Tag Archives: Preparing to cruise

All….Most….There….

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Ah, what a weekend! Today was sunny and very warm for us, 82 degrees.  It was one of those days that came together just like clockwork. After Mike’s hard work all week, he really needed a break and this was our only opportunity to get one before we leave for the long vacation. How is it that we need a break from preparing for our vacation? That just sounds weird, and yet it’s true.

Thursday I met Mike down at Moonrise to help him install the final piece of the autopilot. He drilled holes, I passed wires and retrieved tools, and before we knew it, he had completed the job. Next was the commissioning and sea trial of the unit.

Mich

Mike, puddling around. Isn’t she cute?

At the same time that Mike was working on the autopilot, I had been thinking about the dinghy situation. Several years ago Mike built our dinghy, Puddler, and she has been a great little boat. She has ridden the waves behind Moonrise on every trip. We like her. But she is, in a word, heavy. She was Mike’s first pass at building a plywood boat and he used,    um, plenty of fiberglass. You know how they say those fiberglass boats of the ’70s were ‘overbuilt’. Enough said.

Mike really wanted a tender that could be easily brought up on deck during rough passages and Puddler does not fit that bill. In addition, she needs some minor repairs that may turn into major repairs if we take her through rough water. And we just don’t have time to get to those right now.  Barkley Sound isn’t exactly the end of the earth, but it’s wild enough that one wants a dinghy that is easy to maneuver and stow.

No, it was time to try something else so I turned to Craigslist. I had been looking every day this week and had found a few possibilities, but they were not anywhere close to home and I really wanted to find one that could be outfitted with a sail. So when I pulled up Craigslist last night and saw that the very first dinghy listed was an 8 foot Walker Bay with a set of really nice, adjustable oars with good looking stainless steel oarlocks, my heart started beating faster. The price was about 1/3 what that set would cost new, and it was in good condition. There is a place for a mast, a centerboard, and a rudder. The clincher was that it was sitting on the dock by the guy’s boat in Gig Harbor, right across the water from us. I emailed him. Could we sail across this morning and take a look? We could!

Hey, Moonrise! What's that up on deck? The dinghy can actually lay flat when we pull it forward a bit.

Hey, Moonrise! What’s that up on deck? The dinghy can actually lay flat when we pull it forward a bit.

So we got off the dock around 9:00 this morning and sailed over to Gig Harbor, bought the dinghy and oars, and then tied up at the dock at The Tides tavern for lunch, right behind a really cool Coast Guard boat. The Tides has great dockside service this time of year and is a very popular spot for local boaters. It’s so popular that you might not be able to leave when you want to if people raft up to you, but the show is free and the weather is fine, so who cares? I love those kind of days.

These Coast Guard boats are pretty cool, when their engines start. Unfortunately, this one didn't.

These Coast Guard boats are pretty cool, when their engines start. Unfortunately, this one didn’t. We were sorry for the Coasties. 

After lunch we spent time commissioning our newest crew member, Stella. She is going to be an awesome addition to the boat. We don’t know how we lived this long without her! For her first test, she took us directly to our favorite anchorage off Vashon Island where we dropped the hook for a few hours.  With this heat, and all the activity, we were both in need of a nap.

Mike with our new crew member, Stella. We love her already.

Mike with our new crew member, Stella. We love her already. 

The boat is pretty much ready to go now except for fuel and water. I still have some grocery shopping to do and we need to pack clothing and take my kayak down to the marina. But the end of preparations is in sight.  Four days and counting!

Time Warping

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Ever notice that when you are waiting for something time seems to slow down to an excruciating minute by minute experience? I think this is some kind of quantum time warp that happens when vacations loom in the near future. You would think that with the craziness that is our lives this week time would simply be flying, but such is not the case. We’re moving at warp speed, but time seems like it is standing still. There must be some strange law of physics at work here.

We are packing a whole lot of living into one little week around here.  We’ve got one kid leaving for Turkey and Europe tomorrow, another kid moving home this weekend in advance of her own adventure to Scotland and beyond. There are rooms to get ready, bags to pack, tickets to double check, sheets to wash, travel snacks to pack, and what’s left of an apartment full of stuff to move home with said oldest child. And the dog looks like he feels puny. I can’t tell if he’s just responding to the stress or whether there is something wrong.

Mike and Andrew in the process of what has become alarmingly commonplace at our house: moving people and furnishings around.

Mike and Andrew in the process of what has become alarmingly commonplace at our house: moving people and furnishings around.

Our oldest is doing it right. She is taking the plunge and casting her net into the wide world, expecting it to work out. She has started by selling almost everything in her apartment. She made about 1000$ toward her travel plans. A pretty good haul if you ask me. Only a few pieces of furniture are coming home, and it’s because of me, not because of her. She’s a brave one. I’m trying to envision doing that same kind of thing with a 3000 square foot house and I’m coming up short in the vision department. I guess it’s just going to take us longer.

