Trawl in the family

The Angelina is a 50-foot wooden trawler built in the early 1940s by Paul “Sugar” Lindwall. His son Chuck Lindwall bought the old vessel in 2003. Chuck Lindwall doesn’t fit the old saying -- the two happiest days of a man’s life are the day he buys his boat, and the day he sells it. Selling Angelina, the boat he bought in 2003, wouldn’t do anything to enhance his happiness. In fact, he plans to keep it forever.

Angelina is a 50-foot wooden trawler built in the early 1940s by his father, Paul “Sugar” Lindwall, and named for his grandmother. Though the boat manufacturing company Lindwall Boatworks -- started by Chuck Lindwall’s grandfather, Charlie Lindwall, in the 1930s on Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara -- was responsible for building about 20 wooden fishing boats, Angelina is special because it stayed in the family and served as the family fishing boat for many years.

The Lindwalls sold the boat in 1957. And when Chuck Lindwall heard it was for sale in 2003, he bought it without hesitation.

“I was raised on it as a little boy,” said the Marblehead, Mass., resident. “It’s not just that it’s a Lindwall boat -- it was my father’s boat. It’s a very special boat to me.”

After purchasing Angelina, Chuck Lindwall decided to give the old fishing boat a hefty makeover. He wanted to customize it into a more modern vessel he can stay on while visiting the area on business. As president of the Eastern region for KBS Realty Advisors, headquartered in Newport Beach, he travels here frequently for work.

In order to accomplish the extreme overhaul Chuck Lindwall had in mind, he enlisted shipwright Doug McElroy to oversee the project, which has taken two years and hundreds of thousands of dollars so far.

McElroy and his crew, Hector and Emilio Valdez, took Angelina to Marine Basin where they stripped her down to the hull and basically began rebuilding the entire thing from the hull up.

“Everything’s new,” McElroy said. “We tried to keep it looking like a Lindwall boat would look, and we’ve taken some design aspects from other Lindwalls.”

The beautifully remodeled Angelina now adorns Bayshores Marina in Newport Beach, while McElroy and the Valdez brothers apply the finishing touches and complete the boat’s interior.

The project is nearing completion, and McElroy said he hopes to have it finished by early next year.

Angelina has been a fully functioning, completely self-contained vessel since it was relaunched on July 16, almost 61 years to the day of its original launch in 1944.

“The history is just amazing,” McElroy said. “The story’s what I like, the family boat building.”

Chuck Lindwall said upon completion of the remodel, he plans to enjoy the boat and do some traveling.

For more information on Angelina, call McElroy at (949) 636-6693.

ANGELINA REMODEL -- MODIFICATIONS

Chuck Lindwall drew up most of the designs for the remodel being carried out by Doug McElroy and Hector and Emilio Valdez. Some of the new features are:

* New water and fuel tanks -- 1,000-gallon fuel tank, 300-gallon water tank .

* A new engine -- 3056 Caterpillar with new engine beds, 3-inch prop shaft, repaired original five-blade propeller.

* A new Racor fuel system with fuel polishers.

* A new 800-gallon-per-day water maker.

* A new windlass and anchor assembly.

* New electronic engine controls and hydraulic steering.

* A complete teak interior -- galley, master stateroom, saloon, helm station, fly bridge.

* Stainless steel rails and vents

* A new 14-foot tender.

* New teak decks.

* New state of the art electronics.

* New appliances.

* A refurbished mast and boom.

* New standing and running rigging.

* A complete paint and varnish job.

* LINDSAY SANDHAM is the news assistant. She can be reached at (714) 966-4625 or [email protected].

20051104ipeorvknDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)Doug McElroy is restoring Angelina, a Lindwall family wooden trawler with a historic past and lots of smooth-finished teak.