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Bob Goodchild and fine rudder
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Cleaning the folding prop
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The experience of buying a boat can be stressful in the best of conditions. We started, like most do, browsing yachtworld.com and attending boat shows. All the boats sound great on yachtworld. All the boats at boat shows seem made to be waterfront condos. Lovely roses in tulip vases on the salon table. Champagne flutes in the master stateroom. Not going to happen for a cruiser at anchor. The most useful approach has been from the dinghy. Pull up to a likely suspect and say "nice boat; what is she?" Generally the response is fantastic. "Come aboard. Let me show you around." People will generally speak quite frankly about the strengths and weaknesses of the different designs and you can get a good idea of how they will impact you. We wanted a boat that was 1) tall enough to stand up in 2)had more storage and 3) was strong and heavy enough to give us a good motion in a seaway and a less tiring ride.
The last point was in direct contradiction with our overriding concern: that we not give up the fun of Eaux Vives. She points well, sails fast and we are not ready to trade her in for a slow poke. There is one other factor in boat buying: it must make your heart go "pitter pat". Such an irrational decision cannot be made in entirely cold blood. The boat that had that effect on us was advertised in Caribbean Compass, the island wide sailing magazine, as "on offer" in Bequia. We stopped in while there and toured the boat. Very nice. Great Layout. Light, airy salon. Full suit of sails. Nice equipment. Great hull and rudder.
Downside: butt ugly radar arch and teak decks. Oh, and really, really expensive.
Later in the season, we commenced serious negotiations via email and settled on a price. A 10% deposit secured the deal which then was then contingent only on the survey. We had specified that the contingency was only based on not turning up severe problems with the hull. Normally, the survey is a starting point for further price negotiations based on all the little defects the surveyor finds. We felt we got a good price and just wanted to avoid structural problems. We lined up a surveyor, Bob Goodchild, out of Grenada for the first week of May and then proceeded to sail down to Bequia to see the boat again. A great deal of confusion ensued about when and where the survey would take place. The owners wanted to take a last nostalgic sail around the Grenadines and to do the survey in Trinidad where the shopping is good. We were getting increasingly anxious about having to put two boats up in the boatyard before the hurricanes start blowing through. The owners are engaged in a massive construction project which has been progressing on "island time" for years. After enough false starts that I started wondering if they had just changed their minds about selling, we settled on a date: May 12th and a place: Tyrell Bay, Carriacou. Fortunately, the surveyor was flexible and the boatyard could accommodate us for the hull inspection and all was set to proceed.
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Owners bid farewell |
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Chainsaw boatwright |
Early Tuesday, we assembled on "Rainbow Spirit" to prepare for the haul out. The tides are great under the full moon and the water leading to the travel lift was thin. It appeared that if we got in early, we might be able to get out again before reaching low tide. We had to take off the back stay and brace the mast on some halyards led aft and then the owner nosed her into the slip. 4 inches clearance! On a falling tide. We used ropes to turn her stern to the travel lift and the hoist went smoothly. Tim, the yard manager, had to keep waving off the local wooden fishing boats who seem to comprise the yard's major customers at this time of year. Much of the survey was accompanied by the serenade of chainsaws shaping ribs and planks for the big wooden sloops. This is not an OSHA approved activity but it is an impressive sight in this day and age. Multiple crews shaving planks, caulking seams and carving knees from tree branches. Aside from the chain saws, the scene could have taken place two centuries ago.
Our surveyor showed up shortly after the boat was out of the water and started tapping away at the hull. He is looking for evidence of moisture or delamination or voids in the structure of the hull. I got a chance to clean the folding prop and we all admired her deep turn of the bilge, skeg hung rudder and amazingly clean bottom. The boat only needs a half hour in the slings to be examined. The tide had clearly fallen but Tim insisted we could still get out. Plus, if we got stuck, he would pull us off the bottom. We got the sloop hanging off the slip out of the way, the boat back in the water and the owners slowly started motoring away down the yard approved path. Tim felt that they wouldn't hit anything very hard if they avoided the rails extending out into the bay from the adjoining yard and that proved to be the case. Rainbow Spirit plowed a little path through the sand to clear water and we were ready for the sea trials.
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| Mr Patterson and the old and new owners |
The surveyor does a good deal of just plain inventorying of what is one board. While he got started with that, I took our dinghy back to Eaux Vives and Rainbow Spirit upped anchor. They drove by Eaux Vives and I swam back to join the assembled company. We got to let out sails and learned how to use the in-mast furler for the main sail. The surveyor wanders around the boat listening for creaks, growls and watching for deforming, swaying bits that shouldn't. Nothing untoward. He had us run the engine at top speed and view the black smoke that results. Top speed was not high enough RPM and the black smoke indicates incomplete combustion. Current operating theory: old diesel (probably over a year old). We fervently hope that is the case as the engine, though accessable for maintenance would be very difficult to replace.
Surveyor results as delivered verbally: Has sat for quite a while and shows it. Rigging is old enough that it should be replaced. Teak deck should be removed with in a couple of years. A worn halyard. A worn lifeline. A really ugly radar arch. A boat substantially "in good nick" and priced under market value. Pretty much what we expected.
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