Our Dream has Wind in its Sails!

"Commitment leads to action. Action brings your dream closer..." Marcia Wider

Rasmus from Windtraveler.net at Sea 

The Value of Learning What We Don't Want

Well the last time we wrote was a WHILE ago! With the start of summer means the start of Jill & Tim's travels all over New England soaking up the good weather while it's here. So blogging has been harder to get to but we'll get better about it because though we're busy doesn't mean there's not a lot to update about the boat search and the bus!


Today I figured I'd finally get around to reporting out on a couple of boats we looked at up in Portland, Maine back in April. We figured that we'd start to look at as many boats as we could just to get familiar with the process and to better solidify our "must-have" list and our "what we don't want list". These 2 boats were both in the territory of what we want - over 35', affordable, large living space below. They differ in that they're both rear cockpit, not a lot electronics and not really considered "blue water" boats meaning they are not built to withstand high seas and heavy winds associated with ocean crossings. An ocean crossing is not in our 3-5 year plan but we want to have the proper equipment (i.e. boat) if and when we decide to do so.

She's been on the hard for a year now, she needs some TLC 

First up was a 1976 36' Pearson 365. This boat was on the hard at Eastern Yacht Sales and the best part of this visit was meeting the broker, Pat. Pat was a delight, an older, kind, easy gentleman who was wonderfully patient with us, explaining the whole boat buying process from the paperwork to the delivery. We'd done A LOT of research on this process but it was nice to hear more about it from a pro and to ask questions without fear of judgement. The boat was nice, really nice especially for her age. It was kept up impeccably and it had a lot of great options that we liked. The living space below was roomy & definitely could be a live aboard - in fact, the owner lived on her for 6 months a year. 

Not a "Toby approved" companionway -- ladders no good. 

Spacious Salon Area

Nice Storage 

The Pearson was a really nice boat, good space below, lots of storage and extras (microwave, flat screen TV, food saver, stereo) and a virtually new Perkins diesel engine. But we both missed the feel and look of a teak and holly sole (i.e. floor) and there was just a lack of 'substance' to her construction that was noticeable. She seemed to be a bit more of a weekend coastal cruiser than a strongly built, live aboard cruiser that we ideally are looking for. The reviews online in the various chat room forums also have very mixed reviews of Pearson 365's. Also we were reminded of how the center cockpit layout that we ideally want allows for that aft main cabin. When looking at the V-berth we both wondered how we could make that work as our full-time bedroom. We're filing her as a NON CONTENDER for now...Pat as our buyers' broker on the other hand -- he's a contender! 

Second we went and saw a 1986 34' Catalina. This was a funny experience because the broker told us where she was located on the hard in South Portland, left a ladder at her stern and gave us the combo to the lock on her cabin. So we had the chance to explore her all alone without a broker. We immediately could tell this boat was not meant for blue water cruising at least how it is set up currently. Just her outward appearance, substantial standing rigging, small tight cockpit, fin keel, plexiglass portholes and velour salon upholstery tells you she's a family weekend cruiser not meant for the hard wear and tear of living aboard and sailing in heavier than anticipated conditions. However, if only looking at the layout you'd think she'd be wonderful. She's VERY roomy below deck, almost go as far as to say 'spacious'. It's by far the roomiest we've seen, which I guess is a calling card for the Catalinas. But roomy below doesn't really equate to safety and seaworthiness.

Aft Cabin - better than a V-berth, by not ideal 

Looks wise she was more along the lines of what we like in the interior - warm teak everywhere. She had an aft cabin, sort of, it was laid out around the cockpit so under the cockpit benches was the headroom with portholes looking out to the cockpit (or legs if someone's sitting there) and then your legs go into a cubby under the cockpit.

You can definitely get carried away reading the forums on cruisers world, sea net, etc. and we have. As they say with all advice - take it with a grain of salt. For boat buying newbies like us we are like sponges and all advice and opinion is soaked in. The Catalinas get a bit railed on in the forums as being factory mass produced with a lack of substance or utility in a lot of the design and layout leading to a lot of replacement costs and breakage. Again, this is worrisome to us being that we're going to be hard on any boat we buy - we're going to live on it full time with 2 adults and a large dog and maybe a little one someday and we're going to be sailing it A LOT. The first few years it's going to be in the water, in New Hampshire year round. So for us substance, craftsmenship and solid utility is very important. We're OK with buying something that's older and less "fresh" if it's got solid bones we're willing to work on it. We need something that will withstand the lifestyle we are entering into so that being said the Catalina 34 is a NON CONTENDER.

