This is the beginning article of a series that will describe theadventures that I and my loverly wife are having in our move on to, andlife aboard, a converted 40' Navy motor launch. Neither one of us hasever owned a boat, and neither one of us has a lot of boatingexperience, although Kat has some, which probably balances out the factthat I have none. :) All these new words to learn.
This story starts with a casual mention to a coworker, that Kat (theaforementioned wife) and I were going to look at an old tugboat. Georgementioned that he had a boat he was getting ready to sell, and thathe'd give us a good deal on it. Well, the tugboat needed far more workthan we were willing or able to put into it. So we decided to take alook at George's boat. She's 40 feet length overall. Her keel was laidin 1944, and she's built primarily of Port Orford Cedar. Power issupplied by a venerable Buda diesel.
At first I wasn't too impressed. The boat was dirty outside. But shewas clean inside, there was a slight diesel smell that soon dissapatedafter the hatches were opened a bit. There was no smell of mildew ordamp.The boat has a full length cabin. Galley upfront, (forward is the correct term I am told.) Main cabin is a step upfrom the galley, behind that is the head, followed by a small engineroom. There is a small aft cabin. A narrow companionway runs along thestbd side. There are a full suite of nav and comm gear, a bit dated, butquite serviceable, and fully functional. (Depth sounder, radar, marineradio, Loran) The technogeek gene in me was twitching. There is also afull conn up on the flybridge. Very little of her Navy origins areapparant inside the cabin. Although she is slightly cramped, some of thelayout of the stowage and cabin arrangements are sub-optimal.George (the owner) mentioned that there had been some dry rot in thestem, but that it had been taken care of, and there was a small amountof water damage on the stbd deck toward the aft, where the canvascovering the deck had torn. There were also minor nicks and scratchesall over. The Boat hadn't left the boathouse she was in for five years.The engine hadn't been started in over a year, so we did the obviousthing. We bought her.
Our plan is to live aboard her for at least a year. To Bring her up tosnuff, repair the minor damage. (hoping that there is no major work) andthen sell her for a tidy profit. All the while paying less in rent thanwe are in our current house. Which brings us to today. I have paid forthe boat, the title has changed hands. George will be assisting us ingetting her ready to move to her new home. Wherever that is. :)
First thing on the agenda, is to Clean her, inside and out, and get theengine fired up. Also, we are planning to haul her out, have hersurveyed and the hull painted. (Last painting of the hull was 5 yearsago, although it seems in decent shape at the moment.) Also, since weare ferret owners, we have quite a bit of work to do to "ferret proof"the boat. Ferrets love nooks and crannies, and a boat is nothing morethan nooks and crannies in a wooden hull.
At the moment, there are no pictures of the boat, and she is as yet,unnamed. (By us, the previous owners to George had named her somethingor other that we didn't care for. So we will name her ourselves, shewill after all, be with us for a while. Pictures are on their way, asare more comments as we travel on this exiting new journey.
Last modified on Thu Dec 20 21:21:40 PST 2001