Lots of Figuring and Frustrations

We were so thrilled to see our new boat.  Then....time to unload all those boxes and put the stuff somewhere so we can take her home.  Not a task for the faint of heart.  For both David and I that involves sitting and looking at the piles of stuff and then looking at the space available.  For my part, Suz was an invaluable resource.  She has a good eye for matching shapes of bins or items with the shapes of available spots. That first night we got all the boxes and clothes on board and sort-of put away.  Then we think.  But first came the celebration, tomorrow the hard work.

New Owners, Happy Day.

Bringing stuff down was a chore.

This all has to go somewhere.

Super helpers enjoying a break.

Looking better here.

And here.

Enjoying the champagne provided by our thoughtful neighbors Barbie and Steve.

First sunset aboard.  All the work seems so worth it now!

Staging for the Trip Down

We had so many details to handle and we know we have missed a lot but hopefully we have the essentials.  On the drive down to Hollywood, it hit us that we had done so much in so short a time.  From the end of February we had sold a boat, bought a boat, completed a mountain of paperwork, David worked a technically difficult house remodel and we kept the groceries and laundry up to date.  If we had actually planned anything in advance, we would have allowed 6 months.  Necessity is a driving force!

All the stuff to go to Blue Moon.  I had them in order of importance so when we ran out of space in the rental car, we had the most important items.  I had a manifest of what was in each box.  That was left at home, of course.

All the clothes to go in rental car #2.

Fishing gear, foul weather gear and the ever popular Rescue Pod.  The name on the wall was a unique gift from our daughter Martha.  Lots of pictures of our family over the years.

Boxes staged in the garage waiting for the fun to begin.

We were super lucky.  The largest car I could reserve was a mid-sized SUV.  They were all out and we were given a Dodge minivan with stow-n-go seats.  We had a lot of cubic feet and all the boxes fit!  We had a mid-sized sedan for Suz and Sam to drive with our luggage.

And Now For The Next Part of Our Story

In our spare time (ok, quit laughing) we were on the hunt for our next "dreamboat".  We spent quite a bit of time researching the numbers such as tankage, mast height and PHRF numbers.  We know we're cruisers but we don't want to sail a dog of a boat either.  She needs to handle reasonably well in most conditions.  We also didn't want to spend another 8 years getting a boat right for us and spend thousands of dollars in repairs and upgrades that we'll never get our money out.  We've already done that!  We looked at boats from south Florida to the Texas Coast.  We crossed off boats from our list and winnowed it down to the Pearson 424.  From there were looked at several boats and found her in Hollywood, FL.  We are now the proud owners of Blue Moon.  A well loved and cared for boat.  Her former owners decided they also wanted a different boat for their cruising needs so it has worked out well for all of us.  The new owner of Sanctuary is looking forward to his new adventures, the former owners of Blue Moon are buying their next dream boat and we head to south Florida next week to bring Blue Moon home.  Thanks to the generous loan from Tom Reynolds, we'll be using a Spot to post our position to this blog.  I'll be adding pictures as I can from the voyage.  We'll make the trip as quickly as possible to make it watch our daughter, Martha, be robed and awarded her Master's of Public History on May 3. 

No change comes without a mess.  All this came off of Sanctuary and waits to finds a new home on Blue Moon

The murphy bed is not currently guest friendly but will be soon!

The Sale

It was hard to actually think about not owning Sanctuary but our minds were overcoming our hearts.  We knew a change was needed to cruise more extensively but it was hard.  We staged her as best we could, David made up a long list of all the improvements we've made over the years and we had all maintenance logs available for examination.  Then we hired an outstanding broker, James Ready.  He enthusiastically walked us through the sale and made an outstanding video posted to YouTube and wrote a glowing ad for Yacht world.  The long and the short of it was a sale in about 2 weeks time.  We knew Sanctuary was a rare find in her category but James got her out there for the world to see.

We took her for a heart tugging final sail on my birthday.

She does look good.

Very odd seeing the sign on the boat.

Looking good for the visitors.

Varnish Results

Once the first of 4 coats of varnish go on, you remember why you started. Even if things are a jumbled up mess.

Looking Aft

Shiny head

Vberth with new numbers

Looking forward

Companionway and galley

 
 

Making her pretty

Refrigeration is very, very nice while cruising but it is a major power user.  Insulation really made a difference and in this case, more is better.

 

The Florida room was a great area to varnish the large pieces such as doors.

The living room accommodated the mattress reworking

 The most tedious part of any project is the prep work.  Miles of tape was used.

Teak details are nice but....

 

What's Up Now

A lot has happened since last March.  Our cruise to the Bahamas taught us several things.  The most important is that we love cruising.  The second most important is that I'm a bit of a wimp and actually like to have water as part of my regular bathing routine.  In order to make our water supply last, I washed dishes in salt water with a brief fresh water rinse.  Not such a great thing for seams and welds on metal pans.  Also, we would do an initial bath with salt water with a meager fresh rinse.  In between cleanings were done with moist towelettes.  All of this is adequate for a while but gets old after a few months.  Even with all this austerity, we bypassed several interesting islands in search for more water.  So, the decision was made to change boats.  What the heck, we changed engines, why not the whole boat.  We really have poured our hearts and souls and resources into Sanctuary but something else was needed for more extensive travels in a bit more comfort.
With the decision made, we started the long process of getting her just right for a spring sale.  That included tweaking the new mattresses I had made for the voyage.  I needed to change the fabric design and a few other things to make them prettier.  Probably a waste of time since they always have sheets on them but it mattered to me.  The big projects were finishing the interior varnish and replacing a radar cable that runs from the Navigation area to the unit up the radar and adding more insulation to the refrigerator.

We had about 45 feet of cable to run through stringers and it took us several days.

We taped the old cable to the new one to use as a fish.  The process took some adjusting along the way

After a few attempts at getting the holes through the stringers large enough we made it to the mast base.  With more ingenious tricks and lots of skinned knuckles, we made it up the mast. David spent a long, nerve wracking time up the mast getting it all connected.  Of course, the raydome had to have some repair work done to it.  Nothing in this project was easy.  Finally, all things are hooked up and we fire up the unit and NOTHING.  ARRGG.  Once we calmed down and remembered to actually plug the cable into the unit, it worked well.  We don't do our best thinking when tired and frustrated.