Rebuilding Amorita

by Bill Doyle & Jed Pearsall

The project of rebuilding Amorita was quite different than a restoration project. Mostly in that we weren't starting with a decayed relic, or a boat just out of commission due to neglect. Prior to the crash, she was a fully restored yacht, in excellent condition. Following the crash, our philosophy for the rebuild quickly became clear and never waivered: preserve the heart and soul of Amorita, utilizing as much of her original fabric as possible, and rebuild her to the boat she was the day before the crash. As we put her back together, we never viewed the project as an opportunity to make her into something she wasn't-- an 100% authentic representation of the boat the Herreshoff Company splashed 100 years earlier. Over the years, each of the NY-30's has developed her own slight variations, none better, none worse, just unique sisters of the same family. This is why simply leaving her remains at the bottom of the Bay and replacing her with another NY-30 was never an option, Amorita had to be rebuilt.

The project was assigned to Andy Giblin of McClave, Philbrick & Giblin (MPG). Andy had been Amorita's caretaker for nearly two decades and nobody knew the boat or understood her importance to us better. At MPG there was a marked air of pride, love, and dedication in the boat shop among the craftsmen who toiled over her; they cared for Amorita as if she was their own and we are forever grateful to them.

Surprisingly, many of the boat’s parts that we interacted with the most were salvaged. Immediately after being plucked from the water, all of us on Amorita's crew still wet and in shock, picked up everything afloat and pulled it aboard our rescue boat. Once ashore, we traveled by car to the rocks off of Beavertail Light to locate any pieces that had washed up there. Recovered that day were all of the bright work hatches, ladder, cushions, various trim bits, and the tangled web of broken spars and rigging. When Amorita’s hull was floated and hauled a few days later, we found that much from the cockpit aft and the mast-step forward was untouched, leaving nearly all of the deck hardware, and tiller intact. While most of her frames and planking above the waterline needed replacing, an extensive effort was made to keep as much of her original Herreshoff installed planking below the waterline as possible. Here, I will leave the re-construction specifics for the experts to provide.

Our goal was to rebuild the lost and broken items as they had been on the morning of her sinking, as Adrian Pearsall had restored her in 1980. Along the way, there were some inevitable minor changes, but our philosophy was consistent: each piece of Amorita was important. Every decision made was focused on rebuilding her exactly as she was on the morning of 7/7/07, so that when she awoke from her slumber, Amorita would be just as we all fondly remembered our “Little Love.”