating magazines. See for yourself.
Most recently PassageMaker Magazine featured MotorCity Boat Werks in the July/August 2024 issue. The ten-page article and photospread covers a do-it-yourself trawler adventure across Friesland, Netherlands.
PassageMaker Magazine also featured MotorCity Boat Werks in the November/December 2025 and January/February 2026 issues. This is a two-part article and photospread on cruising the Telemark Region, Norway by all electric trawler.
Now my writing is exclusive –just for you.
Real experience. Real Restorations.
Featured Amateur Boat Building Projects
Across MotorCity Boat Werks, I document boat-building projects from the initial idea through mockups, templates, fabrication and final installation. When a build project finally comes together, I call this a “Moment of Completion.” These projects include building composite structures with Coosa Board, fiberglass and epoxy, modifying existing hulls, fabricating hardtops and pilothouses, rebuilding structural components, and creating one-off parts where no plans or templates exist. The videos show the complete process—including material choices, measurements, construction methods, mistakes and lessons learned—so another amateur builder can understand not only what I built, but how I built it.
Boat Building How-To Library
The MotorCity Boat Werks How-To Library brings together the practical techniques I use for amateur boat building, including fiberglass and composites, Coosa Board construction, mockups and templating, structural fabrication, woodworking, interiors, tools and materials. These videos and articles document the methods, materials and lessons learned from real boat-building projects. Every video is on topic, hands-on, concise and detailed. I show what works, what doesn’t work–real lessons learned from 30 years building boats. My videos are made for the amateur with information presented for the novice builder, competent amateur, or experienced craftsman.
In Search of Master Craftsmen & Professionals
I don’t know everything about boat building, and no one does. That’s why part of MotorCity Boat Werks is about going in search of boat-building expertise and motivation. I’ve traveled around the world to meet ambitious amateur boat builders, master craftsmen, professional shipyards and revolutionary boat designers to see how they approach their work, solve problems and build boats. These stories broaden what we can learn beyond my own Boat Werks and demonstrate just how many different ways there are to build a boat.
Read My Articles. Join the Werkers. Get it FREE.
Get access to all my tips and tricks, behind-the-scenes-content, and technical Library.