Took the First and Biggest Step and got a 1975 Irwin 10-4 Today :)

[miller83]

Well after first having the idea 10 years as a single guy recently it surged back into my head and now 31 and not single, i actually talked her into getting a cruiser and living aboard the idea stemmed from living in a dodge b250 conversion van after falling on some hard luck and having a hard time finding a place and the place we found had alot of problems so i thought why not get a boat and liveaboard as well as eventually do some cruising the coast a bit when my skill level gets up there as all boating knowledge i have is for powered boats but i am a quick learner and a even harder researcher and highly motivated...well today we went and looked at a 1975 Irwin 10-4 in from what i could tell is in decent shape and was relatively taken care of,a little damage here and there but nothing serious that i could see but hey its a boat made in 75 so its been thru the waves of time as well water...the guy was really friendly and willing to work out payments with us as well as help pay marina fees until we get it paid off and move it to another marina closer to where my gf works in Tysons Corner,Va ...plus he is helping with a bunch of other things to and dropped the price $100 not much but it helps heck he was gonna give us a ipad free he just got 2 weeks ago that had very minor damage but still worked fine but we declined cause he was already being generous i didnt want to take advantage of him...i put 500 deposit on it and now i am happier than i have been in many years

[Old Snipe]

Welcome to the forums miller83. I hope everything works out for you and the admiral.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, miller83.
Congratulations!

[mr_f]

Exciting. What marinas are you considering?

[Dulcesuenos]

Welcome aboard, congrats!!!! Just curious9 always pay by check so its proof of payment) did you get a written contract that x# of payments and you get the title , or did he give you a title and just put himself as lien holder? There have been a lot of horror stories on here where owners refused title, died, wanted the boat back after it was all fixed up etc etc,

[miller83]

thanks everyone one thing i noticed while doing research is how nice most everyone is in the community

well one we are looking at because it is close to her work and seems like a decent place is tantallon marina,but we are still looking.

we didn't use a check just put a 500 deposit on it though you have a great point i didn't think of :P but he did give us a written bill of sale for it and put in it about our agreement on payments and such forth,in the next few days he is getting a more formal bill of sale for us and is gonna do just that give us the title with him as the lien holder..as i said he was very friendly and helpfull...honestly i think i just lucked out and fate sent me to where i belonged because i sure have put up with enough crap in my life already lol

[miller83]

also told us we can go to it anytime we want that its ours, he was letting the marina know and checking on if we can live aboard it there for a bit and fix it and learn and get comfortable with it as i am currently living in my van and plan on selling it asap to help pay for the Irwin

[biker6977]

Good luck and way to go!!! Keep us a breast of your activities. Perhaps start a blog we can follow?

[miller83]

thanks much biker6977 (thumbs up) indeed i could...i know i was also of thinking of doing some videos of the process as well after seeing the site projectatticus.com..that site was a big push to just do it for me and inspiring

[miller83]

sometime this week gonna head to Chester,MD where the the Irwin 10-4 is and start doing basic cleaning from top to bottom inside out to get it ready to start the minor mostly cosmetic repairs and paint it before dropping it in the water hopefully soon btw know this is likely not the right spot to ask but anyone willing to take on some new friends and help us along our path or i should say our course of sailing and maybe after we get the hang of things after a bit i say a group cruising trip somewhere on the coast where everyone brings their boat is called for

[miller83]

[miller83]

Been looking into paints and my mind is spinning...sooooo many lol i need to do this as cost effective as possible while still not sacrificing durability and such..any ideas? i plan on painting it myself and possibly have a painting party and invite a friend two (buy some pizza's and beer for helper/helpers...any takers? lol beer will be drunk after painting is done for obvious reasons lol) so i know i will save a nice chunk of cash right there planning on prepping and painting after initial cleaning of boat inside and out is next month after the Main deposit of 1500 is made on the 13th

[dufour31]

I live aboard at a marina in Chester, md. Contact me when you plan to visit your purchase. I know it's not here, as we have no yard

Sent from my SM-G900V using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

[miller83]

sounds like a plan will defiantly get ahold of you next time we head there would be nice to talk to someone who more than likely knows more than i about such things and make some friends ...its over at island view marina atm

[miller83]

i was was already a bit of a land minimalist and had plans of buying land and living off grid so alot of my ideas will transfer over to a boat which now makes more sense because you cant sail a piece of land lmao some ideas that need tweeked are a low key virtually invisible rain catch/filter system (as not to have a mess about i like organization and clean looking as much as possible)that hooks straight to water tank,possible home made wind power generator are the main ones im gonna work on first im pretty resourceful...what can i say i watched too much MacGuyver as kid as well as a adult lol