Finally Boat Shopping..... Woot . Woot!!

So we finally officially starting boat shopping!!

Our first boat to seriously consider was a 2004 Lagoon 380! This catamaran was almost flawless! We LOVED her!! Her name was Mimi.

A few months ago we saw this beautiful sailing catamaran pop up on craigslist. This is highly unusual for a vessel like this to be available so close to home. Generally we see sailboats like MiMi in Florida or Annapolis, sometimes Charleston but even that would be a few hour drive.

We couldn’t pass this opportunity by! We called and arranged the tour, and to our surprise we fell in love! This catamaran was exactly what we have been dreaming of and she will be the yardstick to which all future boats will be measured against.

If you haven’t realized by my tone, we were not able to buy her, although we very much wanted to. We were very open and honest with her owner and we explained this was our goal! Sadly we are not yet in a financial position to make this kind of purchase. We hoped she would still be for sale in a few months and we could be ready to purchase her, but she has found a new owner. This is definitely the one that got away!

More about the finances… . MiMi was listed at 220,000.00. For a boat loan you will need about 20% down.. about 44,000.00 for this boat (give or take). He told us the price was 20,000.00 higher because he had listed it with a broker so the original asking price was about 200,000.00. We thought maybe we could get it for 180,000.00 or so because we have heard many times that large negotiations often take place. But even with the agreed price of 180K (which we hadn’t tried) we would still need 32K. We don’t have it… yet.

As you may recall, we have been putting all our extra money into our student debt so as to pay it all off. We don’t have a nest egg. Also, we are thinking more and more about a different business venture to allow us to make money without a traditional employer / employee dynamic.

At this time, sadly, we are not ready to make this kind of purchase. Simply put, we don’t have all our ducks in a row yet. We are hoping for a F. I. R. E. lifestyle:

-Financial

-Independence

-Retire

-Early

This means sacrifice now, yes we could have bought this boat but then we would be unable to create a foundation to secure our future travel adventure lifestyle.

We actually have a big vision on our we plan to make money and travel, and we will share that all with you in a few weeks when we start!

You’re coming along with us!

New Mercury... a few gift cards.

We have done a lot of reading online and review of others YouTube videos to find that most sailboats of this size do not need an engine much more than 5-6 horse power.  

What we experienced when we took our boat out the first time was 5 HP is the bare minimum to move us through the water. 

We decided the biggest issue was the water currents.  We are trying to learn to sail in the Winyah Bay in the Georgetown harbor near Charleston SC.  This area is affected by a river, the inner-coastal water way and ocean tides. 

Winyah Bay is amazing, we have already seen Dolphins and Bald Eagles as well as other cool sights of nature but the currents are crazy and from many different directions, sometimes conflicting (the river running down stream and the tide coming in). 

We needed a motor that could move us with certainty through the water. 

We looked up the transom specifications and all we could find was our boat could not handle more than 10 horse power.  This of course did not really specify weight so we needed to be conscience of this as newer 4 stroke motors often weigh more then older 2 stroke motors. 

We did a lot of homework and looked at many different vendors and eventually found Bass Pro Shops had the best price on a decent motor.  

We also found Bass Pro gift cards at Sams Club for 75.00 worth of gift cards we paid about 72.00.  For a 2300.00 engine this really added up to a lot of savings.  

Heres were this gets interesting. 

Becky bought every gift card in our Sams Club - about 80 of them which wasn't enough to cover the whole purchase but its all they had. 

We went to the Bass Pro Shop and talked to the sales rep. I told him what I needed and he knew I meant business, (I guess he could see it in my eyes).  He had the paper work drawn up, the title registration filed and the motor uncrated and running before he asked how I was going to pay. 

"Gift Card  ssssss"    I said as I pulled out a zip lock bag from my cargo shorts pocket full of gift cards. "Oh!" he said.  

He starred blankly for a moment and I started to worry that he was not going be be able to accept this form of payment.  Then he said "Well, I better get started on these" and he went to the back of the store to work on it.  I felt a little bad at first but then I noticed several other employees coming from his direction and they all seemed to be smiling and looking at us.  

I think every employee in the store knew what I had done within about 3 minutes. 

We saved about 90.00.   Worth it!!

They were great sports about everything!  They gave me a complete tutorial on the engine and instructions on the break in period.    

As you can see in the picture we bought a Mercury 9.9 HP 4 stroke with a long shaft. 

