Watertaxi refit

The Ca' Foscolo restoration

In April 2021, the Venice City Council decided to redesign the in Sant'Elena area, the southeastern part of Venice where the famous 'Cantiere Celli' shipyard was once located. Even though the shipyard had not been active for years, this brought a definitive end to one of the most reputable shipyards in Venice.

Over a year later, end of August of 2022 to be precise and not far from the place where she was born, I found 'Ça Foscolo' in a shed. She had been built by Cantiere Celli in 1971. A typical barnfind; a jewel that had been neglected. It's hull, deck and side decks had been poorly treated, causing the beautiful wood structure to be barely visible and giving her an ugly 'plastic' appearance. I took the risk and decided to buy her and transported her to the Netherlands. In September 2022 I started an extensive renovation. Ça Foscolo was completely sanded down to the mahogany and provided with a thin layer of fibreglass and 5 layers of Fairpoxy, 7 layers of varnish and 20 layers of high-gloss topcoat. The restoration process took approximately one year. because i needed to learn a lot of new things about drying processes, using epoxy and a lot of new products, I recorded every detail in a diary of which you can receive a copy upon request.