When my future is in flux, I often go quiet. We are far from done with our watery adventures. We plan to cruise—the question is: when, where, and on what?
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| Great American Loop boating route, liberated from America’s Great Loop Cruiser Association website, https://www.greatloop.org/ |
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| Horrors! Don’t sawzall the boat!!! Image from Jamie Houghton on Unsplash. |
From there, we would wend our way out to the coast by water, arriving in Florida in December, with a possible cruise to the Bahamas. The following year, we planned to head up the Eastern seaboard, and complete “The Great Loop.” If you’d like to learn more about The Loop, check out America’s Great Loop: Last Great Adventure from US Harbors and Passagemaker’s collection of Great Loop stories and this cheesy but classic Great Loop Guide from Captain John.
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| Image from Monica Kubala on Unsplash. |
Why?
Do-ability was not the issue.
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| Do-ability was not the issue—though we weren’t sure we wanted to. Photo from Dictionary.com |
Cross Country Boat Transport’s customer service impressed us. Their excellent reputation is well-earned, with over 30 years of service trucking boats cross-country. Wayne even found a local yard here on Portland’s Multnomah channel with experience and availability to make it happen if he chose not to take the DIY route for Serendipity‘s surgery.
Lack of interest in The Loop was not the issue, and we are itching for a change of venue
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| We love the Pacific Northwest (especially in summer), but we also love exploring, and the galaxy awaits. Photo Source: UI here.com |
We do want to do The Loop, so that wasn’t our reason to back off, either, though ideally, we planned to do The Loop later, and cruise more internationally sooner. Then came COVID. We don’t want to spend another gloomy winter living aboard in the Pacific Northwest if we can help it. Last winter we eased that some with housesitting, but because of COVID and reduced travel, there are far fewer opportunities to housesit.
Cost was definitely a consideration.
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| Unrecoverable cost for moving our boat, Serendipity, across the country was definitely an issue. Photo from Alexander Mills Unsplash. |
We considered whether or not it made sense to pay what the boat was worth to ship it or to pay less and with “surgery” to bring the cost down, or whether to sell and buy another boat on The Loop.
We figured moving Serendipity would give us some control in an otherwise unpredictable time.
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| We wanted control in an out-of-control, COVID-crazy world. We know and trust our own boat. Photo from Sagar Dani of Unsplash. |
We know and trust our boat, Serendipity.
Serendipity is perfect a perfect boat for The Loop.
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| Serendipity in 2019 at Princess Louisa Inlet, BC Canada. A more innocent time. |
We trust her. We love her. We’ve made her comfortable. Wayne’s put his heart and soul and a lot of sweat into her, and she shines with his care, as well as the love from our surrogate parents who owned her before us. When we became homeless, Serendipity became home. For more about that, see this story running in 48 North, August 2020, page 26.
We were concerned we’d get someone else’s nightmare. The work we’ve put into Serendipity is more cosmetic. comfort and maintenance; Serendipity‘s engine is sound.
But . . .
We didn’t anticipate we’d spend more than two years, maximum bouncing between doing The Loop and hanging out in Florida and the Bahamas. Then what?
Would moving Serendipity be a good move for us financially?
Short-term, there was a big chunk of sunk-cost change we’d swallow: ~$14K to make the move, including prep and post-work yard time on each end.
Long-term, we believe Serendipity will fetch a better price here in the Pacific Northwest than on the East Coast, either as a cruising boat, a live-aboard, or both. The money saved on not paying to truck Serendipity, plus the income from selling her, could go a long way toward a boat better suited for our longer-term plans.
No, moving Serendipity would not be the wise move for us financially for our longer-term plans.
Our longer-term cruising plans
Wayne’s first quote for moving Serendipity without “surgery” came in at ~$24K. At that point, Wayne stumbled over a major fixer—just like s/v Journey, the boat we sailed to Australia—for sale in the Caribbean. With a dead engine, he was willing to offer $5K for Journey‘s misbegotten twin. The problem is we didn’t know when we’d be able to get to it. Even if we had a trusted friend inspect it, how long would we pay yard fees of $400+/month before we could join it, fix it and move aboard?