We have had it on the water once already and it really makes a big difference!  

Very Happy!!

On the Water Sails Up!

On the Water, Sails up...

After weeks of repairs, we finally got on the water and raised the sails.  Sooo amazing.  The feeling of moving through the water under sail is so different from what I imagined.  The most striking finding was how silent it was. 

We managed to tack a few times and move the boat along.  We must have arrived near the end of slack tide because we were soon overwhelmed by conflicting currents. 

Weird feeling to have the sails full and yet we were not moving.  As it turns out the area we were using for our first experience has two rivers which feed into the bay on one side and ocean tide on the other.  Basically we were barely overcoming the current.  Much the same feeling as if you were on a treadmill, you are working hard but not going anywhere.

None the less, we had a great time.  We saw Dolphins and a Bald Eagle dive and catch a fish.  Such an amazing first experience.   

The Kids also had a great time.  We had packed a large assortment of snacks and drinks, of which none made it back home.   

Looking forward to our next water outing, but we also struggled with our under powered engine...  We may have to do something drastic...

Engine Woes...

We were so happy to find such a great deal on a sailboat which came with a motor. 

The story was the motor was stored in a garage with the boat since around 1993 and the engine is a 1988.  So, by my math it would have only had light use for about 5 years!. 

The guy we bought the boat / motor started it up on the second-third pull and we let it run for about 5 minutes!  

I thought for sure we were solid here and I left this project for last!  -sigh

The night prior to our first planned boat outing Becky suggested we start the engine, let it run for awhile, make sure it runs good, etc.   Sounds good, I run to the gas station, fresh gas in hand we try to start the engine.  

Pull, Pull, Pull, frustration, yelling, anger, sweat, blisters, tendonitis.   No sailing tomorrow!

Becky suggested I share that I am known for my frustration which leads to yelling,  I disagree but it does run in the family....

We gave up for the night.  I always seem to wait too long before I decide to walk away and sleep on it. 

The next morning (Sunday) we discussed options.  

1, Purchase a new Outboard motor -$$$$,

2, send the old motor for repair- $$$,

3, or try to repair the motor myself -zero $

I have worked on other small engines (lawn mowers mostly) so I decided to take this on myself. 

I started with removing the spark plug and checking for compression.  All good so I replaced the plug with a new one and reinstalled it.  The fuel line filter was patent which leaves the carburetor. 

This proved to be easier than I anticipated.  It came off easily and I was able to carefully disassemble all working parts, clean it meticulously and put it back together without any replacement parts.  Now with the Carburetor reinstalled on the motor it fired and ran on the second pull!

We will be on the water next weekend and I will start it a few times this week to make sure it runs consistently. 

Becky said she felt lucky that she married a guy "who can do things".

1984 Diamond in the Rough?

Finished Now!!

So honestly this was a bit of an impulse buy.   We had been discussing our next challenge / adventure and we have always been water loving, boating people but never sailboat people.  As I have said before we have been inspired a great deal by Riley and Elaina of SV La Vagabond, Jason and Nikki of Gone with the Wynns, Will and Kat of Monday Never and the list goes on and on.   We knew we wanted to learn to sail and we have looked into many sailing schools but time and money are the big hurdle.  (We are trying to free ourselves up from student loans and other debt).  

The add for this boat was a little ambiguous and the price was exceptional.  I called to inquire. 

Bob, told me the back story.  He had bought a piece of property with a free standing garage and all contents.  Inside was this boat.  The boat belonged to the previous owners son who had passed a while back and the boat has set dry since ~1993.  Title was transferred to Bob and all was on the up and up.  He told me he knows nothing about sailboats and I could come look.  

Problem is - I know nothing about sailboats either!

I crawled all over the boat!   

The boat looked good, older, dated, but solid as far as I could tell - no holes.   Motor came with as well as a lot of other boating accessories - anchor, fenders, life vests, lines etc.  It needed love... a lot of love!  I knew it would need new electrical components and fresh bottom paint but I could handle all this!

We gave him a 500.00 deposit and planed to return in 2-3 days with the rest of the money and ready to take possession.

I purchased a new trailer light harness and several other things to prep for the trip home.   White knuckled the whole way, we made it and now the big work begins! 

Carter didn't waste any time getting started.  He was happy to help pressure wash the old paint and barnacles off.