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.

Another possiblity

The Hubster has found a ship that he is absolutely lusting after now. I have to admit, she seems like she'd be a good choice for us. I'm actually concerned that she may be a little overly large! She's 70' overall, 55' on deck, so she may be too big for me to handle by myself. If she is, I guess I'll have to put off sailing the Eastern Seaboard until the kids are physically strong enough to help with hoisting sails.

I'm in the process of exchanging emails with the current owner, who runs a whale-watching expedition business in Nova Scotia.

The big downside here is the business owner has commitments involving the ship well into next fall. Hopefully we'd actually have time to get her surveyed, buy her, get her down here, make any necessary updates and get moved aboard before our current lease is up in October! There's nothing like a hard deadline to send planning into high gear.

Dock shopping

Schooner Red Bird

The kids and I have started visiting various open-access marinas in the area. My 9 year old daughter, R, calls it "dock shopping, like window shopping only better!" Doing this is serving two purposes. One, we're getting out to see what local boats are advertised for sale. Two, we're getting an idea of the amenities offered by area marinas. The kids have decided they really want to live someplace that has access to a floating swimming pool.

While doing this, we happened across a sweet little hermaphrodite brig schooner. She's a gorgeous little boat, and she's available. Unfortunately, at 26' feet at the waterline she's just too small for a family of four. But hey, we know the look we want is out there. It's just a matter of not giving up and working for the best.