Thursday, February 26, 2009

Boats That Talk




Me Voy always tells us what to do. We went thru a phase recently where we were dreaming of buying this little property, with a pier, and taking Me Voy there. She totally disapproved and we abandoned the idea. I was nervous therefore to tell her about Lucy Maru, our new live aboard. How would Me Voy take the news?
Well, it was as if she already knew, and confirmed our decision by allowing us to find more rot.
One may think to take something like that as a sign that she was really pissed off, but I don't think that's the case. I think it was more like, "Hey guys, you were right. I won't be ready to live on for some time. See these ribs, yup they're rotten too. So get yourselves settled and dig in, there's a lot more work left."

Thursday, February 19, 2009



Maggie: Here are a few pics of the new boat, Lucy Maru. We'll post more as time allows. Now with two boats there's only boat work! No we have not forgotten Me Voy! 

                This is the aft deck, plenty of ball playing space!
                                             Billy, loves it!  This way to the salon
                                              love the light!
               dining booth, and our friend scrubbing bubbles
galley
                                                guest state room
                                                           guest head
                                      view from master state room


I can't believe this boat. spent the weekend floating, now back on land and it feels like things are moving still. 

Monday, February 16, 2009

I am NOT surpesticious


Maggie:

It was Friday the 13th and everything was going as scheduled. I was to pick up the cash at the bank, and meet John to get the title and sign all the paperwork. Travis was working, so it was up to me and Chopper to carry out the mission. I gave myself ample time between the bank and going to John's because I knew I wanted to build a little money house. I envisioned money stacks, crisp and bound, pilled three, four, five stories high perhaps? As it turned out, my money house was barely a split level, with the whole of the stash measuring about an inch 1/2". Its amazing that anyone would want to trade a whole boat for that!

"Are you going to be all right carrying all this cash?" asked the bank teller, who was a bit annoyed that we walked up to her window before she could sneak off to lunch. 
"Sure. I got the dog"
We both look down at Chopper, who by this time knows the meaning of "dog", and is looking at us with a bit of an ironic look, like he understands sarcasm too.
The bank teller doesn't smile, while she tucks our hundies into a sweet money bag that was given to us by the neighbors. I was prepared to take a suitcase, but Joey insisted an envelope sized bag would be roomy enough. 

Anyway I made a few more little jokes, mostly because I was so nervous. Paranoia had gripped me while standing at the little window. I was sure that big guy next to me was counting the money, and he didn't look to be afraid of Chopper. I was looking to see if he was making eye contact with anyone else at the bank, and was prepared to abandon plan if I saw anything suspicious. 

Everything, however, turned out alright. I met with John, he signed the title, I handed him the cash, and that was it. We shook hands, and I drove off with an empty money bag and Jimmy Buffet singing on the ipod... "mother, mother, ocean.."

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Day Before Tomorrow

Maggie:
So its really going to happen, we are going to live on a boat, soon. Much sooner then either of us expected. We concocted this "two-boat plan" about two months ago and were looking around for some cheap houseboats. The cheapest we found was a Holiday Mansion, that was pulled from the bottom of the inner harbor in Baltimore, and they wanted 3 grand for that! So, we said that we were really open to anything, including getting something nicer, and perhaps not even a house boat.
That call went out about a month ago and lo and behold, during one of my craigslist surfings, I find an ad that we had completely missed. I recognized the boat at once, because its the same one that Travis and I drooled over everytime we went to sail our little Grampian three years ago. Only now, with peeling paint, and a badly needed bottom job, she was for sale, and actually within our budget, which is not that big! To buy or not to buy? Buy, buy, buy! All the bloggers thoughts so anyway. OK that's not totally fair since you didn't know the details, and I'm still scared to say them out loud. But here goes... we will be welcoming to our family a 1961 55' Chris Craft Constellation.

She's a double planked mohagany on white oak construction. Solid for the most part, with some rot in the bulkheads. Nice wiring, two running Detroit diesels, and set up for living aboard, as her previous owners lived aboard for 12 years.
So what do you think now? Please be gentle with your comments, I'm in a very fragile state.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Totally lost it or Yeah you got it!

So here's the skinny. You know we're refitting the cutter,  that's our first priority. Reality hit, however, when we realized, it will be another year until we can move aboard, and not have cat hair in the varnish or little doggie tracks in the paint. So, another year at the warehouse throwing money at the landlord? That doesn't sound right. A smaller apartment, to lower expenses, maybe. Buy a house since the market sucks right now, uh scary. How about a live aboard that we can move into right away? Hmm that's intriguing. It would be an investment, that we could potentially profit on in the future, while lowering our expenses right now. It would mean using our savings to buy it, which means being broke again, but we do have jobs this time. So, is this a crazy idea, or a savvy approach? Please let us know your thoughts buy participating in our survey! We always do what we're told, ha!