MYSTIC, Conn. (AP) – A local watercraft preservationist is heading to Cuba to help restore author Ernest Hemingway’s fishing boat.

Dana Hewson, vice president of watercraft preservation and programs at Mystic Seaport. will travel with members of the Boston-based Hemingway Preservation Foundation Sunday to Finca Vigia, Hemingway’s Cuban estate, where he will photograph and examine the Pilar.

Hemingway sailed the 40-foot boat when he lived in Cuba from 1939 to 1960, and is said to have conceived some of his greatest works, including “The Old Man and the Sea,” while aboard.

The group is working with the Cuban government to preserve the Pilar, Hemingway’s home and the thousands of Hemingway drafts, manuscripts, letters, photographs and books stored there.

The home is considered of such importance that the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed it on its 2005 list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places even though it is not in the United States. The fear is that the warm, humid conditions will eventually damage the papers, which include the never-published epilogue of “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

It is Hewson’s second visit there. He got a brief look at the black-hulled Pilar in December 2002. It is stored under a metal roof on a former tennis court on the estate, which is nine miles from the ocean and 12 miles from Havana.

He said he will do a more extensive examination this time to help Cuban officials determine what work needs to be done to preserve the boat.

Because the boat will be kept on land, Hewson said the work that is needed might be different than if the boat were to be displayed in the water.

“This is all about us offering guidance and resources to help them,” Hewson said.

“I’m really excited,” Hewson told The Day of New London. “Professionally, this is a really fascinating project for me.”

Hemingway bought the Pilar, a Wheeler Playmate, in 1934 from a shipyard in Brooklyn, N.Y

In his will, he left the vessle to his boatman, who gave it to the Cuban government.