I'm Walking Away from my Boat

[SVTatia]

I feel your pain, went thru exactly the same a couple of times.



1) never forget the reason you bought the boat in the first place.
2) The rigger thing was just a trigger (no pun intended).
3) Never mind the finances for now, reading between the lines I really doubt this is about cost.
4) Do you feel guilty? Family pressures? Maybe this is the underlying reason of your frustration. I do feel I’m spending too much time away from my kids, but on the other hand they will benefit from this as well. Guilt distorts reason.
5) Pretend you really give up and imagine putting her up for sale. Go thru the process and see how you would feel.
6) Put everything in perspective, ask yourself if there is really a reason to give up.
7) Take a break and return in the spring – to put up the sign or to work (I’m sure it will be the latter).

[s/v Beth]

You have to be a therapist Tatia. That is one of the best couch-conversations I have ever seen! I will use it next time I want to sell. (If there is a next time)

[oldragbaggers]

Originally Posted by virginia boy

I don't know when I might come back.

Today I've reached my limit. I regret ever having bought this money pit, and I'm disgusted with the shady, unscrupulous, estimate doubling SOB, larcenous contractors in the marine industry.

I'm frustrated and overwhelmed with the sheer volume of work yet to be done and exhausted with the study regimen required to learn all this stuff.

I was so angry with the riggers work today I wanted to go punch him in the mouth so rather than go to jail I'm walking away. I'm leaving the boat on the hard and I'm going to the condo and I might be back in the spring or maybe not.

Please forgive my rant but maybe prospective boat owners and wannabes can learn from this thread what a nightmare it can be. An old boat can wipe you out financially, emotionally, spiritually and physically.

I'm going to walk away. I will start paying more attention to my children, my fiancé, my emotional and physical health and all the really important things I've been neglecting.

My boat was a source of dreams and a promise of adventure and it still is but at the present time it's a liability. I can't survive on dreams alone.

If I had it to do over knowing what I know now, I would buy a boat in much better condition that required less work and was more immediately enjoyable.

Anyone else ever walked away?

Yes, unfortunately and devastatingly, yes. (This is sort of a long story, and I could make it much shorter, but I thought people who know or own Cabo Rico 38's might find it interesting.)

About 12 years ago we were happily sailing around San Diego Bay in a Bristol 24 that we had rebuilt from stem to stern and turned into a proper little cruising boat. But, never to be satisfied, we happened to come across a Cabo Rico 38 that had been donated to the Boy Scouts. They only wanted $10K for it. Because of the condition of our B-24 we had a buyer willing to give us $10K for her. It seemed like providence so we sold our perfectly gorgeous little Bristol and bought this mess of a boat.

Now mind you this was not the gorgeous, well built Cabo Rico 38 that would normally come to mind when you think of these boats. This was the very first CR-38 ever built. It was the prototype. It had started life as a CR-36, but the couple who was purchasing it only wanted the hull and deck so they could finish it out themselves. And they wanted a different cockpit configuration than the one offered with the CR-36 so they had a 2' bustle added to the back and that was the first CR-38.

They had the hull and deck delivered to a big piece of property with a shack on it in Costa Rica and spent 2 years building it out. They were only in their 20's and I have to give it to them, they did a nice job with it, the interior was very well fit out. To their credit, after they finished it they cruised it all over Pacific and Caribbean for years and had 2 children on it. But they weren't professionals and made some flaws that came back to haunt later.

They wanted the head in the forepeak and a pullman berth. This changed the location of the doorway to the stateroom and their way of accomodating this was to step the mast on the deck instead of the keel as it was designed and add a huge beam across the cabin top to support it. It had thick stainless steel straps on both sides of the beam, through bolted. I'll get back to that later.

So we buy this thing. As I said, they did a nice job on a lot of it, but did a lot of things wrong too. Still, we couldn't believe that we got this big wonderful cruising boat for such a bargain (hah!!!) so we smiled and carried on.

To give you a little idea of our investment, the head area (wood and all) was completely deteriorated because of water damage from the shower. The galley had to be removed completely as did the cockpit. The cockpit was constructed from plywood and had become rotten and the leaking from the cockpit also delaminated the galley. Other woodwork in the main salon had to be removed also because an air conditioning unit had been installed badly and the condensation from it had caused major rot. There were no sails, the engine did not run, the rudder was completely waterlogged and delaminated, there was a huge crack along the bottom of the keel starting at the rudder post shoe, the teak decks had leaked and caused major problems in the deck.