We have had numerous conversations about the 'looks' of a boat or the 'utility' of it for our lifestyle. We are acutely aware that there are a thousand more things with a boat that we need to be concerned with - engine, mechanics, electrical, sails, rigging, etc. But if we don't like the layout and don't think we can live on it then what's use in exploring the rest of it?

We have come to realization that we may have to 'cast our net wider' in our boat search. Boats around the New England area tend not to be live aboards - apparently living on a boat in NH is not super popular - news to us! So the boats are used a max of 4 - 5 months out of the year with the owners living aboard a week at a time and don't have the electronics or simple modern conveniences that living aboard full-time requires. Adding these things to refit a boat can get pricey. No matter what boat we buy we'll be adding some customization but if we can control how much, that'd be ideal. Plus the market for center cockpits is limited as is and especially so in New England. So we've been eyeing up boats in the South Florida area as well as the Carolinas. Using a buyers broker will also help us narrow down which boats might be worth buying a flight for. Potentially later this summer or fall we will take a weekend down south to do some more hunting. Buying a boat is a BIG decision for us so we can't expect that it'd go easily and quickly...but we are still very much determined.

"Between you and every goal that you wish to achieve, there is a series of obstacles, and the bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles. Your decision to be, have and do something out the ordinary entails facing difficulties and challenges that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else." -- Brian Tracy 

Music & Morgans

So it's been a while, things have been a little stalled out around here due to work - always gets in the way of plans to sail away, but it won't for long! But there's always stuff to report when you're hunting for your future floating home and restoring a 1975 VW. 

This past weekend the bus took center stage in Downtown Portsmouth on a GLORIOUS Saturday afternoon as we celebrated our good friends Liz and Dale who are moving from Portsmouth to Houston. We arrived in the bus with a cooler fulla jello shots, a corn hole/bean bag toss set and sleeping bags (just in case we imbibed a bit too much). We were able to get the bus a primo parking spot right in front of Liz & Dale's house. 

Of course we had to pop the top! 

Now a while ago there was a "snafu" with the bus' stereo deck, as in, Tim pilfered it while she was dead to put into his Corolla and then sold the Corolla with the deck still in it! So we got another system from a friend and for whatever reason (i.e. Tim's installation) it NEVER worked right. We would get the mysteriously frustrating message "Mecha Error" every time we put any CD in and forget the radio reception - never worked. Thing is the bus is pimped out with a pretty sweet speaker set-up. We actually got a few extra dollars in the loan we got to buy her so we could pimp her out with a sub-woofer (SHH! Don't tell our bank!). When she's working right, she BUMPS! But she hasn't been at her full capacity for a few years now, we rely on each other's riveting conversations, Timbo's singing, his "snare drum" playing and once in a while a $20 boombox we bought from Walmart. However, there is this strange and in certain circumstances (almost all) tremendous thing about the dysfunctional stereo - it only plays the CD "Pass the Peas" by the JB's. 

I mean SUPER funky stuff from James Brown's backing band from the 1960's?  YES PLEASE! Especially for bean bag toss, beer drinking and hanging on the sidewalk of Downtown Portsmouth on a sunny Saturday afternoon. 

More than we'll miss Liz & Dale, we'll miss these wings! :) 

Dale is a MASTER griller, no, not that sissy gas crap, Dale uses charcoal and yes, the man from Baton Rouge grilled YEAR ROUND in New Hampshire. You could smell Dale's famous wings from blocks away in February. The bus' awesome little side cocktail table made a perfect spot for us to put the wings while we played corn hole. We had numerous passer-by's who wanted to see the bus, toss a bean bag, have a wing and one dude even took a tour of the bus because he was looking for "alternative housing". The bus was in her glory, bumping funk music, being admired and serving as the scene for a really, really good time. More camping plans were hatched for a couple of weeks from now and music festival season is back! 

