Well, thanks to the utter screwup of the economy, it looks like we're going to have to go smaller than we'd originally planned with a liveaboard. Today we looked at a 1973 41' Columbia motorsailor. Her name is Myrddin Emrys, and we could tell going through her that the current owners are dragon lovers--in other words, my kind of people!

She's cutter rigged and set up for single-handed sailing, which would be good if I'm taking the kids down the ICW while the Hubster is deployed. The interior is a little small--the kids would have to share the vberth, and the galley barely has enough room to turn around in it. The salon has this horrid blue-grey carpeting throughout that would have to be replaced, since it's covered in all kinds of stains. I'm thinking wood, much more traditional for a boat, and most likely Pergo since that would be cheaper and lighter than hardwood. The awlgripping on her deck needs to be redone, and we don't know anything about the state of her keel. We do know that the engine is currently toast, and needs about $5K-$7K in repairs to be back in good shape. In other words, she would be a dock queen for several months at least.

She's currently docked at Salt Ponds Marina, which is a very good thing. Salt Ponds is one of the few marinas in the area that is openly liveaboard-friendly. The city of Hampton has an ordinance forbidding liveaboards, so any "extended stay guest" at Salt Ponds has to anchor elsewhere for at least one night a year. The marina has two restaurants, a pool, store, bathhouse and laundry available to guests, and it's across the street from public-access beaches. Salt Ponds currently has an extensive waiting list for slips to open up, but buying a boat already there means you have dibs on the current slip. The one downside to Salt Ponds is that there aren't any groceries in easy walking distance. Once the motor on the boat is fixed that won't be a problem, as I can always take a day to sail down to Deep Creek Lock, which has a Food Lion across the street from the Dismal Swamp Canal. The total distance is less than 20 nautical miles each way.