Some things we had to pay out for, like having the engine rebuit. Yard time on the hard in San Diego month after month was expensive. We were hemorraging money and one thing we couldn't afford was professional labor to have everything done. Anything that we could do ourselves, we had to do.

I am the woodworker in the family and since so much of what needed to be done was interior carpentry (Lance did the cockpit) I actually quit my job and devoted a year of full time work to going to that boat and working on it full time, every single day. Lance was a teacher at a year round school so he had 1 month off out of every four. We both worked together on it almost every weekend and holiday and he was there full time when he was off from school. For the most part, time with our family had been reduced to them visiting us at the boatyard. It consumed our life and nearly every penny of our money.

After a year of working on it, it still was no where near being sailable, but it became liveable so we sold our condo and moved aboard, which freed up more of our income to, you guessed it, pour into the boat. Some months later my husband got a job offer in Baltimore, so we spent ANOTHER $7600 and had the Cabo Rico shipped here. (That's another horror story...bum lived aboard during shipment.....)

Now, back to those metal straps across that support beam. To our horror we found that they were not a part of the original design, but were put there to conceal and support because that beam had indeed cracked through under the weight of the mast. We were really getting scared now as we didn't feel like we'd ever feel comfortable sailing the boat unless that problem could be satisfactorily remedied. Since the first beam had cracked under the stress, just replacing it with another beam didn't seem like a good solution. The boat was still no where near done either. We still hadn't bought sails or replaced the standing rigging, the galley was not finished being built. But we had a HUGE investment in this thing of both time and money, and we wanted this to be our final cruising boat, so we were having a hard time admitting defeat.

Bill Crealock was still alive at this point (2003) so we wrote him a long letter telling him about the boat and our situation and asking his advice. He remembered doing the redesign of the hull for this young couple and was very interested in what had happened to the boat so he actually called us. What a gracious and kind man. We talked for quite a while. He was not aware of the decision they had made to deck step the mast and was fairly well mortified. He said he didn't see how that deck could support that mast without, at the very least, a substantial compression post. He suggessted we redesign the interior to accomodate that if possible. OMG!!!! I had been over a year working on that interior, and now we're being told we needed to basically rip it apart and redesign. (The compression post or mast would have come down smack dab in the middle of the entry doorway to the stateroom, making it impossible to enter.) We called in a local marine architect to look at it. He agreed. The deck was compromised, the beam was broken, it had to be redone.

We had many thousands of dollars (can't tell you how many, I stopped keeping track early in the process when we passed $40K. it was too depressing to think about it after that) into that rebuild, plus lost wages, plus moving it plus over a year of our lives at this point.

We sold it for $12K to a guy who thought he was up to dealing with all the problems and walked away. Haven't seen the boat in the harbor since.

So......to make a long story even longer, when I say we feel your pain, I mean we can really really feel your pain.

I am truly sorry.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Coops

Over the 45 or so years that i have been sailing and owning boats, i have discovered just a few things that suit me. The first is that i am useless at fixing things, justs costs me more by having to get somebody in to fix up my stuff up, plus, i get so frustrated at not being able to do things that i get into a mood and swear that i am going to sell the bloody thing and so forth. So, now i simply get someone in and watch what they do, only for making sure that they are doing the right thing, sit in the shade, very relaxed and pay them when it is done.

The second thing, and very important to me, is that i have had big boats and now have a lovely little 20' Trailer yacht, stored mast up in a marina yard, and we sail this, with very little time spent on maintenance, a lot more than we would a bigger one. No, we will not live on it, but a few weeks/months at a time is perfectly possible. Plus, we have other hobbies as well.

So VB, if it is all too much, leave it, sell it, buy a smaller one. You still get the same grin on your face when sailing it and, when you see the big ones go past and wish, as we do, remember what it is costing him/her to do it in that compared to your outlay. Maybe he is looking at yours and wishing as well.Good luck with whatever you do anyway.

Coops.

Trailerable boats have some great advantage. They're easy to secure on land for a bad storm. I can't get that image of maybe 100 boats piled on top of each other on Staten Island out of my head (along with that roller coaster in the surf -- the next day I actually thought for a moment I had dreamed that one for a moment -- how could that be?)

Where I am, put the trailer on the back of your vehicle and in four hours you can be at Biscayne Bay, a lovely place to sail and gateway to the Keys.