She got to enjoy living in this lovely building in Seattle for exactly one year. Now on to other things.

She got to enjoy living in this lovely building in Seattle for exactly one year. Now on to other things.

So her move is the background music of our lives all the time right now, and Andrew’s trip to Turkey and Europe is coming up starting tomorrow. We’ve been scurrying around helping him with last minute things, and just being with him until he leaves. By the time a kid gets to be this age, he can pretty much do his own packing and all that, but, you know. Moms.

Meanwhile my practice is busier than ever. I’m completely booked until the day before we cast off. Go figure. But it did feel good to change my voice mail message, which I did a few days ago already,  announcing that new client appointments had to be scheduled the first week of August. That should slow down the tidal wave so I can keep my head above water.

Last weekend we retrieved Moonrise from her place in Olympia and brought her home. She’s still ours and we’re just going to take her up to Canada and enjoy the heck out of her. Mike is working on getting the autopilot installed and it’s working really well so far. He works his day, then goes to the boat and puts in hours there. Guess which hours he enjoys more? He’s taken loads of photos and will be posting his finished product coming up. This is good practice for the next boat, whenever that is. We were able to get most of our things back on the boat and get them stowed this weekend, so all that’s left is the stocking of food and clothing and entertainment items. Eight more days and counting. Even time warps must come to an end.

South sound anchorage off Anderson Island. No wind, but pretty day.

South sound anchorage off Anderson Island. No wind, but pretty day.

Only Love Can Break Your Heart*

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What do the following words mean to you? “Professionally maintained for the last 40 years.” To me, they mean just what they say, and the implication is that a vessel with this description is one that has been cared for well. This is how Flying Gull was advertised in her Yachtworld listing. That may have been true when this boat was kept in Rochester, NY, but it’s not true now.  That statement, among many others in the listing, proved to be false and thus our hearts are broken as we have to walk away from this boat that we both truly love.

She is completely beautiful and worth taking care of.

She is completely beautiful and worth taking care of.

I’d like to make the point here that we should have known that anything that looks too good to be true probably is. More’s the pity. Hindsight being the 20/20 vision that it is, there were clues. For instance, the new paint job on this boat is already beginning to bubble in a couple of small places. Then there was the paint on the bronze trim along the edge of the stern. Why would anyone leave paint all over a bronze piece like that? We had strong feelings about the quality of a paint job that was done in such a sloppy manner. What’s on the surface is often an indication of what’s underneath.

There was the owner’s story about the rigging and how two of the shrouds were installed backwards. And they had been that way for several years. The owner was not sure he wanted to put the boat to a test sail because of this rigging issue. He didn’t want to stress the rig. Excuse me?  Again, why was this not fixed? We began to be very wary, but by this time, we were in too deep. We loved and wanted the boat. We had a shared vision of owning that boat and, after all, it’s an easy fix, right? We would have to get a rigger out there eventually, right? So we agreed to split the cost for a rigger to come out and take a look because not being able to sail a sailboat during the test sail? Well, you get the idea here. The good news is that the rigging is in excellent condition. It’s the one thing on the boat that is really, really good. The bad news is that there was no reason to have to hire a rigger just then, before we even owned the boat, since the shrouds were NOT backwards at all. We began to get seriously worried about what the survey might show but if things looked as good as the rigging, we’d be boat owners soon. 20130423_125 (2)

The test sail was a bit of a comedy of errors. True, this boat backs out like a dream, nice and straight. I was beginning to feel confidence. And I did like the way a heavier boat felt. But we never actually got to set all of the sails correctly. As a result, this boat didn’t want to tack. That’s right, we would get going a bit, then need to tack, and she just didn’t want to do it. Probably that’s because we couldn’t get up enough speed in the amount of space we had, and probably it’s also because she really needed to have the mizzen sail up along with a head sail. She was not balanced and the sails were definitely in too tight for the broad reach we should have been on. The surveyor was frustrated, and so were we. The owner, who, of course, wants to sell his boat, focused on how straight the boat tracks. And he was completely correct! She tracks straight and true. It’s turning that is the problem.

She also has a steering mechanism that is, apparently, old school stuff so it takes awhile for her to respond. We talked to the surveyor about this and he said it reminded him of an old schooner he’d worked on long ago. He thinks probably a little attention to the mechanism would fix the problem, but that’s yet another system we would have to inspect separately. Still, I loved the feel of the boat and that few minutes where she was actually at a decent heel and we were moving so smoothly through the water showed me what she could do. Also, I had no trouble raising the mainsail, which I was nervous about. With a longer winch handle I think it would have been even easier.  I still loved the boat and I know she can sail. Sparkman and Stephens do not design boats that sail like tanks.

Part of the steering mechanism and the emergency tiller stub. This is the area Tony could not get to where he thinks there may be rot.

Part of the steering mechanism and the emergency tiller stub. This is the area Tony could not get to where he thinks there may be rot.

