More Medical Problems. Should I Sell? What’s your opinion?

[Nightsky]

I had my heart attack in May, 2015 and had a stent inserted in the LAD (didn't know til now that that is considered the "widow maker"). Probably wouldn't have survived if it had happened while at sea (or remote location). I was able to go back to commercial fishing that same July - Oct, but it was the deciding factor to get out while I could and not wait to retire until it was too late. I just didn't want to wait around for my death. We are currently cruising the Bahamas with plans to carry on to Caribbean and beyond. Still feel great. If you can safely avoid all the "known" chemicals that can kill you, then when medically cleared to carry on, you may wish to follow your dream.

[Franziska]

Chotu.

Hang in there.
To me it sounds this boat and the chance to cruise it makes your world go round.

What do you do when the boat is sold?
You will keep thinking about it.

Continue in a reasonable cautious way and get help where you need it.
But, try to be a little less perfectionist in your boat building approach and go cruising earlier.

Good luck & get better soon!

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Franziska

Chotu.

Hang in there.
To me it sounds this boat and the chance to cruise it makes your world go round.

What do you do when the boat is sold?
You will keep thinking about it.

Continue in a reasonable cautious way and get help where you need it.
But, try to be a little less perfectionist in your boat building approach and go cruising earlier.

Good luck & get better soon!

This is a really good line of thought. I never even posted about that part.

The “Plan B” is to do the same exact thing, but by RV/motor home/caravan

Mostly so I could “just go now” and stop wasting years building.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Chotu

This is a really good line of thought. I never even posted about that part.

The “Plan B” is to do the same exact thing, but by RV.

Mostly so I could “just go now” and stop wasting years building.

The other "Plan B" type option would be to hang up the sails and go for a faster powerboat of some form. Then you could still cruise a pretty large area, but without being forced into any long passages or long periods of time away from populated areas (as you'd gain the option to just go faster instead of running overnight).

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

The other "Plan B" type option would be to hang up the sails and go for a faster powerboat of some form. Then you could still cruise a pretty large area, but without being forced into any long passages or long periods of time away from populated areas (as you'd gain the option to just go faster instead of running overnight).

This thought had crossed my mind but the destination list includes:

USA/Canada (easy by power boat), Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Nordic countries, Morocco, possibly Australia, Asia.

I dismissed the power boat idea because of range. I have never been able to find a trawler type boat or cat that can make it to these destinations due to range. Then again, I’m not very knowledgeable about power boats.

The Plan B was to hit those same destinations by shipping a 24ft RV to them.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Chotu

This thought had crossed my mind but the destination list includes:

USA/Canada (easy by power boat), Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Nordic countries, Morocco, possibly Australia, Asia.

I dismissed the power boat idea because of range. I have never been able to find a trawler type boat or cat that can make it to these destinations due to range. Then again, I’m not very knowledgeable about power boats.

The Plan B was to hit those same destinations by shipping a 24ft RV to them.

There are definitely power boats that can do the ocean crossings, but most of them aren't cheap and almost all of them are slow (although there are some faster ones that can make it across the Atlantic if you slow down).

But same as shipping an RV, you could always ship a shorter range powerboat across the ocean, use it for however long over there, etc. Getting enough range to do everything short of the ocean crossings, at least for the US and Europe isn't overly hard.

[Knotical]

Sorry to hear about your health problems, glad to hear you are doing ok.

As others said I would take a little time and think over all the options.

Depending on how much more work is left you could finish it at a later date or have someone else finish it for you. Following some of your projects here you seem to be the guy who does not like less-than-perfect work - if you delegate rest of the work to someone else you may have to accept some shortcomings, you do not want to take any more emotional stress with a recent heart attack.

The other option is to sell the current boat (I know it will hurt) and get a ready-to-sail one and go sailing, a cruiser at heart needs to go cruising, and I am sure it will help you heal too. We all love boat projects but they can be emotionally draining, I can tell you from personal experience that if a major project is pending I can’t stop thinking about it - you definitely don’t need it at this time.

There is always the option to call it a day for now and take a long hiatus, get perfectly healthy in a year or two and see where things are. It’s a tough pill to swallow but your allergy issues are not going away and you will always be at risk of a health catastrophe.

Best of luck and keep us posted.

[Vasco]

Sorry to hear of your heart problem. I don't know anything about heart attacks but I do know that when you give up something that is an important part of your life you really feel the loss in many ways. It will be a different life without the boat, a feeling of emptiness and lack of direction. You have known for a long time what you wanted to do. Without the boat where do you go? Unless you have another passion stick with the boat. Or another boat. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Knotical

Sorry to hear about your health problems, glad to hear you are doing ok.

As others said I would take a little time and think over all the options.

Depending on how much more work is left you could finish it at a later date or have someone else finish it for you. Following some of your projects here you seem to be the guy who does not like less-than-perfect work - if you delegate rest of the work to someone else you may have to accept some shortcomings, you do not want to take any more emotional stress with a recent heart attack.

The other option is to sell the current boat (I know it will hurt) and get a ready-to-sail one and go sailing, a cruiser at heart needs to go cruising, and I am sure it will help you heal too. We all love boat projects but they can be emotionally draining, I can tell you from personal experience that if a major project is pending I can’t stop thinking about it - you definitely don’t need it at this time.

There is always the option to call it a day for now and take a long hiatus, get perfectly healthy in a year or two and see where things are. It’s a tough pill to swallow but your allergy issues are not going away and you will always be at risk of a health catastrophe.

Best of luck and keep us posted.

