Dana climbs the mast of a little sister (Pearson 365 36′) to the sailboat we’re looking at (Pearson 424 42). S/V Journey, our last sailboat, was a Pearson 365. Tomorrow, Ceal will be the “mast monkey” for part of the inspection to check the mat and rigging.

Tomorrow, December 1st, we’re doing the above-water inspection of the sailboat we’ve made an offer on (click here for the ad on the boat). Ceal, of Potts Marine and setsailmarinesurvey.com is doing the inspection. We walked away from the two boats she checked out for us in Florida when we were still in Portland based on her assessments. Inspections are also sometimes needed for insurance coverage.

We weren’t able to get a reputable marine yard capable of hauling out our next prospective boat in the Melbourne area, so depending on the results of the above-ground survey, we’ll decide or not to proceed to the next step. 

Like buying a home—and this will be our home—each pre-sale step costs money. Most of that expense typically falls on the prospective buyer instead of the seller, so we’re proceeding forward carefully, but at the same time, there’s much work to do once we close a sale to get ready to set sail. 

Because boating is a COVID-friendly activity, this is the hottest boat market in 38 years, according to the brokers (and West Marine’s inventory was ravaged, too). 

Unlike most boat buyers, we’ve fixed up boats before. We are willing to consider a boat whose price reflects the work needed at its value after the work is done. 

If this boat doesn’t work out, we’ll see what other options are out there. There are more smaller boats, like 36′ Pearson 365 we lived aboard for five years, sailed halfway around the world, then sold in Australia in 2017. Some of those are ready-to-go, but less accomodating for guests, who whose sleeping area won’t be in their own cabin, but in the main midsection of the boat.

If this boat works out, our current plan is is to set sail before 90 days from close—probably to the Bahamas—then not return to the U.S.A. until we’ve owned the boat for six months.

Wish us luck! We trust whatever should happen, will. Still, we can’t deny this is a real nail-biter.

Boat Naming Contest Status

Boat naming contest underway. Final submissions are due Dec 1, 2020.

For those of you who’ve submitted names—thank you! Thus far there are over 150 names submitted. We’ll hold off making a selection until we know for sure which boat the name will be for and are submitting our purchase paperwork for it. Meanwhile, I’m checking the top names against the US Coast Guard list of vessel names to make sure the name isn’t one shared by lots of other boats.

Location Location

At this moment, we are in Ft. Pierce, Florida. The boat we’ve placed our offer on is in Melbourne, FL N28 07.364 W80 37.776.