No, it was the survey that gave us our ‘come to Jesus’ moment. Or three. And it was painful, I can tell you. There is rot. And this means she has NOT been maintained. She has been left to sit while organisms have been left to grow. Some of the rot is not bad, and the Tony thought it could be easy to take care of. But the killer was the rot under the sole in the galley. Apparently you can put your hand through some of it. In a word: Bad.  To fix this, the entire galley would have to be taken out, the sole removed, the beams replaced, and then everything put back in place. Such was my love of the boat that all I could think was ‘this will be a great way to redesign the galley the way we want it’. But Mike had other ideas and I could see that he was getting further and further from feeling good about this.

The other area of major concern is possible rot in the transom. This could sink the boat if not repaired. Tony was unable to get down into the area to really take a good look, but he photographed it and we can see why he is concerned. He’s a very experienced guy. If he’s worried, then so are we. There is already one place where there has been a repair on the transom. You’d think that a boat that had been ‘professionally maintained’ would not be in such a condition but it’s evident that some of this stuff has been there awhile. These things may happen quickly in the right conditions, but they do not happen overnight. They happen with neglect.

We know the masts were pulled a few years ago, painted and then reset. It’s nice to have a pretty paint job. But like too much makeup on an old face, a pretty paint job cannot hide the reality underneath. So when we discovered that the mizzen mast was hanging off the mast step by a considerable amount, we shouldn’t have been surprised.

Then there is the electrical. There are hot wires that are not connected well and are hazardous, and in one area of the boat the surveyor describes the electrical as a ‘rat’s nest’. And he’s right. It’s just not acceptable on any level, even though the electrical panels themselves are terrific.  Only one of the exterior light works. The navigation lights were disconnected when the rigging was replaced and haven’t been reconnected since then. This boat was surely not listed as a ‘project’ boat, but it should have been.  In addition there are three different electrical systems, all with different voltages. Just the thought of having to rewire the whole boat made Mike take some big steps back.

Unfortunately the bowsprit, too, is rotten.

Unfortunately the bowsprit, too, is rotten.

Finally there is that engine. It blew loads of white smoke the entire time. So much white smoke that when we crossed underneath one of the drawbridges, the bridgeman blew his whistle at us 5 times. He thought we must be on fire. Great. Allegedly this engine has been rebuilt, but we never saw any documentation of that. We would have to get an engine survey and, frankly, we just didn’t have the heart. On the plus side, the engine ran well and was very responsive. I do want to be fair.

The surveyor also had some concerns about taking this boat on blue water. His concerns were valid ones, but they were also things I think we could have addressed, such as installing hand holds on the cabin top and in the wheel house. He was concerned that the wheelhouse and the aft cabin, in particular, were spaces one wouldn’t want to fall across because they are large. He also had concern about the entry of the wheelhouse being on one side, worrying that in a knockdown situation on that side, the interior of the boat could be compromised. I think these things are to be kept in mind, but rather than give up the boat, I would look for solutions such as what we would need to do to protect that entry way, using a different way to enter the boat while at sea, etc.

At the end of the day, it seemed like the price we were prepared to pay for this boat was for a boat that had been well kept, not for a boat that had been neglected. As the projects began to mount, Mike and I were both pretty concerned about being able to handle all of the repairs that needed to be made. I admit Mike was more concerned than I was, but he is generally more practical by nature. And I knew he loved the boat, too. We always said we’d be prepared to walk away, regardless of the almost 2000$ we put into having her rigging looked at, having her surveyed, and hauled out. That’s cheap compared to what this has cost us emotionally.20130423_91 (2)

We were divided as to whether to make another offer, much lower than the first, taking into consideration the amount of work that needed to be done. I had suggested we get an idea of how much these repairs that needed doing right away were going to cost, then make an offer based on that amount. But somehow, that didn’t happen and we ended up simply withdrawing our offer. When the reality of it hit, it was devastating. Why do boats mean so much? It’s flipping ridiculous sometimes.

Two days later I still have a hard time even thinking about it, much less seeing photos of Flying Gull. We got used to the idea of her being ‘ours’ before she really was, a mistake I will endeavor not to make in the future.  I don’t want to think about her sitting there being neglected and going to rot when I know what a special boat she really is. Mike doesn’t want that, either. But we would literally have to be able to get her for about 20% of her listing price in order to be able to pay a shipwright to repair her hull, a mechanic to look at the engine, and a marine electrician to rewire her, because we don’t have the time to rebuild a boat to that degree ourselves. At least that’s what we think. I haven’t had the heart to call anyone to ask what these things would cost.

As long as she is still on the market I’m going to wonder if we have done the right thing. I know she would be a lot of work, and expensive to moor. And, of course, big boats cost more to haul out and all that. All boat owners are aware of that unless money is no object for them. But my heart does not care about those kinds of things. My heart just loves that boat. And that’s why it’s broken just now.

A favorite photo.

A favorite photo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Lyrics by Neil Young