14 years ago, Christopher Willson bought an old cruise ship.
One of the first vessels Germany built after WW II was the Aurora.
Willson wants to turn it into a bed and breakfast.
It was a happy accident when Christopher Willson found an old cruise ship.
Willson, a former tech developer, was working on virtual-tour software when he stumbled across a cruise ship on the internet. He reached out to the owner to do a virtual tour of the ship.
I pretended to be a potential buyer and the owner let me on board. Willson told Insider that after doing the virtual tour, he went home and couldn't find anything about the ship's history.
Willson found a photo that looked exactly like the vessel after spending days researching it.
I went through hundreds of images of vintage ocean liners, and did a lot of matching and cross referencing before I found a match, Willson said.
One of the first ships Germany built after WWII was the Wappen von Hamburg.
Willson decided to buy the ship because of its historical value.
Willson negotiated with the seller to reduce the buying price of the ship from $1.2 million to $500,000. Insider was unable to verify the price of the ship.
The vessel was renamed Aurora after Willson took ownership.
The Wappen von Hamburger is the same ship as Aurora, according to the German shipbuilding company Blohm+Voss.
Willson had a previous career as a disaster-recovery specialist and that helped him fix things.
Willson traveled to places destroyed by fires and floods to recover mechanical and electrical equipment for insurance restoration companies.
I was always good at working with my hands, I have always been a fast learner. Willson said that he has rebuilt a bunch of cars.
When Willson bought the ship, it had three decks, 85 cabins with en-suite bathroom, a dining room and salon, an outdoor swimming pool, and a lot of structural issues.
When Willson took over the cruise ship, it was full of boxes, chairs, and mattresses.
Willson said in one of his videos that a lot of it was garbage that we had to get rid of.
The wood on the deck was destroyed by the weather. He had to get rid of rotted wood and rust before he could start the restoration process.
Willson removed the concrete floors and wood panels to address the underlying damage to give Aurora's hallway a new lease on life.
The passageway has new paint on it.
Willson created a Facebook page in 2015. People started sharing information about the ship.
A comment from one Facebook user made Willson realize Aurora was the floating SPECTRE headquarters in the 1963 James Bond movie.
The old travel brochures were shared by other Facebook users. The ship was known for its voyages around Alaska and North America from 1972 to 1977.
She was very yacht-like and had an exclusive air about her, according to maritime historian Peter Knego.
Willson said he spends 10 hours a day restoring Aurora.
The pace of the process has increased in recent years.
In December, he launched a YouTube channel called Aurora Restoration Project, which has helped raise the profile of his project. The restoration process of the cruise ship is documented on the YouTube channel. There are 13 videos on the channel that have gotten over 2 million views.
Willson is expecting a lot of activity on the boat in July.
In July, we expect 80 to 100 volunteers, mostly people from Silicon Valley, as there is a tech event a mile and a half away from here. Willson said that the founder of the internet archive tool, Wayback Machine, would be joining them.
The CEO of Wayback Machine told Insider that he does what he can to help Aurora, and that Chris is a very welcoming captain.
Willson said he welcomes help from a range of volunteers, from people with experience working on museum ships to people who can only paint.
40% of renovations are done. Willson told Insider that he has already spent $1 million fixing the ship.
Willson is trying to raise money to restore the vessel. He wants to raise $3 million.
Once you have finished one end of the ship, you have to start all over again. Willson said that even a brand new ship needs maintenance right off the bat.
Willson wants to fix up the kitchen, which was destroyed by a leaking deck.
We are currently working on raising money to get this area back into shape after we removed all of the old and outdated fixture.
Willson says that most cabins on Aurora are not in good shape.
Willson plans to restore all 85 cabins. He lives on the boat with his wife, and if he doesn't stay, people will come and steal things.
Willson wants to move the ship back to San Francisco.
He wants to turn Aurora into a bed and breakfast.
He wants to make Aurora 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 888-282-0465 to sell it on a fractional ownership basis.
Willson hopes to restore it to be a coastal cruiser and allow it to cruise up and down the West Coast into Mexico and Canada.
The original article can be found on Insider.
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