Retirement on the High Seas Building model boats isn’t rocket science, but even if it were, it would still be the perfect hobby for Paul, a retired astrophysicist. For the last 13 years, Paul has spent hours each day designing, building, and wiring model boats so they can comfortably sail the high seas — aka the lake in his Colorado retirement community. CHECK OUT PAUL’S SCALE-MODEL BOATS!
Paul’s fascination with boat-building started decades ago when he and his wife, June, were foster parents to about 150 foster kids over the past 30 years. Many of those kids had special needs, so Paul needed a hobby he could practice from home. He struck upon building remote-controlled boats and has been doing it ever since! “When I retired, my hobby really ramped up. Now, I have about a dozen or so boats in my garage. Some are 6 feet long and weigh 60 pounds! A few of them are too heavy for me to get into the lake now without help,” Paul says. “Either the boats are getting heavier or I’m getting older; it’s one way or the other!”
Many of his designs are based on photos he and June have taken from the decks of cruise ships. When he isn’t working from his own pictures, he finds inspiration in his grandfather’s experience on battleships in WWI and WWII, the internet, and BBC specials on TV.
“I do a lot of thinking, drawing, and planning, then I just build them from eyeballing,” Paul says. “It takes at least a year to make a boat that way because you need a lot of drawing table space, you need a very large eraser, and you really have to spend a lot of time planning before you actually go out and buy new wood.” Paul’s boats have made him a well-known figure in his retirement community. It’s hard to miss them sailing though the water with their moving gun turrets, flashing LED lights, and tiny sailors! “When I take one or more of my boats onto the lake and a lot of the other residents come out and watch,” Paul says, “I offer them the controls if they want to drive them, and some of the ladies have done remarkably well! It seems to be a lot of fun for people to watch, and I certainly get a kick out of seeing the boats sail after having spent so much time in my garage building the darn things.” Paul and June moved to the U.S. from England 40 years ago and have built a beautiful life in Colorado. They have two children of their own, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. They still love to travel around the world. In fact, they have a 128-day “Round the World” cruise planned for next year. The trip has been postponed several times, but they’re patiently waiting to return to adventuring.
Paul retired from his job as a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder about 13 years ago. That gave him a lot more time to work on his models, which he likes to make from scratch.
“If we can’t go on the big ships, then I’ll play with the small ones!” Paul says, referencing his models. “We have fun all the time.”
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