Tag: dogs

November 11, 2013

New Vehicle

Our new secondary means of transportation is finally ready to rock n roll!!

We shopped for a few weeks for a dinghy and motor on Craigslist. I just LOVE Craigslist!! We have sold a combined $6000 worth of stuff back in San Diego not including motorcycles and vehicles. When looking for something specific, it’s the first place we look, and usually someone has just what we need!

When we’re out cruising on a sailboat we need something reliable to get to and from shore. When you live on a boat, a dinghy becomes your “car”. We didn’t need anything real fancy or new, but we did want it to be reliable. As with everything, that’s hard to come by for a reasonable price, let alone finding a steal of a deal.

A couple of important factors were considered: length, material, matched rating for dinghy vs motor, weight, floor type and functionality.

Peter wanted a dink that could hold four people (when we have visitors), two dogs, fishing gear, and/or provisions from a local market. This of course means we need a dinghy that is rated for an engine capable of hauling a load like that.

We wanted to try the aluminum floor since we will have LOTS of fish hooks, plus dogs aboard and need something that will be the least likely to be damaged from hooks or 32 sharp protruding puppy toenails.

PVC material is easier to come by, but Hypalon material is what everyone buys if you are going to be in the tropics. The sun doesn’t warp it or melt the glue as fast and it holds up to the salt better too. This of course would mean spending more money.

We originally wanted a 4-stroke motor but the lighter 2-strokes started looking better and better when we considered having to lift it off to lock it up on our stern every night in the islands. There are indeed thieves who will come swipe off anything that’s easy to grab, especially outboard motors.

We settled on an Advanced Inflatable PVC 12′ (6 person) dinghy with a
Mercury 15hp 2-stroke outboard motor. Anything less than 10′ typically isn’t rated for a 15hp motor and we for sure wanted the extra power of a 15hp. The motor is almost 15 years old but the previous owner kept it meticulously maintained, it looked brand new inside! It’s not too noisy and it’s less than 75lbs which means even I can lift it up or down to Peter when we take it on or off.

12′ of dinghy isn’t exactly ideal for us since we don’t have davits off the stern, and that means it gets hauled onto the bow with a halyard. Once we get it up there, our huge foredeck is reduced to zilch :( Less room for the puppies when they are on guard and less room for us to move about. The good news is that it’s a roll-up with three chambers so we can let some air out of the bow and partially roll it up when we are underway. The aluminum floor is awesome, super sturdy and the inflatable keel seems to help keep us very steady. Did I mention its a nice pretty white color?

The real reason we closed the deal is because of the price. We basically paid for the motor and got the inflatable for free. Turns out the dinghy was defective and was made with a bad batch of glue. It was only put in the water three times before we purchased it and it looked okay, but within a couple days of having it in the marina all the handles, rub rail and transom came off. We kind of had a feeling it would be easier to exchange it than repair the rub rail that had already started coming off the day we bought it, but this just confirmed it. Under warranty, we just had to drive to Ft Lauderdale to get an even newer one. Lucky for us, we were going there anyway to go to the Boat Show!! Now we have a brand new 2013 model, right out of the box and still under warranty, which retails for $1200. Just the motor is worth what we paid for the whole package so we’re pretty stoked. It’s not Hypalon, but we figure we can just beat this one up for the first year or so until we need to buy a new one, then upgrade to a more durable material. The tropics will surely do a number on it but we don’t care so much since it was basically free :)

New toys are always fun and this one seems to be treating us pretty well. The dogs haven’t been for a ride yet but we hope they will like it too!!

October 30, 2013

Making The Move

Packing up our little two bedroom house in San Diego was relatively easy considering what a big move this was for us. We had been preparing for “something” for quite a while but we just didn’t know what that something was until this July. We had already downsized quite a bit but now we had a whole new motivation behind us.