Based on friends' experience, I would urge people who decide to go the trailer route to have someone teach them about basic trailer maintenance, and have someone REALLY knowledgeable look at their mast raising and lowering system. Sometimes a few little changes make HUGE improvements there.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by ozskipper

Perhaps another case of someone trying to perfect their boat. When there is no boat on the planet that can be perfected. No boat will ever be ready!

I don't think so. I think that boat owner has serious concerns about his boat that he overlooked in a moment of boater's passion. We all know about that -- it's when you think you've fallen in love, but the boat screws you.

In my case then the boat yard screwed me, and along the way several people who claimed to be knowledgeable about boat repairs would have a go. It may be worse for females; the boat yard that made several BIG mistakes on my boat has a good reputation. Maybe they saw me coming and deviated from their typical path, but honestly I warn everyone I can. There are really good, honest people out there like Knothead they can go to instead.

And my solution to expenses, bartering, has its own problems. I had a dirty tank problem last spring, and a friend fixed it for me. He cut a hole in the top and cleaned it out well. I had a lid and diesel-proof gasket made for it. He came back another day to finish it up. Cramped hold; had to disconnect some hoses down there.

Reconnected two wrong, and the starboard cockpit scupper started draining into the water tank. I was out of town so much this summer I didn't keep the tank filled, but left it open to air out and came back to find everything awash. Where the heck did all the water come from???

Finally, I pumped it out one day and marked the water line. The next day there was exactly the same amount of water in the tank. That made me suspicious (I already was, clearly) -- and put food dye down the scupper. The water in the tank turned red. BINGO.

It actually made the boat extremely hard to live on because that aft area where the water tank is, is also my storage area. I didn't even want to leave things in plastic boxes because of the humidity.

Owning a boat can be very stressful, and I came THIS close to walking away from it this summer.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Captain Jeffry

OP seems to feel a tad guilty about the other neglected aspects of his life. Perhaps the best course to follow is sell the boat, (which might even be worth a tad more than when he bought it with additions along the way), focus on family and fiance.. when everything is back in order, charter a boat with family (with the 'saved' repair money) and get back to actual sailing..

I'm glad you said that. I know a young couple with a couple of children. They all love sailing (their 9 year old son is really good with lines), but the effort to maintain their boat is wearing, and at 27', as their children grow, they're outgrowing it.

They're going to sell it, and for the cost of their slip join a second club that specifically has decent-sized (27' - 34') boats for members to use. They can take them on weekends and still join our club cruises, be an active part (they'd be a tremendous loss).

Maybe something like that is an option for the OP. It would be a lot less stress.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

I am not convinced hiring too many professionals is an issue here. Is the boat not a W28? These are small and simple boats - nearly anything can be done by the owner.

Step back, take a good long look, dig into do it yourself books and go for it YOURSELF.

What is the actual job the rigger did not do? Can't you handle this on your own?

b.

Depends on the owner. There was a whole lot on my 25' I couldn't do.

[Tar34]

Having looked at the pictures you posted, that Westsail 28 is a sweet little boat.
My advice is to hang in there and let me give my perspective having had several boats, all with some issue or another. Hopefully you have a supportive mate who shares your dream. It is important you prioritize the issues with your boat that are most important to you and or safety. The idea is get the boat in the water and go sailing, even just to anchor out a night or too in your favorite gunk hole. There will always be projects to tackle. Don't feel you have to do all them at one time or even one season. I did not read what the issue was with your rigger or what projects your are currently tackling. There are many here in this forum who would be wiling to educate you on whatever project you are gong to attempt. It would be helpful if you posted a the list of projects you are currently working on. What is preventing you from putting the boat in the water and using it? I sail my boat often and there are many issues I would love to have fixed but I prioritize and realize boats are a marathon. I will list my wish of current and future projects but these do not keep from sailing or enjoying my boat.
1. Fix the leaky port in the V berth. It just needs a new gasket and would drip on the head of any occupant in steady rain but I live with it for now.
2. My head leaks at the pump handle when I flush. Annoying to be sure but I only use the head in an emergency.
3. My holding tank is a solid brick. It was that way when I bought the boat.
4. My decks need to be repainted. They are in good shape but awful cosmetically to my mins
5. I need new halyards and running rigging. They are still currently serviceable.
6. I need new dorade vents. Mine are ugly. The wood on the the vents needs to be refinished too.
7. I would I would like a diesel engine. My current Atomic 4 runs like a dream so it is not a priority.
8. I would like an electric water pump.
9. I would like decent cushion covers in the main salon
10. My rigging is fairly new but needs inspection.
11. I would like shore power and a battery charger. I have maintained two hand me down batteries for two years on my engine alternator. I like candles but I use my 12v system too!
13. I need a new light air genoa. My 155 is beat and my 170 too light for anything but a very light air.
14. I would like a motivated crew to fly my really nice symmetrical spinnaker when we race.
15. I would like a propane stove and a propane connection to my Force 10 cabin heater. My alcohol stove works great but I still would like a new stove.
16. I really need a dodger. I have the SS frame so I will have one by spring '13.
That is my #2 priority right now.
17. I really need a Bimini
18. I will sand my bottom this coming spring and do a really good job.I
19. My ground tackle is too light for the sailing I do. I need a bow roller and a heavier anchor. Relying on my lunch hook is asking for trouble
20. #1 priority. To enjoy the really lovely boat I have and go sailing.

