The Center for Wooden Boats is all about vintage vessels, but when it comes to its facilities, older isn’t necessarily better.

On Wednesday night, the center hosted a fundraiser to kick off a $495,000 project to improve its facilities on the south end of Seattle’s Lake Union. Wooden boat aficionados, center staff and board members mingled in the center’s boathouse, went for rides on the 1926 Lake Union Dreamboat Winifred and snacked on food provided by nearby Daniel’s Broiler.

Addressing the group, CWB Executive Director Betsy Davis said the planned improvements are needed to upgrade the center and further the work of the nonprofit organization that founder Dick Wagner and wife Colleen started in 1977.

“There’s a lot of exciting work we’re going to be doing over the next six months and it’ll really help us strengthen these facilities we’ve been using for almost the past three decades,” Davis said. “We’re taking this incredible concept and really making it permanent for the future.”

The project will include installing grating on docks to provide natural light for fish, replacing harmful creosote pilings with steel ones, adding dock supports and creating new entrances to the center from the west and south ends of Lake Union Park. Construction on the 12-acre park is currently underway and is expected to be finished next spring.

Additionally, center staff currently housed in the adjacent armory building will be moved to the center’s boathouse to make way for the Museum of History & Industry, which is relocating to the armory building after a renovation slated for next year.

Wagner also spoke, commending Davis for moving forward on the improvements, which will enlist the help of volunteers.

“It’s going to be the most exciting public participation event that Seattle has ever seen,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to the beginning of it, and at the end of it we’re just going to have a hell of a party.”

The work is expected to take place over the next six months, when it will have the least impact on fish and other marine life. Future plans for the center include constructing a new education building in Lake Union Park, moving the existing boathouse about 30 feet north to connect with a new gangway to the park and developing a shipyard and community center on county-owned property at the north end of Lake Union.

Speaking at Wednesday’s event, former champion hydroplane racer Chip Hanauer said he hopes the center retains its quirky character as it continues to evolve. The center, Hanauer said, is one of the few authentic places left in the city’s increasingly slick and developed downtown area.

“It’s got to keep its funk or it just won’t be the same,” he said. “It’ll lose its soul.”

Hanauer, who now sails an old Pelican boat that he restored, spoke of the joy of being around wood—whether it’s playing a guitar or being on a classic wooden boat. The Center for Wooden Boats, he said, provides a unique experience for people who love wooden boats and the era they represent.

“When you’re at this place, you feel like you’re in a different world,” he said. “You’ve got to be in a wooden boat to truly appreciate being on the water. To have this place that pays reverence to wooden boats, we’re very lucky and I’m very grateful.”