Ferry boats, row boats, trimarans, oh my.

Today was our trip to see a 1979, 39 foot, Norman Cross trimaran. This process meant getting up early, doing the kids school and being done by 11:00am so we could have lunch and drive to the Port Townsend ferry for noon. Thankfully for once living where we do was a benefit because the ferry is five minutes down the road. We arrived in good timing, caught the boat as it came in. Half hour later we were rolling off in port Townsend.

Now I have discovered that boat brokers and notoriously bad at giving directions. We spent yesterday roaming all over Everett to try and find a place called Anthony's which the broker assumed we,d know where that was, not so. Today we should have learned our lesson but still we headed out with an email of directions which stated get off ferry, go to Safeway, turn left, go to the end and you,ll find the beach.

Now of course in a town as small as port Townsend we assumed the Safeway would be easy to find. But we ended up already late from the ferry getting in late and that age old question when we reach the intersection and there is only two ways to go. Left or right. And we have no clue which way Safeway might be. It's a 50/50 chance and invariably we choose wrong. And we did. Anyway we eventually found the Safeway and found the beach and saw the boat anchored out in the bay. It's a beautiful day, one of the hottest we,ve seen here, the beach was sandy and the water actually tolerable for the Pacific Northwest.

Meeting up with the broker we awaited a guy named josh who was the friend of the guy selling the boat, (There's a lot of 'guys who know guys' in the sailboat game). So this guy showed up, big read beard, hyper white dog and a teenie, wooden row boat. One look at how far out the trimaran was anchored, the size of the row boat and all five of our gang I know we wouldn't be making this trip as a group. After a quick survey we discovered the boys had no interest in getting in that rickety row boat so I opted to stay on shore with the chickens, I mean boys, and Ash and mark headed out with Josh. While I anxiously awaited them to get back with the first impressions I sat on the drift wood, showed off my muscular prowess by snapping sticks the boys brought to me, tried to teach Finnegan how to chew gum which ended up with him having a stomach full of tutti frutti, until finally they came back.

Aislinns report of the boat was that it was too messy and we should keep looking. Mark was hard to read, he seemed disappointed. We learned that the boat wasn't a complete fibreglass hull but epoxy glass over plywood. Okay so it's a wood boat. Harder to maintain, harder to insure. Here's the historyas much as we can gather: Apparently the owner had some idea of chartering the boat in the Samoan islands. So in preparation for this he talked to a Samoan who said his current engine could not handle the currents down there so he installed some homemade engine mounts off the stern, put on two out board motors but he installed the mounts too low so that when he put it in the water the engines submerged and flooded, opps. So next he anchored the host out in the harbor. About six months ago some northerly winds came up and dislodged it from its anchor hold and the boat floated all the way across the harbor and crashed into a navy crane. It got stuck and the owners solution to unstick it was to ram it with a metal hulled boat, which in turn ripped a hole through the port ama and filled it with water. But I think he was drunk at the time. So being broke and uninsured he hired a boatbuilder 'guy' he knew and they repaired it. So I have to say from the outside you can barely see there was any damage but of course when you open the hatch you see the new materials verses the old ones. After he blew what was left of his money cache on the repairs he picked up and went to Hawaii and left the boat with his friend to sell for him. So this leaves us with my opinion, as it was my turn to head out to the boat, I climbed in row boat with Josh and his dog angel and off we went. First step on the deck and I loved it. So huge, so stable so much room, great sails, nice cockpit. Love, love, love.

Inside was a trash heap. thankfully I was able to look past the mess and see the reality. The boat is a project, three double berths, decent galley but no water hooked up to it. No head, no tanks, no plumbing. It has electrical and VHF but no navigation electronics. I'm sure most people would turn tail and run but for the right price I am on board.

So now our major concern was the integrity of his repair from the accident, do we spend the $2000 on a survey but by then we,ll be invested so what's the point? Next question is can we find a company to insure us? So we are on our way to finding all this out, research has switched to wooden hulled boats since we had dismissed that as an option right from the get go. Assuming all things align right for us, we anticipate making an offer soon.