According to Gregorio Fuentes, to whom Hemingway left (or Mary gave) the Pilar, when he realized that the Pilar was falling apart, he somehow met Fidel Castro, who asked him if there was anything he could for him.

 

"Yes," Fuentes said, "we need to restore his boat."

 

"Where shall we keep it?"

 

"At his home."

 

Castro said he'd see what he could do.

The Pilar is the best preserved and best protected thing at the Finca.

 

  (There's a still photo of the Pilar, pre-restoration, in a documentary, Los Sitios Cubanos de Ernest Hemingway, that's just tragic.  It's sitting on a boat cradle in the bushes.)

 

(I'm not sure of the authenticity of the pink bottom paint, but whatever!)