Six-weeks notice

I had not considered the extent to which quitting my job would feel like a tangible step to spending time with the boat.  Today is the day that I gave my 6 week notice.  The talk with the CEO went well.  It made him smile that I was going to spend more time on a boat.  People feel good about what I am going to be doing rather than angry about me leaving, it seems.  To me it feels like a real tangible step to making this venture a reality, a feeling that is still sinking in.

Staying organized

I feel like I really have to stay on top of things with this new boat to make it all work out.  And doing it while involving but not overwhelming Kate who is going along with all this lifestyle adjustment, which nearly amounts to having a new member in the family, but Kate is interested in different priorities (relationships, living simply and structure for the kids).  The fairy-tale ending is still pending and I can still screw things up.  
Paul Exner has been advising me on refit priorities which is great because he and I spent time at sea together so I trust him and he knows me.  At this point I am having Morris do the cutlass bearing, change from shaft seal to stuffing box, engine mounts (just need paint), rudder stuffing box, service the steering and install t-terminals on the mast for running backs (at the advice of Mike Meer).  I have been talking to Eric and Yves at Cape Horn about a windvane, but just put that project on hold until I actually start going to the boat.  I am thinking about going the sat phone route rather than the SSB.  (I do have a ground imbedded in the hull that Morris assures me is good in case I decide on SSB.)  There is a list of work I am hoping to get done myself.  My list, alongside costs, is on an Excel document with a running total that is about $30K for the year so far.  Since I am planning on cutting back at work, I need to be careful with finances.
I’ll be out there for a week every month before the Carib1500, from May to November. Hopefully I will be able to find some exotic places in Maine to anchor and do boat work.  It feels like this all requires detailed attention to get organized and negotiated, though the boat is basically is great shape.  I will have it in Annapolis mid-September to mid-October and I was thinking I should save some work for people there as that might help defray dockage costs.  I have no idea what I am going to do with her after we reach Tortolla.  And I think we are going with a new name, yet to be determined.

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.