Really Taking the plunge...or possibly drowning myself...we'll see

[drew.ward]

Well I have decided to use a fairly crappy financial situation as an excuse to dive full-fledged into getting on the water.

Between the exorbitant costs here in New Orleans and the low pay here coupled with a roommate screwing me on rent and stealing a load of cash, I have barely been able to do anything on my boat I bought a couple of months back. I've realized that I am really much more interested in getting the boat finished and cruising full-time than I am in working 3 weeks of the month just to pay my bills here.

So, I'm clearing out of my overpriced apartment, cutting off the phone, dsl, and electricity and moving onto my far from ready to live comfortably on boat.

I know this isn't exactly the ideal situation having lived through a home renovation before. But, I think this is going to be my fastest way to the water.

I found a free 60-foot slip here in the city on Lake Pontchartrain. There's faucet water out there and some other boaters who all seem very friendly and are just trying to rebuild their rigs after the storm.

I'll have to buy a generator ($500-700), and pick up a portable AC just to make the boat bearable here in NOLA. The plan is to shower at the gym each morning, keep my job working during the weekends, and spend the weeks scraping, sanding, sawing, hammering and all else to get the boat finished.

I admit the quality of life won't be the greatest, but even with fueling a generator and all my other expenses, I should be looking at monthly bills no more than $500/mo. Even after all other spending that should leave an extra $1000-1500 that I can use to buy one part at a time.

I've been working on the deck the past few weeks, and that will still be the first official project. However I will probably divert some time from that to mostly strip as much as possible from the interior and create a very basic but livable space in the aft cabin. Mainly just cleaning what's there and probably stringing up a hammock.

After that, finish the new deck forward, then I'll be building a head with lavatory and shower in the V-berth, and a master cabin (full-sized berth and storage) behind that. That's going to take a couple of months.

Then I'll seal off the front "suite" and live out of there while I rebuild the rear deck. I'm going to cut into the current deck and topside and raise it a bit. Then outfit the new main salon and galley. That will leave only the mid-section of the boat which will be all about final fit of the mechanicals.

Those are going to take the most money, but I'll be able to work on that while having a nice livable space by then. It's likely to be at least a year project. Hopefully I can increase my income a bit and keep the progress going.

At any rate, I'll plan to have a scraper or a brush or something in my hand for a lot of hours from now on.

Wish me luck! (and if you're in New Orleans fee free to lend some advice and come visit!)