So I am a bit behind on the story. But quickly I have two problems:

  1. My current boat (The 1974 Cal 27 T2 has  a cracked hull where the bilge build out starts aft. This is fexible. It also has a weeping spot behind the battery locker at a stringer and leaks water into the engine compartment when underway (not while on her own bottom). This is all fixable.
  2. The current boat is not a cape horn boat.

So I have decided I need to replace her. I have a short list of boats that meets the criteria I am looking for Westsail 32, Cape Dory 31/30/36, Pearson Triton, Alberg 30. I really like the Cape Dory 31 and the Cape Dory in general. It just looks like I think a sailboat should. Problem, these boats are more than I can afford currently.

So, I planned on buying a 1961 Pearson triton from a guy here in Sausalito. He bought in new in 61 and has kept in in pretty good shape. It however has fallen into a bit of disrepair and they guy is just too old to sail it and wants to get rid of it but I dont think he is ready. He keeps changing the story and becomes unavailable. I think he is testing me to see if I really want it enough to be patient. Anyhow, my plan was to strip down the old boat, crush it and keep everthing I possible can for the new boat. I am considering a different option. Fix my boat. The Cal 27 is a good boat. I love it. It sails great. I will never get my "money" or "time" back out of it. If  I fix it, my thought is to live on it and save the 1200 in rent I am paying a month for the new boat. At this point I could save 30K in two years and have my Cape Dory. This basically pushes out my trip date by two years (to a total of at least 3 years from now). This would aassume I could outfit the new boat in a year. If I do this, it has a draw back and this is the big draw back. My son. He is one and a half years old and comes to visit me every other month for a week from Michigan. So I would have to fly to Michigan to be with him instead of flying to him and bringing him out here.

The situation might be better if I go visit him in Michigan at least in the near term. He can use the same daycare, it wont be as stressful, we will actually have the two days of travel together instead of sitting in a plane. I dont like not having him here though.... This is really a tuff call. It sounds like now that I write it down, better to go to Michigan.

Also, the idea of saving for 2 years to get the Cape Dory or find a Triton: I was reading My Old Man in the Sea and Dan says something interesting, "It was the biggest boat we could afford to make perfect". Maybe the Triton is really in my budget and the Cape Dory is not. I really cant decide. I simply love the lines of the Dory, the 31 has an interior layout I love. It is keel steeped, larger to hold supplies, more comfortable, would make this journey far easier. The sail plan is great.

The Triton is a stout boat, will make the trip but will require extensive rework. Its a solid boat but things I dont like about it, The fractional rig and sail plan. I prefer rig and the power distributed a little more between the sails. Good things. I can afford it and can keep my date by starting to work on it now and it will do the trip.

Decisions...

Its really getting hard. There are going to be a lot of sacrifices I have to make in order to make this tirp happen. I already find it hard with my personal life when I have to tell people no because I have to work on the boat or go race or sleep and not drink because of a race etc. Its just hard to tell my friends no.

So I am excited about this delivery. I just hope I dont lose my job. I am a bit apprehensive about the lack of windvane on the Catalina 309 and to be frank, I would never take it to sea. Its not designed well at all for heavy weather. But, I will make the best of it. Sam ordered a sea anchor and is working hard crackpot self steering with a Coronado emergency rudder rigged to a hydraulic RAM for self steering. I know he has done a lot more cruising than I have. I just cant find this solution acceptable (although it should "work"). In heavy weather, where the wave action could damage the rudder, its going to damage this auxillary "emeregency" rudder as well... we will just have to see what he comes up with. Time is running out.

I guess I am going to think on it somemore. Fixing my boat would make it a lot easier to sell. The prices for pieces of crap on Craigslist amazes me. Getting it fixed and rigging it back in standard config must bring in 3-4K versus all the headache of stripping it completely down and crushing it. If I can get 3K net after fixing it, I might be better off. I will have a boat to sail in the bay if not a place to live while I save for the CD31.

 

More thoughts as I roll this around. If I take into consideration the 1300 I could spend on boat stuff each month, that brings my total to 2500 a month or 30K in one year. If I flip a few boats say 6 at 2K each profit that puts me at 42K in one year of work. That will buy my CD31 and possibly even a 33. This seems like the right thing to do... I could delay my trip by only a year and get good experience living in a small space and working on boats.

Lots of competing trains of thought. "Go small Go Early", "Biggest boat I can afford to make perfect", "Having the right boat for the trip"

Maybe the CD31-33 is the best of all of these. I am willing to work and sacrifice to get the boat, I go earlier, its smaller than the CD36 (Dream Boat for cursing as I am older) and its the right boat for the trip.... Im gonna roll this in my head tonight. As my dear and close friends Kristy and Dwight have told me, I should always use the 72hour rule when making big decisions. So by Monday I will make a decision and then stick with it.

-Thomas