Photo this summer.....

[Blue Stocking]

Tar34,

I didn't hit the "quote" button to save cyberspace, but that is a reality check if I ever saw one.

[CharlieCobra]

Originally Posted by oldragbaggers

I am truly sorry.

Ouch and DOUBLE OUCH! I've seen this a time or two. Hell, I've got one I'm gonna have crushed, despite it's history...

[Freddy_Vagner]

Hey there,

Yes I have worked on a wooden project boat and I don't think a week (day) went by when I didn't seriously think about walking away from it. I had real nightmares and depression when it was just so much effort just to get up in the morning and look at all the work that still needed doing. I wondered whether I should try to cut my losses and give it away for free or persevere and finish the job, etc, etc.

My original idea was to pay people to do the hard work and I would just oversee things. Yes I can hear people laughing as they read that absolute BS. Well the "marine carpenter" made me some very expensive firewood because his work was completely useless and I had to redo it myself, even though I had no experience with carpentry other than making simple tables and benches. Wow, wooden yachts seem to prove the existence of a 4th dimension because every piece of wood has so many different curves, angles, shapes, etc, and somehow you have to get them all exactly right so it will fit. Took me a whole day and several attempts to make just the smallest support. But after a few months I could cut a piece of wood that fitted so well it just slotted into place and stayed there wating for the screws. So I was going through absolute hell, but learning new skills. Likewise with the rigging, electrics and diesel engine. I had to do it myself and again learnt so much which will be useful if I ever get round to doing my RTW cruise and have to fix something while underway.

BTW, I sent a 16 HP engine for a new cylinder sleeve and to be painted but when they returned it, it was only an identical (almost) 12 HP model by the same manufacturer; so ripped off once again.

So what about mundane tasks. OK when it came to painting the dinghy I paid someone to do that, bought the paint and left him to do it as I had to work as a translator during the week. Well when I returned on Saturday and saw his paintjob I was just dumbstruck. He had not even bothered to sand (or probably even wash the grease off) the hull first. When I complained he just stood back and said "it looks OK from a distance". So even though I knew I was being ripped off I paid him because I did not want to get the reputation of being a bad payer among the locals...

Well the moral of this is "if you want a job done properly, you have to do it yourself". But on a more practical level if you are going to pay someone to do something break the job down into steps in chronological order, put it down on paper and include a checkbox after each stage. Then you explain to the guy that you have to approve each stage before he continues to the next. Once each stage is done properly then you tick the corresponding box. This worked pretty well.

Another big mistake is the fact that I am/was a perfectionist! You know "if a job is worth doing it is worth doing well". So I think my restoration was too ambitious. Halfway through the project I just decided to get it ready to sail and into the water as fast as possible. I think there may be some wisdom there and that your priority with a project boat should be exactly that. Start sailing ASAP, with due regard to safety of course. By that I mean "cosmetic stuff" like varnishing etc, can be left to later. This way you can be having some quality time as well as working your fingers to the bone.

Well looking back, I got a very sorry and abandoned yacht sailing again, lived aboard and had some very memorable times. But I never did complete the restoration (do you ever?. There is always something to be done on an old (ahem, not "old', I mean a "classic') boat. Yes it was sheer hell on Earth and no I would never do it a second time. But having said that I am now fairly competent when it comes to boat repair and am sure will need these skills in the future.

