The history I have starts after mid-century when the boat underwent a complete restoration and renovation. After changing hands a few times over the decades, El Mistico was kept in Shelton, Washington for a number of years before Megan and I purchased her to continue her restoration journey.

El Mistico is now moving from Shelton, WA to Vashon Island, WA, closer to her original berth in Ballard. While she's not in the prettiest condition, her hull inspection went really smoothly this past week. We scraped the bottom, cleaned it up, did some caulking, and gave it a fresh coat of paint after receiving a seal of approval from a wooden shipwright and surveyor. She will be heading into the canal next to have her engine worked on for some much-deferred maintenance, then back to Vashon where we will begin restoration plans.

We look forward to many years as the keeper and current restorer of El Mistico and we're excited for her to be in our care.

-Paul Wilkes, 11/29/25