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modifications, repairs & installations
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About the crew
About us A
few years ago we (my wife Jan & and I) decided that we would like to retire
early and do something different while we were still fit enough to move around
on our own. Let
me start by first introducing the "US" part. My name is Iain and my
wife's name is Jan. We are originally from Scotland but immigrated to Canada in
the early 70's where we have lived ever since. Jan has worked in the healthcare
field since circa 1980 and I have worked in Industrial Maintenance since the
beginning of time except for a 5-year spell aboard ship in the British merchant
navy in the 1960's. Our search for a boat started around the year 2000. We logged hours on the Internet, scouring brokers sites and on line boat selling magazines & publications. We E mailed brokers, met with brokers at boat shows, talked with them on the phone and on and on it went. The research we had done indicated that we needed something in a size ranging from 33 to 38 foot. The time had come to start looking at boats. We looked at quite a few in the lower end of our price range, hoping to pick up something that needed a little work. As we are both quite handy with a varied assortment of tools we
Jan @ Annapolis Boat Show Oct. 2004
figured we would have ample time to
get a boat ready before we left on our planned date July 2005. What
a shock we had coming. We gradually relearned the language of used boat buying
all over again. Anyone who has looked to buy an older boat will certainly know
what we mean. E.g.: advert say's -"boat in gd. cond."- means you'll
spend twice as much getting it ready to go in the water as what you paid for it
and it might just float. Ad says in - "ex.cond"- you might just get
away with spending the same again to get it sea worthy. "Needs TLC"
means " mast bent, hull leaks, decks soft and Keel fell off in Georgian
Bay". I'm sure you get what I mean now. Gradually our price crept up and up
but the boats didn't seem to get in any better a condition. We got into a n E
mail conversation with one guy, in the Thumb of Michigan I think, when we
explained what we were looking for he E mailed back that he was not prepared to
sell us his "Baby" as it was obvious we weren't prepared to give it
the loving care he thought it deserved. Go figure!!!! We
drove from Southwestern Ontario to North of Chicago near the Wisconsin state
line to see a Columbia 34 that was in Exc. Cond. that had just been painted to
find a boat that was almost totally stripped on the inside, had nothing on the
outside and looked like a kindergarten class had done the paint job. We drove
six hours to Rochester New York to see a Hunter 34 that was in excellent
condition (and it really was) only to find that the broker had accepted an offer
half an after we had left home to go see it. Such are the disappointments of
"used boat buying". We checked existing surveys. We had surveys done
Ouch!! (They sure hurt the pocket if you spring for too many of them) we can
only consider them insurance and worth it if you can walk away from hidden
disasters, and we did (walk that is). At
the end of May 2002, we went to Toronto having set up appointments with brokers
to see a couple of boats over the weekend. The first was a well laid out Hughes
Columbia center cockpit that hadn't been in the water for a couple of years.
Great cruising layout, disaster of a condition, deck locker soles cracked and
broken. Hull deck joint shot. On and on it went and this guy was asking $60,000
for it. The broker said offer him 20 you can't insult him, he's a used car
salesman. Obviously you couldn't insult this broker either. He knew what we were
looking for and he still took us to see something like that. We learn real fast
that not all sharks are swimming in
sea.
At his point we were totally
disheartened. Our
next appointment was with a broker called Pat Sturgeon who took us to see a CS
33. Jan really liked this boat. It appeared to have all the bells and whistles
on it, big battery bank, wind generator, radar, G.P.S., 35 gal holding tank, 50
gal. fresh water, 6 man liferaft, electric windlass, all that we envisioned as
necessary cruising goodies. Pat was very knowledgeable about the CS as he once
worked for them? (with them)? And owned a CS36. Although the boat was well laid
out etc., I was not overly enthused. At 32 foot eight inches long it was below
the bottom end of our size limit. Jan and I discussed it all the way home and
then some. The following week I agreed to give it a second look so back on the
phone to Toronto and another 400 mile round trip. I don't know if it grew on me
when I saw it the second time or what but I agreed to put an offer on it subject
to all the usual conditions, acceptable survey etc.
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bravenet.com
As we both enjoy sailing and visiting exotic places, we decided to
replace our little C+C 24 "Whiffen" with something a little
larger. This site will hopefully document part of our search for a suitable
boat, our preparations and eventually our trips to where ever they may take us.