Donate to the New Fleet Fund!
With help, we could have new boats in time for this summer's classes!
Over half of the JYS dinghy fleet was bought used in 1997. Those boats are almost 35 years old. The others are from circa 2006 and pushing 20 years. The boats get used hard, and until this year, have had to be stored outdoors over winter. They are delaminating, rotting, splintered, with broken parts and bent masts; and after years of ''just do what you can'' repairs, no two are alike anymore. This makes parts replacements and maintenance very difficult, on top of all the hull problems. But thanks to the Juneau community, especially the Douglas-Dornan Fund, JYS now has four new-to-us shipping containers that will let us store our fleet indoors over winter, out of the freeze-thaw cycle. This is huge. This is why we can finally pursue fleet replacement.
These boats are expensive. A full set of eight with finishing touches like hull numbers and a set of trapeze harnesses will be $112,580 dollars. That's a lot, but amortized over a 20-year lifespan, it's a great deal.
That leaves $40,080 to be raised by mid-March to fullly fund the project! That's not much time, but we can do it. We are asking all of our annual sponsors to support the New Fleet Fund, and also asking all the families whose students take our classes to please chip in. Between that support and two additional applications we have in, we are optimistic! The goal is new boats in 2025. With your help, we can do it. Thank you for keeping the wind in our sails!
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