After that fantastic afternoon we decided it was time to buy the bus a new stereo. So Sunday afternoon we ventured to Best Buy to get the girl a new stereo deck. It has all the bells the whistles - USB connection, AUX input, Pandora, lights up 4 different crazy shades but best of all it plays the JB's CD plus the Willie Nelson and the Toots and even The Band.   This weekend we're taking her to Cape Cod for Memorial Weekend and Toby and I really looking forward to not having Timbo sing the entire way down Route 3! 

And...the boat search continues! 
We are planning to check out a 1982 41' Morgan Out-Island 416 while on the Cape. We are VERY, VERY, VERY excited about this boat and have been waiting since mid-March when we found it on Yacht World to see it. The marina where she's moored wasn't operational until Memorial Day and we need to get the launch to shuttle us out to her. From the listing (we have to take that with a grain a salt) she has a lot of what we're looking for - center cockpit, substantial rigging, solid craftsmen ship, wide beam. She also "looks" like she's been very well maintained. 

We have another story about our first Morgan Out-Island experience that we'll share next week when we have this boat's debrief. 

STAY TUNED! CAPE COD HERE WE COME! 
(did I mention we were excited?!) 

How pretty are her lines?!

VW Buses = Happiness for All Ages & Critters

This weekend was OJ's first big trip of the Summer 2012 season and she was a rockstar!  We headed south to our home turf, about 30 miles south of Boston for some family time. 

Toby LOVES riding in the bus & his mohawk is rocking! See that smile?

Tim's family was Saturday and Uncle Tim and Aunty Jill's bus has taken on quite the reputation with two of our older nieces. This past summer I told one that when she saves up $4,000 she could buy it from us, she was 7 at the time but I am worried because she's WAY into this bus and she's the daughter of a CPA! Never make a promise to a kid smarter and more motivated than you are! 


About 20 minutes after we got there in the bus the, "Can we go in the bus?!?" pestering began. We held it off till after dessert - chocolate fountain and cake. Perhaps not the best idea to let a gaggle of sugar crazed children take over your 37 year old bus. But it was AWESOME! The kids just love the thing! They climb up in the 'upstairs bed' in the pop top, they dance on the main floor, they play make believe house for hours, they get their stuffed animals to show them the bus. We took them for a ride and it was better than Disney - the screams every time Tim took a corner, the giggles, the laughs...I'm not sure there is much that could make us smile bigger. 

The bus ride! 

"Upstairs" in the Pop Top 

The littler ones even got into it

Look at those smiles!  There's something about VW buses & Happiness 

Uncle Andrew, Tim's Brother commented while taking a cruise, "I love this car, I love its smell, I love it's sound, I love everything about this car." 




Sunday we went for an early Mother's Day brunch with Jill's side of the family. Jill's Mom Peggy and Dad Larry are the reason the bus is still rolling today. Back in September 2009 the bus broke down upon arrival at the Willie Nelson Concert in Mansfield, Mass. We like to think she had arrived "home" and gave up life. We were told her engine had seized and that she'd need a whole new engine - think $$$$ that with Jill starting grad school we didn't have. We towed the dead bus around the Seacoast every time we moved including one exceptionally illegal move down Route 33 in Greenland with friends and a "Car in Tow" sign hanging on her. We talked numerous times of selling her, we wrote Craigslist listings but chickened out on posting them, we cursed her and had basically lost all hope. THEN Peggy & Larry gave us the best wedding gift EVER -- they brought the bus back to life. They said, "Get her fixed, get her rolling and then do what you will with her but at east get her running and we'll foot the bill". So we brought her to European Auto in Rye and Kevin, the bus's guardian angel, saved her. She didn't need a new engine at all. Kevin filled her cylinders with oil, put her in 3rd gear and every day for a month he put his shoulder into her and gave her a good shove. By leaving it in gear he used the weight of the car, combined with the oil penetrating into the cylinder to free up the engine. He also did some extensive exhaust work that she desperately needed replacing both heater boxes and she's run like a dream ever since. Someday when our own little ones are screaming with excitement in the bus we'll tell them that their Gramma & Grampa saved this bus for them to have adventures in. 


