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The Hunt

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Oscar
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2030 Posts

Initially Posted - 08/19/2007 : 18:16:43

The hunt. And, will it be a woodie this time?

There is something feverishly exciting about shopping, nay hunting, for a new, or new to me, boat. At some point I have formulated the mission and narrowed it down to a few models, then I hit the pavement. Cruising ground, size, layout, hull material, sail plan and, of course, budget have all gone into the supercomputer between my ears and the answers have come out. I am looking for a Bayfloat 40, or a Coastdrift 42……
Back in “the old days” I would get an alarming number of magazine subscriptions, a sure sign for my family that I was hunting with predictable result, and would devour them cover to cover, especially the classifieds. There were the numerous strolls down the docks in marinas, in my case as an airline pilot, marinas on several continents and coasts. I would visit brokers who would hastily exit out of the back of their offices when they saw my car pull into the lot, leaving their assistants to gybe me out the door with some lame story. You see, like most other boat hunters I had Ocean taste and Lake budget. The hunt is to find the dream boat, or something close thereto, for a price within said budget. I have a pretty good track record. Being able to fix or install things on a boat helps, and has led to some interesting purchases, but that’s a story for another time.
A few times the circumstances in my life have changed so as to make the boat that I owned the wrong one, and I thus found myself having to sell it and replace it with another, more suitable one. It means having to say goodbye to a friend. A friend that sometimes carried you for thousands of miles, through a few exciting storms, through a few almost ugly stories, and through many days of the prettiest times and places on earth. A friend that, in some cases, you rescued from decline, and of which you know every nook and cranny, in the dark and half upside down. It’s saddening to say goodbye to a friend like that. However, the hunt and the excitement and pleasure it brings, helps soften the process.
I started sailing in wooden boats. I mean, where I lived, folks didn’t have plastic boats yet. There was wood, and there was steel, period. There’s something special about a pretty wooden boat when you look at it. Also, wooden boats have a very different aroma than plastic boats. When you buy a new plastic boat you can’t wait for “the smell” to go away, not to mention the fact that I suspect that someday fiberglass is going to join the ranks of asbestos and formaldehyde spray-in insulation. When I go below on a wooden boat I close my eyes and mouth and take a deep breath through my nose. The fundamentalists say that a wooden boat has a soul. Maybe it’s just the reminder of my younger years, but they certainly have a fragrance that, to me, is soothing and warming, even when it’s chilly. So, one of the magazines that appears when the hunt is on is Wooden Boat Magazine. Up to this point the maintenance considerations, and the memories of water dripping on my head in my bunk, have always made the plastic boats prevail. But maybe as I get older, and in a flash of melancholy, I will have a weak moment and give in. I’ll love and hate every minute of it.
Nowadays the marketplace is no longer in the magazines. As we all know, the Interweb rules. I know for a fact that I am not the only one who has spent more than one entire waking day and night on yachtworld.com As mentioned before, my work takes me all over the world, only to sit in a hotel room for a day, or two, waiting until it’s time to go home. WIFI in bed: Lenght 40-45, Material: Fiberglass, Region: Earth……SEARCH. It saves money too. Over the years I have spent a fortune on boating magazines. If I would have kept them all, my office would be full to the ceiling now. Once in a while, with heavy heart, I take the piles and dump them in a recycling container, all of them, except Wooden Boat Magazine. There is something, and it may be the same thing that keeps us from throwing wooden boats away, that gives them a special place on my bookshelf.
So now the time has come to pass the stewardship of Lady Kay (III) to the next lucky fellah, for she is a good girl. Kids and college and schedules have all conspired to get me to her less and less, and the dock fees are not going down. But the hunt is on for Lady Kay IV. Something I can trailer and park in the driveway, but still will carry me through the at times challenging waters I like. Something salty, something I can bring back to beauty. Maybe a tired ol’ Nor’sea or Flicka? Maybe something different, a Corsair F27…..Whoa, now there’s a mid life crisis! 20 knots and foam flying through my (thinning) hair. I can see the shaking heads of the young turks on the dock. Hah! Bring it on, I can show them a few tricks.
But wait, I’ve been buying Wooden Boat again. In fact, I have been bringing a few of the old copies with me on trips.. Nostalgia upon nostalgia: “New, a vibrating sander that will go in corners.” 1992. But the boats are the same boats, from the 20’s, 40’s 60’s. Ironically the prices are similar too. Maybe this is the right time. It’s more work, but if it’s smaller and in the driveway it’ll be easier to get to. Here I sit looking at the pictures of these sweet old boats imagining what they smell like on the inside. Then it dawns on me as I leaf through the old magazine. Not not one web site is mentioned. Zip, zero, nada. I remember when I got it, and it wasn’t THAT long ago! Panick sets in…… Close eyes, mouth, breathe in through nose…smell the pine tar……there is still time….

Lady Kay IV, Dragonfly 25 # 54 Former C30#618-C250WB#618-C42#76

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 08/19/2007 : 22:15:28

Oh Oscar... You have to meet my "special friend's" son! He's a wooden boat builder/restorer... Not long ago he sold his 25' wooden Folkboat that he singlehanded from CT to Cuba, and later sailed with his girlfriend from CT to Haiti. (No head and no headroom.) If you have a year's worth of Wooden Boat issues, you can find his article about boats in Haiti. (Ted Okie) He has pine tar and oak sawdust running through his veins.

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 08/19/2007 22:16:24

ClamBeach
Master Marine Consultant

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3072 Posts

Response Posted - 08/19/2007 : 22:19:15

That NorSea 27 sounds just like the ticket.

Edited by - on

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.