So when you are wondering about a project boat, your first reaction is to fall in love with the boat and think: "Wow I can afford this one! What a great deal! However you should also include in the cost marina fees for a year, traveling to and from the boat every weekend, all the replacement parts of course, but also your time. Could you spend all that time working hard in your present job and make enough money to buy a boat in better condition? If the answer is yes, then walk away from the yacht before you even start. Furthermore, don't look back as you walk away, because yachts seem to cry out like lost puppies for someone to give them some TLC and it will break your heart.

A lot of the bad experiences will become funny when you remember them. I wrote the following story for the forum on "winterizing and mice' but it probably has more to do with walking away from a project so will post it again.

I obtained an abandoned project boat in Rio de Janeiro and it had been used as the local "House of Ill Repute" so the first thing I had to clear out were all the used condoms, joint roaches and other umentionable stuff. But the boat also housed a thriving community of mice...

I think mice are cute and even kept them as pets when I was a kid but I was living aboard while fixing the yacht and everytime I heard them gnawing I wondered what exactly they were gnawing at; like my wiring or even a hole through the hull.

So reluctantly I bought some mousetraps and soon killed 8 but one was a born survivor and I swear it could eat the cheese off four mousetraps without springing one of them!

I then tried mouse poison that you buy in supermarkets here and I think it worked more like LSD because the mouse seemed hyperactive and even pooped psychadelic red tu_ds.

Well this went on for months and I even tried throwing a half full (half empty?) bottle of wine at it and all to no avail.

So eventually the big day came to launch the yacht and everything went without a hitch until I climbed on board and found the water was rising rapidly!! OMG I was sinking. So I beached the yacht (it had a swing keel) and it settled onto the sandy bottom in shallow water.

On climbing aboard to survey the disaster, I saw the mouse floating face down in the water filled cabin. I had developed a lot of respect for the little beast as it had made a complete fool of me for so long, so I tried CPR but it was too late. He had passed away. When I buried him I thought maybe I am burying the DNA of a super intelligent mammal and maybe I should send the body to a University.

Well as this is a cruising forum I guess some people are wondering what happened to the yacht? I decided I had two options: 1) walk away and try not to cry in public or 2) set fire to it, then walk away and try not to cry in public.

I was debating the merits of these options with my son when an old salt arrived and started asking about the boat. I explained that I had just wasted nearly a year renovating the hull and it had sunk in less than an hour. He said not to worry because wooden boats are like that and to leave it there for three days to let the wood swell and then bail it out.

Well I followed his advice and low and behold she was bobbing happily on top of the water with only a few trickles of water into the bilges. So that was the start of some great adventures living onboard and the end of a super smart little mouse.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Yeah, you do start giving respect to a smart mouse........

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Freddy_Vagner

Hey there,

Yes I have worked on a wooden project boat and I don't think a week (day) went by when I didn't seriously think about walking away from it. I had real nightmares and depression when it was just so much effort just to get up in the morning and look at all the work that still needed doing. I wondered whether I should try to cut my losses and give it away for free or persevere and finish the job, etc, etc.

My original idea was to pay people to do the hard work and I would just oversee things. Yes I can hear people laughing as they read that absolute BS. Well the "marine carpenter" made me some very expensive firewood because his work was completely useless and I had to redo it myself, even though I had no experience with carpentry other than making simple tables and benches. Wow, wooden yachts seem to prove the existence of a 4th dimension because every piece of wood has so many different curves, angles, shapes, etc, and somehow you have to get them all exactly right so it will fit. Took me a whole day and several attempts to make just the smallest support. But after a few months I could cut a piece of wood that fitted so well it just slotted into place and stayed there wating for the screws. So I was going through absolute hell, but learning new skills. Likewise with the rigging, electrics and diesel engine. I had to do it myself and again learnt so much which will be useful if I ever get round to doing my RTW cruise and have to fix something while underway.

BTW, I sent a 16 HP engine for a new cylinder sleeve and to be painted but when they returned it, it was only an identical (almost) 12 HP model by the same manufacturer; so ripped off once again.

So what about mundane tasks. OK when it came to painting the dinghy I paid someone to do that, bought the paint and left him to do it as I had to work as a translator during the week. Well when I returned on Saturday and saw his paintjob I was just dumbstruck. He had not even bothered to sand (or probably even wash the grease off) the hull first. When I complained he just stood back and said "it looks OK from a distance". So even though I knew I was being ripped off I paid him because I did not want to get the reputation of being a bad payer among the locals...