Peggy is a phenomenal human being. She's 75, looks 45 and acts 35. She's kicking breast cancer's ass and is a daily reminder to all of us to live life to the fullest. Peggy LOVES to ride in the bus so on the way to Mother's Day Brunch Peggy took shotgun. As we're wandering around Jerusalem Road in Cohasset Peggy said, "The world looks different, better when you're riding in the bus." We decided it had to do with the big bay window windshield and the fact that you're sitting on top of the front tires with no hood (bus engines are in the back) so the road and the scenery is all around you. A spring Sunday rambling along the coast in the bus, doesn't get much better.


Riding in the bus is a treat and an experience, you feel like you're always in a 4th of July parade with the waves and honks and peace signs flashed. You don't get anywhere fast, you have to accept that right lane travel (or "the hippie lane" as Tim likes to call it) is the only mode of travel you will ever be doing on the highways, but you wouldn't believe how much more you see on the sides of the highways when you're going 50 mph. And when there's alternatives to the highway you take those, the scenery is better and the old girl's 4 gear engine likes it more. The bus is a change in lifestyle, it's a shift from the typical day to day of modern society. It's not about being fast to get to your destination it's about the journey. Right now the bus has no radio so we just talked for the whole 3 hour ride south from NH. When do you get a chance to chat for 3 straight hours with your partner? There's no A/C so windows down with the air and the smells of the landscape are your cooling mechanism.  You arrive places late, smelling a bit like gasoline with your hair blown back and a 3 mile smile.

Ned, Shoally, Tim, Toby & Jill - all smiles! 

Kyle, Catta & our old best bud Jack heading camping!

The bus reminds us all, young, old and canine that there's nothing better than getting out of the ordinary rush of life, computers, Cancer, school, parents, highways and schedules and slowing down, taking in the sights, smelling the air and rambling along surrounded by groovy orange plaid. 


"Slow down, you move too fast.
You got to make the morning last.
Just kicking down the cobble stones.
Looking for fun and feelin' groovy.
Hello lamppost,
What cha knowing?
I've come to watch your flowers growing.
Ain't cha got no rhymes for me?
Doot-in' doo-doo,
Feelin' groovy.

Got no deeds to do,
No promises to keep.
I'm dappled and drowsy and ready to sleep.
Let the morning time drop all its petals on me.

Meggie D, Seth & Jill headed north to Dolly Copp for some camping!

Life, I love you,
All is groovy." 


- Paul Simon's "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feeling Groovy)" From Simon & Garfunkel's 1966 Parsley Sage Rosemary & Thyme

Reasons Why Wednesday: "Rising Rents"

Reason #2 - We want to invest in our own dreams.

Since December 2009 we have happily called The Great Island of New Castle home. We have loved it, mostly all the time. There's not a lot not to love about living within view of the Piscataqua River and 5 minutes from a sandy beach. The island location is the envy of many in Portsmouth and we do feel lucky to have lived here for a short time. 

But location isn't everything - The house we call home was nicknamed "The Dupe" when we first moved in because, well, it's a Duplex but the word is also closely related to the word "The Dump" because in all seriousness  - The Dupe is just that. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely house and it has major perks - fireplace, nice little back yard for chilling and grilling, antique 'feel', good compact size.

This is ice on the INSIDE of the windows in winter

BUT the house has not been maintained at all and on an island where the average house value is $1.5 million the Dupe really stands out. Our landlords are very hands-off and though that is always welcome as tenants it's not so great for a house that was built in the late 1700's in a salty climate. She's an old lady who shows her age. Her floors all need replacing, her windows might as well be screens, her wood trim is rotted away to nothing, her paint is peeling, ceiling is cracking, foundation is sinking...she needs some SERIOUS love, patience and MONEY. The bat in our bedroom and squirrels in our walls last year - just the icing on the Dupe Cake.

We have the work ethic in us but we're not about to invest time, money and sweat into something that we don't own. Just last week the landlords informed us that they are increasing the rent on The Dupe for the second time in a year. Bottom line - We are not willing to pay any more for a house that needs so much. 

We are tired of lining other people's pockets with rent money with which they use none of it on improving the property but rather go travel to Africa and Indonesia. We want to travel to Africa and Indo, we want to spend our hard earned money on fixing up an antique boat and bringing her back to her glory, giving her the love and patience that any senior stateswoman deserves and setting sail in her to places unknown. We don't want to invest any more money in someone else's dream, we want to start paying into our own dream. 

