“The whole thing is a tale of madness,” Rhys tells EW over the phone.
He did the inspection for me.
And the whole plan was for him to [restore] the whole thing.
Matthew Rhys restoring a Wheeler Playmate boat.Matthew Rhys/Instagram
He said, ‘You know what?
Just do it yourself!'"
Easier said than done.
Matthew Rhys’ Rarebit boat.Courtesy of Matthew Rhys
Rhys credits his captain, Kelli Farwell, who completed “the majority of the work.”
“So, she joined me three years ago,” Rhys recalls.
“I have done a lot of work on the boat.
But I have to say the hero’s portion has been done by her.”
Hemingway named the craft Pilar a nickname for Pauline, his second wife.
The actor felt dumbfounded when he stumbled upon such a nautical gem.
“It can’t be a Wheeler Playmate,” he thought at the time.
“They’re not around.
You just can’t find them.”
He flew his inspector out to the West Coast who came back with good news.
He also wanted it to be a business venture.
For one, it cost a pretty penny to restore the boat.
Now, the dream is finally becoming a reality.
“It’s whatever people want to get out of it,” Rhys says.
But it’s mostly individual as to what [passengers] want.
We’ll try and cater to that.
And also, maybe write the next great American novel.
“That’s what I’ll push for,” he jokes.
