A twofer!

We looked at two ships today. The pretty green schooner is Taya, a 50' steel schooner. Yes, she's built of metal, just like the Hubster's ship. While steel isn't as common as fiberglass or as romantic as wood, it is easy to maintain, extremely durable, not very susceptible to critter damage and not likely to be severely damaged in an accident (although pulling dents would be a pain).

The downside of Taya is that she's currently owned by a hard-core sailor. This means that even though she's been across the Atlantic multiple times, all around the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal, she has almost no luxurious little amenities. Like showers. Oh, she has a shower compartment, but her owner never saw a reason to actually hook one up, since he preferred sun showers on deck. You're welcome to that mental image. The walls are all marine plywood with a coat of paint. So are the floors. In other words, she is extremely functional without being pretty. That would have to change. Good thing I'm handy with a Sawz-All and a hammer.

The other boat we looked at today is a historic 54' Skipjack. There are only 13 of these boats left from the original fleet, and Fortune here is one of them. She was originally built for fishing and clamming in Chesapeake Bay. She's over 100 years old, all wood, with very little work done on her beyond routine maintenance.

While she has this nice connection to a bygone era, she needs extensive work. We found water damage, interior condensation and mildew damage as soon as we went below decks. She's also not designed to carry more than one or two people--the v-berth is a dank little cave with foam mattresses spread on the floor, the salon only has seating for 2 and there is no dining area. Oh, and the galley is directly adjacent to the double berth located in the center of the ship, with only a privacy screen in between. I have a feeling fried chicken and bed linens would not go together well.

All in all, Fortune would be a great boat for anyone who wants to pick up a living piece of sailing history for a restoration project. Not so good for a family to live on right out the gate, though.

K remembered what a hard time he had getting off of Sixpence, so he decided to make sure the same thing didn't happen with Taya. No worries, though--there were no boarding mishaps this time around.

I claim no responsibility for his outfit, either.