The History of Carina

The story of how I ended up with Carina is actually longer then most people realize. I had always loved boats, grew up on an island, and was tough to appreciate the fine lines of a vessel by my father. At a fairly young age, I envisioned myself on a small ship, cruising around, having a grand time. Years before I ever saw or had heard of a T-boat, I drew a sketch of my optimum vessel, and I still have it. It's a dead ringer for a Design 2001. There was a T-boat at Fort Schuyler (NY Maritime) which never moved for my whole four years due to a lack of parts. Drove me nuts- I knew it was a great boat. After shipping worldwide for six years, I became a marine pilot and came back home to Clayton, NY. During the particularly nasty winter of 1998, my wife and I decided the time had come, and the search was on.

T 516 was found in the US Virgin Islands, where she was operating as a freighter. In previous lives, she has been a Navy vessel, research vessel and floating classroom. After she was built in New Orleans by Higgins, she was with the Army a short time before transferring to the Navy. There is roughly a 20 year period in her life that I can't account for her whereabouts, but I'm still hunting. As a freighter, she ran regularly between the USVI, Puerto Rico, St Lucia and Dominica. I bought her, and she started North in March 1998. With the aid of some wonderful friends (Plankholders!) Carina arrived at her homeport of Clayton NY in May 1998. 2477 NM from Hurricane Hole, St John to Clayton NY!

So now Carina lives here in Clayton. I'm slowly converting her over to a complete liveaboard, with the ability to work some also. I've kept her 100% operational throughout the restoration process, and cruise around as often as possible. Permanent crew include myself, my wife Augusta, two daughters Maris and Schuyler and a fat chocolate lab named Bowditch.

So……enough text, on to the pictures!