We know that this boat plan isn't what some would call a "sound investment" (let's remember that I'm the daughter of a CFP) but we've all watched the economy take the downward spiral it has in the last few years and the idea of "investment" has taken on new meaning. We've watched retirements disappear, we've watched friends and family get hired, laid off, hired and laid off again, we've watched friends and family stuck in houses that won't sell losing money by the minute, we've watched the Wall Street vs. Main Street war play out and the 99% questioning. 

So we ask, truly, what is an "investment"? To us an investment is something that brings you happiness but maybe no wealth. Something that teaches you something new or reinforces something you already know. Something that provides for laughs and swears, failures and successes, challenges and triumphs. To us an investment needs to result in an increase in the quality of your life not just the balance in your bank account. So we're choosing not to invest anymore rent but rather invest in the stories we can tell. 

As Jimmy Buffett sings...

Talkin' to myself again

wonderin' if this traveling is good

Is they're something else a doin'

We'd be doin' if we could

All the stories we could tell

If it all blows up and goes to hell

I wish that we could sit upon the bed in some hotel

And listen to the stories we could tell

Stared at that guitar in that museum in Tennessee

Name plate on the glass brought back twenty melodies

Scars upon the face told about all the times he fell

Singin' all the stories he could tell

All the stories he could tell

And I bet you it still rings like a bell

I wish that we could sit upon the bed in some hotel

And listen to all the stories we could tell

If your on the road trackin' down your every night

Playin' for a livin' beneath the brightly colored lights

If you ever wonder why you ride the carousel

You do it for the stories you can tell

All the stories we could tell

And if it all blows up and goes to hell

I wish that we could sit upon the bed in some hotel

Just listen to the stories we could tell

- John B. Sebastian on Jimmy Buffett's A-1-A

Reasons Why Wednesday: Segmenting Citrus

We know that as this plan and dream begins to really take shape we are going to face the inevitable question - "Why are you doing this?" Now there are a plethora of reasons why, some philosophical and illuminating others pragmatic and logical and others down right funny. So we thought we'd start "Reasons Why Wednesdays" where we list reasons why we are on this plan to live an unexpected life and break away from the norm. Things arise every single day that we look at one another and say, "This is why we're taking off on a sailboat!" So we thought we'd start to record those things. 

Reason #1 - Tim learned how to "Section Citrus Fruit" 

Please note the magazine this from - Yes, Tim learned to do this. 

We don't want to be the type of people who know how to section citrus fruit - we want to be the type of people who know how to fix corroded chainplates or replace teak and holly soles. We don't want to worry about our citrus salsa marinade having membranes in it we want to worry about if the weather will hold out long enough for us to make a passage between islands or if our anchor is set with an offshore current in a crowded anchorage.  

This life choice we're endeavoring on isn't for everyone and there's nothing wrong with worrying about sectioning citrus fruit, for some that's what their into - to each their own. As this plan moves along it's going to get harder and harder for us to turn away from the lifestyle and expectations of modern society but that's the thing with turning your dreams into your reality, it takes sacrifice, it takes determination, it takes faith and yes, it takes a whole lot of courage. 

Courage to be OK with giving up all our 'stuff' and knowing we are making the right decision  

Faith in each other and faith that we won't end up penniless, childless and homeless in 10 years.

Determination to overcome the numerous setbacks we'll face. 

Sacrificing the things of typical life in your 30's - vacations, new sofas, new cars, new babies, new homes...   

So the reasons why need to outweigh the reasons why not, but perhaps that's a reason unto itself - Why not?

The 'What If's'

Analysis Paralysis - (n.) Refers to over-analyzing (or over-thinking) a situation, so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome. A decision can be treated as over-complicated, with too many detailed options, so that a choice is never made, rather than try something and change if a major problem arises.

