Photo on mooring in Bass Harbor, Maine

This picture was taken by the previous owner

Windvane

I am giving some thought to putting off the windvane until I actually get to the boat.  I would be passing up on the 10% discount they offered for ordering now.  I would also possibly put myself in the position of not getting it done before the Carib 1500.  I think I would buy myself piece of mind.  Last night I got to thinking that I should be nervous (which I wasn’t) about making changes that altered the boat before I actually have taken possession of the boat.  I am excited to own this boat, but I do not yet feel the affection for this boat that I feel to Captive Heart, my J/27.  I think when a person loves a boat, that person will make the best decisions for a boat.  I need to fall in love with this boat before I start making these decisions.  It will be cool to be able to do things like measure the stern wave at various speeds and sailing angles and to be more a pat of the process in getting this right.  I am fine leaving periodic maintenance, esp for things in which I have little expertise, to the service yard, but I would like to be more involved in designing and installing sailing stuff like the windvane.  Hopefully I can make it one of my first projects so that I get a chance to practice and adjust if necessary.  I will keep it in the budget.

I now own a cruising boat

I am now the owner of a boat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVAjsjY8LDM

I have been very busy planning.  Considering scaling back work for six months, sailing a bunch in Maine over the summer, then going down to Caribbean.  It was always clear that this was more my dream than Kate's.  It is easy to overwhelm her with my enthusiasm as I always have about five things with the boat going on at a time.

Justine Refit 2016

Rear End Stuff to be done before launch:

Switch PSS to traditional stuffing box

Replace Cutlass Bearing

Clean up aft engine mounts and hanger brackets which are rusty

The inspector suggested installing “bonding system jumper wire across the drive saver”

Rudderstock stuffing box needs to be cleaned, repacked and adjusted

 Steering system

         did not come firmly to a stop on starboard side

         steering cables loose

Consider installation of Cape Horn Windvane

         I have measurements from Justine named Halcyon

Other maintenance before launch:

Lubricate through hulls

After Sea Trial: 

Engine maintenance (belts, hoses, filters)

Stuff I might have Morris do but might just do myself:

varnish

winches

rebed genoa tracks

tighten lifeline stanchions and monitor lifelines

PVC elbow for vent fitting on waste tank

Leak on top of fuel tank (as evidenced by fuel film) might be too much learning—I could fuss about that during sea trial

Sailmaker:

3^rd reef in main

Sew loops in webbing to create jacklines

Safety:

Liferaft

Sea Parachute ?

Electrical updates

SSB

         Ground

         Antenna

AIS receiver

Rigging considerations

Storm jib that goes up furler track

Solent rig – probably not this season but worth considering

Spinnaker– would need pole, pole fitting on mast and stuffer

Other equipment:

RIB—end of summer after trying out Trinka

Figuring it out

Today we closed on the Morris Justine.

I cannot say enough about how important an offshore experience was in making this final decision.  Get out there and imagine shit going bad and how you are going to fix it.  Consider that things are going to break in the middle of the night when conditions are tossing you around and waves are breaking into the cockpit.  The think of the forces involved, the tension of the sheets, the weight of the rig.  Imagine trying to fix things that break because they will.  We only had to repair a batten pocket and retrieve the spinnaker after the clew chafed through.  A lot worse could have happened on a lesser maintained boat.  And then consider how far you are away from anyone.  Even the boats in our rally were a half-day away.  And then appreciate the motion of a boat designed for ocean sailing.  We talked to crew of a Bavaria 40 after the trip and the motion of their boat, which they demonstrated with their hand, sounded miserable.

And then realize how much easier everything will be on a smaller boat.

The money saved is also going to make things much easier.  Less need to work means more time to sail

Shopping

Three boats considered this year.  Scrimshaw, a Seguin 46 by Lyman Morse was beautiful but required a bunch of work before she was going to be seaworthy and needed to be shipped across country ($15K).  We made an offer, but they countered too high, noted that they were "firm" and we walked away.  Kept thinking about that boat for a long time.  Then found a freshwater Tartan 42 in Bayfield, WI, only a 4hr drive away.  Smelled beautiful and presented as if new.  Would have required lots of equipment as it was set up for lake motoring, but then would have had a virtually new boat. Kate had suggested a sceniario in which we would keep it in Bayfield for a summer.  We would try to spend several blocks of time at the boat rather than go up for weekends.  We would not put Captive Heart in the water.  Was concerned about the shoal draft.  Not just because less upwind performance.  Deeper water is less turbulent in storms and a deeper draft reaches down to that (I am reading Marchaj).   Just did not fall in love with the boat.  In the meantime I had a trip planned on a 1972 S&S Swan 48 from Virginia to Tortolla and it was suggested that I not buy a boat until after the trip (by both Andy and Kate).  Indeed, the trip led me to decide that I want a smaller boat.  The captain of the trip said, "If I was a rich man the boat I would get is a Morris Justine."  A few years ago I had seen a Justine at Morris and loved the cockpit and the high bullwarks. There is one on the market with the 3-cabin version with deep draft.  Both of these options are the options less often found on the market.  Of the five on the market now, one is deep draft and two are 3-cabin one.  This is set up with Harken bat cars, a rigid dinghy which might be convertible to sail and a fair amount of offshore stuff.  The timing is good for personal reasons to spend a lot of time next summer on a boat in Maine before Kate goes back to work.  So I put an offer in and my broker, Forbes Horton, haggled for an incredible price that includes winter storage and we have had a favorable inspection.  I am going up to see the boat tomorrow.  We did it this way because if I go to see the boat before we put an offer in, I would have still had to go again once we had discussed and inspected the boat.  I figured that I have already seen a Justine once and I liked it and all this traveling to see boats gets expensive. All that said, I am going into this weekend thinking that I am going to buy the boat.  I cannot get a better endorsement than Paul Exner's.  I worry because both other times when I have put in offers on a boat and they have been rejected, I have been happy afterwards.  After the Cambria offer was bested, I was pleased because I really was not ready for a boat.  Following my Carib 1500 adventure I was pleased I did not have a boat as big as the Seguin (though right up to that trip it was my dream boat).  I am thinking I might try to replicate the scenario Kate suggested for Bayfield, but do it in Maine.  Then, after a summer of learning her and getting her ready, sail her down to Portsmouth and then with the Caribbean 1500.