You know, multiple people have said I’m a perfectionist and possibly too much of one with boats.

I take this as a huge compliment. Thank you. Ha ha

But yeah. The goal here is to see the world and be immersed in cultures. I always thought it would be by boat, but that may not be in the cards.

The one sticking reason I can’t find a used boat to do this with is all the production boats have a wooden liner type construction. They put thin finish wood panels between the hull and the cabin.

This leaves an area of the boat you can’t touch that develops mold and thanks to a lifetime on boats, I’m allergic to everything on boats. Such as the mold that grows in these dead spaces.

My boat was built without these dead spaces for just this reason.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by Chotu

The one sticking reason I can’t find a used boat to do this with is all the production boats have a wooden liner type construction. They put thin finish wood panels between the hull and the cabin.

This leaves an area of the boat you can’t touch that develops mold and thanks to a lifetime on boats, I’m allergic to everything on boats. Such as the mold that grows in these dead spaces.

My boat was built without these dead spaces for just this reason.

Removing some panels for an initial cleaning, then adding good ventilation to those spaces should go a long way towards avoiding that issue. Plus, some designs have less dead space than others (and if you can find a boat that hasn't had leak issues into the dead spaces, you're less likely to start out with mold that needs removing). The question becomes one of how perfect do you need those spaces to be to avoid issues.

[EarlWer]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Should I sell this perfect boat I’ve been building all this time and stop sailing?

Are many of you sailing post heart attack?

I don’t know how I could ever give this boat up. But what should I do?

How much work is left?
Can you get competent help to give you a hand completing the work? Perhaps with the agreement that they would stay on when you launched?
I'm sure there are people who would consider that...

I was working on my new-to-me Bristol 27 last month and also had a heart-attack. Fortunately, it was minor, and the stent has cleared the blockage.
I'm renaming the boat "My M.I.".
In my case, the Ontario border is currently closed, but I'm planning to go back as soon as it's opened...

Given your sensitivity, perhaps you could take additional precautions when dealing with new materials in the future?

[HeinSdL]

Chotu, as long as you're not being careless, carry on! Your project would appear to be your calling so, while setting a pace you're comfortable with, keep moving towards your goal.

If indeed this is your calling then I would like to quote from one of my favourite books The Great Work Of Your Life roughly as follows:

"If you let out what you have within you then what you have within you will save you. If you do not let out what you have within you then what you have within you will destroy you."

The whole book is more or less about this concept so I won't attempt to discuss it in any depth here, but in practice this means that to carry on carrying out your life project is the only way to go. To not do so, to sit at home waiting for... what exactly?... will not in any way help you attain your goal in life. Au contraire in fact.

In any case, good luck!

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by HeinSdL

Chotu, as long as you're not being careless, carry on! Your project would appear to be your calling so, while setting a pace you're comfortable with, keep moving towards your goal.

If indeed this is your calling then I would like to quote from one of my favourite books The Great Work Of Your Life roughly as follows:

"If you let out what you have within you then what you have within you will save you. If you do not let out what you have within you then what you have within you will destroy you."

The whole book is more or less about this concept so I won't attempt to discuss it in any depth here, but in practice this means that to carry on carrying out your life project is the only way to go. To not do so, to sit at home waiting for... what exactly?... will not in any way help you attain your goal in life. Au contraire in fact.

In any case, good luck!

This is actually the conundrum I’m facing.

I’m sitting at home year after year after year right now. Building.

Sitting at home waiting = putting off life goals = spending more years building. These three things are equivalent.

Stopping building means choosing to stop sitting home doing nothing. Yes, I consider building a performance cat “doing nothing” as compared to seeing the world.

[Knotical]

Originally Posted by Chotu

You know, multiple people have said I’m a perfectionist and possibly too much of one with boats.

I take this as a huge compliment. Thank you. Ha ha

But yeah. The goal here is to see the world and be immersed in cultures. I always thought it would be by boat, but that may not be in the cards.

The one sticking reason I can’t find a used boat to do this with is all the production boats have a wooden liner type construction. They put thin finish wood panels between the hull and the cabin.

This leaves an area of the boat you can’t touch that develops mold and thanks to a lifetime on boats, I’m allergic to everything on boats. Such as the mold that grows in these dead spaces.

My boat was built without these dead spaces for just this reason.

Haha, totally understand, like you, I am a perfectionist too and that hurts sometimes - just can't accept subpar work.

If the dream is to see the world the method doesn't matter, travel by RV to see inland places and get a boat to visit remote islands. Normally the type of boat shouldn't matter too except you have a health condition that makes it very relevant, the choice is between finishing the boat that you already have or get one of those newer racing monohulls with exposed ribs and not a single piece of wood in them.

If I were you this is what I would do - take a couple of weeks off and spend them somewhere fresh, like in the mountains. Talk to my close friends and family and get their opinions. Get someone's help to finish the boat under my supervision so the work is done right. Get only so much work done to make the boat seaworthy, rest can be finished at leisure. Go sailing.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by EarlWer

How much work is left?
Can you get competent help to give you a hand completing the work? Perhaps with the agreement that they would stay on when you launched?
I'm sure there are people who would consider that...

I was working on my new-to-me Bristol 27 last month and also had a heart-attack. Fortunately, it was minor, and the stent has cleared the blockage.
I'm renaming the boat "My M.I.".
In my case, the Ontario border is currently closed, but I'm planning to go back as soon as it's opened...

Given your sensitivity, perhaps you could take additional precautions when dealing with new materials in the future?

I’m looking at 2 years full time for one person currently to get it to a point one could move in.