Are you looking for a basket case?

The Bar Harbor 31 class sloop JOKER in its heyday. Image courtesy Willard Jaxon, Courtesy of MIT

As we were working on our story that makes the case for restoring old boats, we heard from various different builders and brokers with suggestions about potential boat projects.

The dilapidated JOKER sits in a shed awaiting rescue. Image courtesy Artisan Boatworks/Sturgis Haskins Alec Brainerd of Artisan Boatworks in Rockport told us about a Bar Harbor 31 class sloop named JOKER. “Artisan Boatworks has acquired what’s left of the 49' JOKER, one the 13 Bar Harbor 31 class sloops built in 1903 by the Herreshoff Mfg. Co. of Bristol, Rhode Island,” Brainerd said. While four BH-31s besides JOKER have survived, only one still sails, rigged as an easy-to-handle Marconi yawl. “Our goal is to see her thoroughly restored—either for the classic racing circuit, or to a new life as a family daysailer,” he said.

A broker at the Rockport Marine’s David Jones Yacht Brokerage sent us this list:

• Harvest, 33' Nielsen/Luke yawl at Northeast Boat in Northport.
• Alice Gray, 32' Elso 325 Crusette at a private residence in Raymond, Maine (RMI brokerage listing)
• Kirawan, 53' Philip Rhodes cutter. Located in Rhode Island, but well known in the boating community for her 1936 Bermuda Race win. (RMI brokerage listing)
• Roxanne, 30' Beal’s Island Lobster Boat at Rockport Marine
• Kittiwake, 31' Concordia sloop at private residence in Bristol
• Castine Launch, built at Dennett’s Wharf, currently at Seal Cove Boat Yard in Cape Rosier
• Stardust, 39' Bunker and Ellis at Ellis Boatyard in Southwest Harbor

The rest is up to you, dear reader!