Hello All:
Apart from a little experience sailing dinghies on Lake
Ontario, I’m new to the sailing
game, but I’ve been dreaming about a
boat for about eighteen years. Recently, the job/education
game has finally brought me to
Vancouver after a lot of time spent far from any
water, so I decided to seize on the chance to finally do some sailing.
I just completed a real
newbie boat search – four months ago, I started by searching for a $50k
liveaboard, but as I learned and searched and learned some more, I sobered and simplified my plans. Finally, a week ago, I settled upon a nice, basic outboard-only 27’
Catalina with a moorage at Reed Point Marina, which I’ll use as a weekender (and as an occasional day-office).
My cat isn’t a
project boat, but the previous owner bought it and then ignored it completely for a year. When it was hauled out for the
survey, there was a jungle on its
hull – one of the employees of the marina said it was the second-worst he’d ever seen. (When we scraped down the
hull and power-washed it, it left a heap the length of the boat and about eight inches deep – about eight wheelbarrows full.)
But, I bought my poor neglected baby, and now I’m in the middle of
cleaning it up, doing
repairs, and updating its
equipment (as well as taking a CYA sailing course, to learn the basics of keelboats). It’s not a resurrection job, but certainly a rehabilitation
project – and a great
learning experience.
Naturally, I’m in the process of asking stupid questions and trying to sort through a whole heap of written
advice, as well as the typically-good-but-often-mercenary
advice of
marine part suppliers, repairmen, etc. So, I’m looking forward to sopping up advice from the forums!
Buddy