SANDPOINT — It was meant to be a pirate ship.

After making the 1940s-era Poulsbo boat seaworthy, it soon had a pirate flag, a skull hanging from the mast, crossbones — and even several young scallywag buccaneers in the form of his youngest grandsons.

"There's something about wooden boats," Dave Taylor said as he watched a steady stream of visitors stopping by to admire the Most Beautiful Queen during the Sandpoint Antique and Classic Boat Show on Saturday. "And this is kind of a unique boat. There just aren't a lot of them around."

Now in its 23rd year, the show is hosted by the Inland Empire Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society. The show attracts not only boats from throughout the region but often from throughout the country.

While the boat was meant to be a one-shot thing, meant to create a special pirate-themed memory with his grandsons, Taylor found himself immersed in bringing the 1940s-era Poulsbo boat back to life. Built in Poulsbo, Wash., the boats were popular recreational fishing and work boats in the Puget Sound from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s. Designed by Ronald Young and built by Young and his grandson, Gordon Young, the boats were easily recognized by their clean lines and smooth, curving stern.

Many were used by crabbers and recreational salmon fishing; others were used as supply boats, maneuvering their way to the various camps along the Puget Sound.

When Taylor found the boat, it wasn't in the best of shape. He figured that he would patch it up and then move on to another project.

"Then I kind of got into it," Taylor said with a chuckle. "So it's morphed into something that's been fun to mess with and I've enjoyed putting it back together."

Rebuilding the boat took patience. While skilled in building and owning his own construction company, Taylor said the skills didn't necessarily translate into those needed to bring the boat back to life.

"It was a lot of learning," Taylor said. "There were times when you would get frustrated and you would walk away from it, but then you would go back to it."

He said he found joy in rebuilding the boat, spending the winter months — the off-season for construction — hard at work on the Most Beautiful Queen.

"I've always liked boats," the Cocolalla resident said. "I've always liked wooden boats. I've had boats my whole life, but I've never had a real wooden boat until now … and I got into it and I thought, 'It's 85 years old now,' and you think 'It's lived this long. Let's help it live a little bit longer.'"

Since he acquired the boat two years ago, Taylor said the Most Beautiful Queen — named in honor of his wife, Mimi — has spent most of her time on Cocolalla Creek. Bringing her to the boat show meant registering her and marks the boat's inaugural voyage in public waters.

While the Queen is not a showboat, Taylor said he wouldn't have it any other way. He likes that the Poulsbo boat was built as a working vessel.

"She isn't a showboat. She never was," he said, noting he wanted to honor the boat's history. "The guy that I bought it from asked that I bring it back. He asked that I don't make it into a showboat. Make it what it was, so that's what I've tried to do."

Like Taylor, Darryl Onia has been fascinated by boats throughout his life. So when he saw the 1956 Aristocrat Torpedo available for sale at a yard sale, he didn't hesitate to make an offer.

While from Calgary, Alberta, Onia and his wife have a summer home near Twin Lakes. Before finding the Torpedo at a yard sale, the couple had considered several other boat projects, but none felt right. After working with a boat restorer and taking on a lot of the finishing work himself, Onia said a welding shop in Spokane helped with rebuilding the boat's trailer.

Since launching the boat in 2010, the family takes the boat out several times a week during the summers spent in Idaho and are frequent visitors to both the Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene wooden boat shows.

"They've all got really neat stories behind them, and when you grew up with them," Onia said, trailing off before continuing. "The fiberglass boats are a lot more sensible, but these are special. And now, with the modern varnishes, these things are pretty good."

While he doesn't know the Life O'Riley's full story, Onia said the boat was bought from her previous owner at an estate sale in Montana. Coincidentally, Sid Young — the grandson of Stanley Young, who founded the StanCraft Boat Company in the early 1930s with his dad, W.H. "Billy" Young — surveyed the boat for insurance purposes. Onia said he learned the boat was likely sold by Stan Young during his years as a boat dealer in Montana.

"So it was kind of a full-circle moment," he added. "And he's old enough that he probably drove this boat when they water-tested it before they sold it."

    Dave Taylor sits on the Sandpoint boardwalk near his 1940s Poulsbo boat, the Most Beautiful Queen during the Sandpoint Antique and Classic Boat Show on Saturday.
  

    Darryl Onia looks over a few of the photos taken during the restoration of his classic wooden boat, Life O'Riley, during the Sandpoint Antique and Classic Boat Show on Saturday.
  

    A pair of residents grab a bird-eye view of a few of the wooden and classic boat on display during Saturday's Sandpoint Antique and Classic Boat Show.
  

    A few of the boats on display during the 2025 Sandpoint Antique and Classic Boat Show. Dozens of boats lined the Sandpoint boardwalk during the Saturday show.
  

    The hull of a classic wooden boat gleams in the sunshine Saturday during the 2025 Sandpoint Antique and Classic Boat Show.