Well the moral of this is "if you want a job done properly, you have to do it yourself". But on a more practical level if you are going to pay someone to do something break the job down into steps in chronological order, put it down on paper and include a checkbox after each stage. Then you explain to the guy that you have to approve each stage before he continues to the next. Once each stage is done properly then you tick the corresponding box. This worked pretty well.

Another big mistake is the fact that I am/was a perfectionist! You know "if a job is worth doing it is worth doing well". So I think my restoration was too ambitious. Halfway through the project I just decided to get it ready to sail and into the water as fast as possible. I think there may be some wisdom there and that your priority with a project boat should be exactly that. Start sailing ASAP, with due regard to safety of course. By that I mean "cosmetic stuff" like varnishing etc, can be left to later. This way you can be having some quality time as well as working your fingers to the bone.

Well looking back, I got a very sorry and abandoned yacht sailing again, lived aboard and had some very memorable times. But I never did complete the restoration (do you ever?. There is always something to be done on an old (ahem, not "old', I mean a "classic') boat. Yes it was sheer hell on Earth and no I would never do it a second time. But having said that I am now fairly competent when it comes to boat repair and am sure will need these skills in the future.

So when you are wondering about a project boat, your first reaction is to fall in love with the boat and think: "Wow I can afford this one! What a great deal! However you should also include in the cost marina fees for a year, traveling to and from the boat every weekend, all the replacement parts of course, but also your time. Could you spend all that time working hard in your present job and make enough money to buy a boat in better condition? If the answer is yes, then walk away from the yacht before you even start. Furthermore, don't look back as you walk away, because yachts seem to cry out like lost puppies for someone to give them some TLC and it will break your heart.

A lot of the bad experiences will become funny when you remember them. I wrote the following story for the forum on "winterizing and mice' but it probably has more to do with walking away from a project so will post it again.

I obtained an abandoned project boat in Rio de Janeiro and it had been used as the local "House of Ill Repute" so the first thing I had to clear out were all the used condoms, joint roaches and other umentionable stuff. But the boat also housed a thriving community of mice...

I think mice are cute and even kept them as pets when I was a kid but I was living aboard while fixing the yacht and everytime I heard them gnawing I wondered what exactly they were gnawing at; like my wiring or even a hole through the hull.

So reluctantly I bought some mousetraps and soon killed 8 but one was a born survivor and I swear it could eat the cheese off four mousetraps without springing one of them!

I then tried mouse poison that you buy in supermarkets here and I think it worked more like LSD because the mouse seemed hyperactive and even pooped psychadelic red tu_ds.

Well this went on for months and I even tried throwing a half full (half empty?) bottle of wine at it and all to no avail.

So eventually the big day came to launch the yacht and everything went without a hitch until I climbed on board and found the water was rising rapidly!! OMG I was sinking. So I beached the yacht (it had a swing keel) and it settled onto the sandy bottom in shallow water.

On climbing aboard to survey the disaster, I saw the mouse floating face down in the water filled cabin. I had developed a lot of respect for the little beast as it had made a complete fool of me for so long, so I tried CPR but it was too late. He had passed away. When I buried him I thought maybe I am burying the DNA of a super intelligent mammal and maybe I should send the body to a University.

Well as this is a cruising forum I guess some people are wondering what happened to the yacht? I decided I had two options: 1) walk away and try not to cry in public or 2) set fire to it, then walk away and try not to cry in public.

I was debating the merits of these options with my son when an old salt arrived and started asking about the boat. I explained that I had just wasted nearly a year renovating the hull and it had sunk in less than an hour. He said not to worry because wooden boats are like that and to leave it there for three days to let the wood swell and then bail it out.

Well I followed his advice and low and behold she was bobbing happily on top of the water with only a few trickles of water into the bilges. So that was the start of some great adventures living onboard and the end of a super smart little mouse.

A classic! A wonderful story, beautifully told! You should send that in to Yachting Monthly. Seriously.

[oldragbaggers]

Great story Freddy. So glad everything worked out well with your yacht after all.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

Depends on the owner. There was a whole lot on my 25' I couldn't do.

Well,

If you had money to have it fixed by others, then there is no frustration and no issue.

If you did not, then you chose the wrong boat.

Right/wrong?

There are those who buy boats to fix them and derive pleasure from fixing boats. And there are those who get pleasure from sailing boats and they will stay away from fixer uppers.

BTW What was the whole lot that you could not do? What is the possible whole lot in a 25' that an able man cannot handle themselves?

b.