The restaurant liquidation business is not a streamlined, cut-and-dried process. Often times, there’s a lot more than just kitchen equipment that restaurant owners want to get rid of. We are proud to have an online auction platform that delivers results for all types of items. Everything you might have inside a restaurant, we can sell in our online auctions at RestaurantEquipment.bid.

Seriously, everything.

Among the many pieces of professional-grade kitchen equipment on the auction block from T.G.I. Fridays in Durham, North Carolina, is a collection of decorations, like the wall of framed pictures, road signs, a surfboard, a rubber swordfish, and this vintage wooden racing rowboat shell.

We knew we weren’t just looking at an average boat when we first saw this. The craftsmanship is beautiful and the boat looks over thirty feet long! Somebody out there will love and appreciate this as a decoration or restoration project.

To find the right buyers, we had to learn about it first, so we reached out to several rowing clubs and boat museums to see if anyone knew the story of this boat. After a dozen or so conversations with collectors, museum curators and rowing enthusiasts, we were pointed in the direction of RowableClassics.com, a company that specializes in building and restoring wooden row boats like the one in our auction. Derek from Rowable Classics said,

“It is very possible this was one of our boats, as my father put boats in many TGI Fridays restaurants back in the day. The boat is worth at least $1,000 retail as a display boat to the right buyer. It was a real rowable boat at one point! The question is more of can it be restored to rowable condition.”

The technical name for this boat is a Sculler, which is the type of boat used for Sculling, or what many people know as crew racing. This is a genuine wooden racing boat seats two and has been used for display but could be rowable again if put in the right hands!

It’s not a normal piece of restaurant equipment, but we’re not a normal restaurant liquidation company. As part of our commitment to finding the right buyers for items in our auctions and generate return for our clients, we are asking for your help in finding a home for this beautiful vessel.

Do you know a boat expert or somebody who loves a good restoration job? Connect us with them, or send them this article!

To see this auction in Durham, North Carolina, click here: https://www.restaurantequipment.bid/cgi-bin/mmlist.cgi?rebid2/197