So we went down to Merri-Mar Yacht Basin on the banks of the Merrimac River in Newburyport on Saturday to climb aboard "High Hopes" the 1981 39' Mariner that we'd found on Yacht World. High Hopes' story is bittersweet, she'd been loved and sailed by a local couple for the past 15 years and lovingly cared for in the off-season by Merri-Mar. About 2 years ago the elderly gentleman took ill. The folks at Merri-Mar and his wife were determined to get him out on the water in High Hopes at least once in the Summer of 2010. They launched her and the husband and wife went sailing 2-3 afternoons that summer. She was put "on the hard" in the yard in Fall 2010, covered in shrink wrap like she's had done every year they've owned her and there she's sat since. The gentleman got sicker and sadly passed away last month. His widow is now putting his boat up for sale. We climbed up on the ladder, through the hole in the shrink wrap and aboard this gorgeous but worn looking lady.  So, needless to say this boat needs some TLC. She needs a good scrubbing, her portholes opened to some fresh air, she needs someone to love her again. 

But that's not all...as with every boat we'll look at in our price range, she needs some more involved work too. Her sole needs replacing. Yes, this boat needs a sole. The sole of a boat is the interior cabin floor and High Hopes' floor is showing her 30 years and her 2 years in the boat yard. She's got some water coming in and her floor is showing signs around where the floor meets the interior cabinets, etc. 

Her teak floors are not looking well... 

Notice the discoloring on the teak floors where it meets the cabinets?

This is the starboard settee looking aft, the bilge is under that hatch on the right. 

Now lucky for us Tim actually has replaced soles before down in Florida when working as a shipwright. But the boat broker said the million dollar thing, "You have to be ready for what you find once you rip up the floor." And with a 30 year old boat that might not go well. 

Replacing floors is one thing but this boat also needs a full electronics upgrade. She's sailed in sight of shore the last 15 years and has never needed full GPS, satellite, chart plotters, etc. etc. that we'll be needing to take off to points south. The electronics for a boat have come A LONG way since the 80's and we want to be sure we have the best, most reliable electronics we can for safety. Plus we'll certainly need to install a stereo system throughout the boat - I mean what would Tim & Jill be without our tunes!?

That's some pretty outdated electronic in the Nav Station

There are some really GREAT things about High Hopes too -she's got a great layout below deck. Lots of space, high head room, big aft cabin, 'spacious' galley, certainly live aboard quality. Plus there's a little set of stairs (companion way) to get below deck rather than a ladder so Toby Dog will be happy. 

Great, workable galley, lots of counter space & I love the little tile backsplash!

Comfy, roomy main salon, see the stairs out to the cockpit?

Roomy, airy aft cabin with tons of light & this was under shrink wrap!

So now comes the wonderful world of the "what if's". What if we buy this boat and we find rotted out core in the hull? What if it needs total stanchion replacement above deck? What if the engine is shot from sitting for 2 years? What if we run out of money to do all she needs done? Some of these questions would certainly be answered by the Marine Survey which we'd get done after we put in an offer. We'd have 30 days to get the survey done and then either adjust the offer or walk away based off what we find out. But still, as my best friend Catta texted me - "The What If's will eat you alive." She's a solid boat. She's got a great layout below deck. She needs some TLC and elbow grease. She'll need some substantial cash flow to do more. This much we know. It's the unknown that we're grappling with. We are trying to avoid 'analysis paralysis' because we could end up doing nothing and never fulfill this dream we have.

As we discussed it all over beers on the Brown Cow's deck I said this, "Inherent in this entire plan is risk, buying a 30-year old used sailboat, retrofitting it and sailing away is risky. There is no way around that. We just have to either accept the inherent risk and move forward being OK with it or we need to walk away from the plan." There's no process we can go through, no algorithm on a computer we can run or pro/con list we can make that will minimize the risk and that's the beauty in all this - THIS IS WHAT LIVING IS ALL ABOUT! Nothing ventured, nothing gained. We want stories to tell in our 70's and we won't get those stories if we don't take some risks, some leaps of faith. However, we can be smarter about the amount and severity of the risks we take on which is why we're planning on hiring a boat broker to work with us. Someone who looks at used boats for a living and can tell us what things will cost to fix and what's just not worth wasting time with.

 Let's face it, buying a 1975 Volkswagen Bus from a hippie from northern Maine with no inspection or anything was risky but look at the rewards and fun that has reaped! 

So, we still have VERY high hopes and haven't ruled out High Hopes as a potential but we also agreed that we need to see more boats as a point of reference and hiring a boat broker is our next step. We are excited and very willing to take on the incredible adventure that is part of buying a used boat because for us:

"Attitude is the difference between an ordeal and an adventure!"