At that price, would it make sense to make that boat our “snowbird” boat, and Serendipity our Pacific Northwest late spring through early fall boat? Chasing winter by cruising spring through fall to Alaska and back on Serendipity was more appealing if we escaped the Pacific Northwest winter. That would still mean storage and maintenance for two boats. We weren’t thrilled with that option.
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| We love cruising the tropics. This was a view from Nacula in Fiji’s Yasawas. |
What excited us most about that Caribbean fixer was the ability to cruise the tropics internationally again. Even with COVID, most of the Bahamas are still open to cruisers. Other options include finding a boat in the US Virgin Islands, where we can pay US postage if needed for major or minor boat parts.
Next: Sell. Then Buy. Unless . . .
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| We’ll look for someone who can love Serendipity as much as we do, and help us take on our next adventure. Photo credit: Nick Youngson www.nyphotographic.com/Alpha Stock Images, found on alphastockimages.com |
We plan to enjoy the rest of this summer and part of this fall aboard Serendipity. Then we’ll seek someone to love her as much as we do and her previous owners did. She’s a great live-aboard in inland and near-coast cruiser. There’s a few more tasks to pretty her up before we’re ready to say goodbye to her.
We are keeping an eye out. While we do want to sell before we buy, for the right price, for the right boat, in the right place, we are willing to buy, then sell. We wouldn’t even rule out selling our boat, just picking a place out East, finding an apartment for the winter, and taking our time finding a boat.
As of yesterday, we became the back-up offer for another Pearson 365 sailboat in Florida. When we bought Journey, we were the back-up offer. Tonight, we found out the other prospective Pearson buyer got cold feet.
There’s much more we still need to learn before we know if this is the right boat at the right price for us. We figure if it works out, it was meant to be. If it doesn’t, we’ll find out what does, even if that means hopping in our car or on a plane this fall or winter and haunting boatyards.
Someday, we do want to do The Loop.
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| More to explore on this big blue marble we call home. Image from Creative Commons Donkey Hotey |
At that point, it will be our Plan A, not a consolation prize.
We reserve the right to change our plans . . . on all of this.
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| Wayne and I, pausing on the Bahamas Banks aboard s/v Journey. |
Wish us luck.
Right there with ya, guys. With the added complication that we’re stuck in a country with closed borders, on a boat that needs work we can’t do where we are, and with so much in flux that it’s hard to game out every scenario. I think our boat would sell in Australia but it’s a long way the wrong way, and we’re not allowed there anyway. Good luck with your plans. We’ll keep an eye on you!
Oh I'm so excited. You know what I'm rooting for. 🙂 I know you'll make the best choice for you.
Heya Jordan. Well of course your budget sensitivity and taste in boats is brilliant—or—remarkably similar to our own perspective.
Let's keep in touch as we may well be in your neck or the woods (or would that be piece of the water) by month's end. Or, later.
At least the Bahamas are fair game come hurricane season's end from where you are now.
Fingers crossed things become less weird and more adventurous in a healthy way, soon.
Warmly,
Dana (& Wayne)
Likewise Marce. We've been wondering how you and Jack are doing and sending you our very best karma from afar.
Please keep us posted as well on your progress, or, as the case may be, transitions.
Fingers crossed the weirdness abates and our new horizons are ones that make us all happy.
We're exceptionally fortunate to be in the place that if our current plans work out, it's full steam ahead, If not, we see what does and are in a good position to pivot as needed when the right opportunity arises. It helps to have simple needs.
While I totally understand your hesitation in parting with Serendipity (esp considering the work you’ve put into her), I’m going to boldly suggest you exit the Columbia, cross the bar, head for the Puget Sound, and put her up for sale. You’ll have far more prospects up there – and no doubt you’ll get a higher price. Then… go back to sailing naked in the tropics!
Hi Doug.
Definitely get the merits of that suggestion. There are more buyers with bigger wallets there than in the Portland area, though Portland is still attracting many folks who consider it cheap compared to Seattle or California and come with money.
However, the biggest reason to not do that is because we currently plan to live aboard up until when we sell and we'd rather live in Portland for that. The boat market is hot enough all over, it wouldn't surprise us if a Seattle buyer would be willing to come down to Portland to buy.
Heck, we'd deliver it for the right buyer, price and timing.