Preparing for a far-off cruise

This post touches on several issues that we are trying to address well in advance of our big trip.  We're doing our first charter since Kate was pregnant with Leif, back to the same spot. I am also doing a passage with Andy Schell on the Caribbean 1500 this coming November.  With two events planned my mind is on sailing and with the charter in two weeks, Kate and I are having discussions about being on the boat with the kids. Kate can't have these discussions too close to bedtime or she will lose sleep. She sometimes has nightmares about one of the kids falling overboard without a lifejacket.

In preparation for the upcoming charter I have decided to use climbing harnesses for both kids. I researched sailing harnesses, reading forums and manufacturer descriptions. The only sailing child harnesses I really compared were Crewmember and West Marine. Given that I don't really expect to drag my children through the water and just want to catch them before they get far away from the boat I think climbing harnesses will work well, possibly better. I am using spectra slings for tethers for which I was criticized but I think the jack line will offer elasticity to the system. The climbing harnesses have also been adopted to the tree fort and the rafters in the basement. I am being careful not to let them stop a fall with the tethers. 

We took both of the kids yesterday to the YMCA pool and had them jump in with their lifejackets on, Leif using a new Stohlquist Escape and Ruby still in the Nemo.  We are going to bring two life jackets for each kid so they have one to wear if one is wet. Leif also has mask, snorkel and fins which we tried out in the pool. We plan to introduce ocean swimming very gradually. We'll probably stay at Grand Case the first couple nights and hopefully gradually get acclimated with trips to th beach and some swims off the boat.  We also want to get comfortable with the boat and intend to practice some man over drilled for drills in the first couple days. I'm not confident in the method we use at Lake Minnetonka to be appropriate for the Caribbean. At the lake we have the agreement that if a kid goes over Kate goes over with them immediately. I'm not thinking that such a good idea in the ocean.  We'll make sure we clarify some new rules for the kids that will apply to the bigger boat. 

Since eating out with kids is sometimes harder and then just cooking onboard, we're also trying to think about meal planning. We would even like to start thinking about minimizing energy use so we don't have to run the engine too often. Admittedly, the person on the forum was probably right when they said we will be opening the fridge most often for beer. 

With all the two trips coming up, Kate and I have been talking more about boats to potentially purchase. I was interested in a Lyman Morse Monhegan 48 with an SA/D of 21 and just beautiful lines. Then that's old and I was despondent but I kept looking for Lyman Morse boats and now a Seguin 44 came on the market and that one's got me all wrapped up. Kate even watched the salesman's Youtube video on the Seguin 44.  It's amazing that I find myself in the position that I actually could buy that boat. Then there is a Beniteau 456 in St. Maarten which I could buy and still have enough money left over to do the entire cruise. Admittedly that boat might be a money pit. Wouldn't it be great to inherit someone else's problem. I'm rationalizing I really shouldn't buy a boat this year because we have our family charter and then the Caribbean 1500 passage so I'll get all the boating I need this year. Maybe in a couple years though Lyman Morse will have dropped in price like all the Alden 44's have.  

We continue to save but last year we built a tree fort. Then some family generosity kept us on track. Incidentally, spending money on a tree fort is not that much different than spending money on a boat as I was informed by my good friend Jim Schwarz. Both are stupid money. 

still saving

Two years since the last post.  Still saving.  Put in a low-ball offer on a Cambria 44 last fall.  That would have been a mistake.  Not only would it have extended us financially, but Kate is not at that emotional stage right now.  It would have also truncated this time period in which we can consider other options.  One thing we have talked about is moving to St Thomas and working.  In that situation we might live in our boat but at a marina.  We would get to know the community of people who live there, not to say the community of cruisers would not be an interesting group, but working as a community psychiatrist in the islands could provide a unique vantage point that I would not have as simply a cruiser.  Another thing we have talked about is a smaller boat.  Kate was aboard a Morris 36 and she thought that was enough room.  This boat has half the displacement and sail are of some of the boats we have looked at so would be easier to handle if caught in a blow with the sails up (like I was the other day on Lake Minnetonka aboard Captive Heart, our J/27 when I first thought of this issue).  Buying small also allows us to shoot for something like a Morris and still remain on budget.  We could actually find a bigger boat limits our freedom, both the freedom to operate the boat without extra crew and our financial freedom.  Limiting our freedom might detract from the happiness value of this trip more than a bigger boat would contribute to happiness.  If we had bought the Cambria, we would not be at liberty to entertain these considerations and would have already lost some of that freedom.

We are going to start chartering again.  We have waited as the kids gained skills swimming and on boats.  We have booked a charter in St Maarten for next spring when the kids will be 3.5 and 5.5 yrs old.

This last winter was hard to get through.  Was often thinking a boat in the Caribbean was a needed escape.  Kate feels strongly that we should not take kids out of school as a regular thing and I respect that position, so the reality is that boat ownership would be difficult in that it would be difficult for the boat to get enough use, which would then mean that maintenance would stop being a source of pride and the boat would become a source of stress and a money pit.

Kids just got home so need to end this post...