## East Providence Man Transforms Sailboat into Elaborate Pirate Ship
Jason DiPietro, a 51-year-old mason from East Providence, is realizing a long-held ambition: building and utilizing a fully-themed pirate ship. The project stemmed from an observation made during a trip to St. Thomas roughly four years ago.
“I was in St. Thomas about four years ago. I noticed everything was geared around pirates, and I noticed there was no pirate ships,” DiPietro explained.”So I said to myself, ‘I’m going to own a pirate ship and eventually sail it down to St. Thomas and create an Airbnb and do charity events.'”
While initially sidelined, the idea gained momentum when DiPietro discovered a listing on Facebook Marketplace. “One day I was scrolling through Marketplace and I saw a pirate ship and I said, ‘I’m going to buy that pirate ship’ and I did,” he said.
The vessel, a 22-foot Catalina sailboat constructed of wooden planks, was located in Connecticut. After numerous email inquiries to the seller,DiPietro successfully purchased the boat.
Upon bringing the sailboat to Rhode island, he quickly realized the extent of the restoration needed. It had been sitting in a river for over two years and was not seaworthy. DiPietro leveraged his skills to undertake a comprehensive conversion.”I put about 300 to 500 hours and tons of money. We have Knot Normal. I repowered her, made it seaworthy, and my attention to detail is unfounded. It’s a curse and a gift,” DiPietro stated. “It’s really fascinating to see the transition. My father was a commercial fisherman, so I learned how to build boats at an early age and I’m just really handy with my hands. It’s a gift — very handy.”
The renovation included extensive interior and exterior modifications to ensure both saltwater suitability and a convincing pirate aesthetic, aiming for a “Disney” level of detail.DiPietro added pirate skeletons throughout the ship, installed gold finishes on nearly all components, a telescope, and water-shooting cannons. He also incorporated a plank and a pirate-themed cove area.
Currently docked at 66 Church St. in Warren,DiPietro is continuing to refine the ship’s functionality for open water. Though, he’s already receiving keen reactions. “I hear ‘arghhh.’ It’s amazing. It’s all day long.I love it. Adults and children alike love it. Everybody that goes by takes pictures and videos and it really brings joy to a lot of people on this river,” he said. “It makes me really happy that I built something that everybody can enjoy, everybody really enjoys it.”
DiPietro hopes his project will inspire others to pursue their goals through dedication and hard work.He is now seeking a team to help him realize his vision of using the ship for charitable purposes.
“Charity work is really what I’m looking to do. I’m looking to build a crew of people to really accomplish that goal because my gift is building things,” he explained. “The other aspect of it, social media, flyers, connections, setting up appointments, I fall short in that area.”
Updates on the ship’s progress are posted weekly on dipietro’s Facebook page,where interested individuals can contact him: https://www.facebook.com/jason.dipietro.7.