Ahoy Ice Dog;
I don't know phooey about woodies, except that they require more
maintenance in the Best Case scenario than I feel like devoting. But I do know something about "saving" a "bargain" fixer-upper.
Take a look at my gallery: start at the end and
work backwards to see the whole gory story. I'm in
Refit Year 9, I've shelled out over $200K to date, and she's
still not quite done. With any luck, I may actually float her by the end of 2011, and I hope like hell that I will happily report that she was worth all the
money and deferred gratification. I console myself with the hard-won conviction that she's the last
boat I'll need to own.
If I could rewind back to March 2002, before I pulled the trigger and signed the agreement, would I do it again? Um...probably not. Having now spent a lot of time in Trinidad, I now know just how many well-made, pedigreed boats are languishing
on the hard, their owners too busy, too poor, or too dead to go sailing in them...and available for very few beans. Easily a thousand or more are
for sale this very moment in Chaguaramas alone.
You have some advantages I don't have, though: you'd be living with your
boat and doing much of the
work yourself, instead of directing the work by
email and wire transfer as I've been doing—this certainly accounts for a couple of years' process time. But the sage salts on this board who have counseled you to wait and shop around next year speak boocoo truth.
I know where you're at though, Brother: the Sailing Bug, and the delicious salty Karma of a traditional boat have bitten you hard, and you're jonesin'. You'll get there, and you'll get there sooner and cheaper than I did...if you "play the field" for awhile.
Good luck, and keep us posted!
Geoff
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