The first task was to sort out the stuff we were going to store in CA, the stuff we were going to take with us, and the stuff we were going to sell or donate. It was a fun challenge to figure out how little we would actually need living on a boat. There were so many useful things we’ve accumulated over the years for that one time that it will come in really handy! We also considered how much storage our boat has, which is hard to believe until you see it, but its ridiculous how much we do have room for. We had already gotten rid of most of our furniture but our living space started to resemble what you might see in a hoarder’s house! There were piles everywhere and the dogs knew something was up for sure.

Despite all the confusion, Gunner managed to find a quiet spot in the sun all to himself!! Both dogs did really well when we were busy packing and running around. We made sure to give them extra attention and lots of exercise in the weeks before we left.

Since the dogs would be making the journey with us across the country we wanted to find a trailer solution that would allow us to keep the inside of the 4-runner pretty clear. Renting an enclosed trailer would surely cost a pretty penny and we considered getting a flatbed trailer but all our stuff would be caked with road grime or soaked by any rain we might encounter. We also didn’t want to be limited to a return date through a rental company so purchasing a used trailer off Craigslist was the best option for us.

We found this AWESOME pop-up camper that was converted to a covered trailer for $200!! Now, it wasn’t the nicest looking, and we had to improvise a little but it got the job done!! Call me Nervous Nelly but I was sure the tires would blow out eventually. There were cracks on the insides of the tire walls, the tires rubbed against the openings on the floor of the trailer and we had to make our own wheel wells out of a plastic bin cut in half and secured with duct tape. The tires were rated for 90psi and we had a spare so we set out with a plan to just go as far as we could. Just a few minor hiccups with having to rewire the running lights and tying up the rear stabilizer arms, but we made it ALL the way!! It was a whopping 2600 miles from San Diego CA to Punta Gorda FL with a quick stop to see some friends and family along the way.

And the journey begins!!

October 27, 2013

Whew!

Our soon-to-be new home on the ocean

The last few months sure have been CRAZY!!! In a nutshell, this is what inspires our first post on our NEW WEBSITE:

Our family and friends seemed to be in disbelief as we told them earlier this year that we were going to buy a sailboat and sail away to far off lands. We told them we would sell most of our belongings (including our cars), store the stuff we just can’t get rid of, and move onto a boat with only the essentials. On top of that, we are taking our two dogs with us!!

Well, we really did it!

In July we started looking for boats online. We researched and searched and finally we found a boat that we thought would be perfect for us. So perfect we were willing to get on a plane and fly from San Diego, CA all the way across the country to Ft Meyers, FL to take a look at a Beneteau M445. Major disappointment set in as soon as we stepped on board. There was water damage everywhere and it was WAY more of a project than either of us wanted to think about. The ad was deceiving and we just didn’t have a good feeling about it. We were puzzled. The boat’s name was Cosmic Convergence and we had been sure it was going to be just that.

Feeling deflated, we went back to the hotel wondering why we came all this way. We had a few days left before our return flight and decided to get a good night’s rest and figure out a new plan the next day. Determined as ever, I kept searching on the yacht sales websites from my phone in the wee hours of the morning when I couldn’t sleep. This is unusual for me. Most everyone knows I’m not a morning person, especially on East Coast time. I bookmarked about four other boats that looked interesting and decided that I couldn’t wait any longer. I woke Peter up at 8am to show him what I found. We called on all four of them, but only one person got back to us that day. A few hours later we were on our way to see Hey Jude, a 1980 Whitby 42′ Ketch.

It was magical. We stepped aboard and we both knew this was our new home. She was very well-kept and loved by her previous owners, Steve and Judy, who have been out cruising with her in the Bahamas and Caribbean for the last 20 years. We spent the rest of the day with them and made plans to draw up the paperwork, schedule a survey and a sea trial. I immediately made a call back home to my sister Annie who was watching our dogs for us and asked if she could take c

are of them for a few days longer. I also had to extend my “vacation time” at work :)

Everything went flawless. The Marine Surveyor was genuinely impressed and said it was the best vessel of this vintage that he has ever seen. Turns out he personally knows the man who built this boat in Ft Meyers, FL. Peter and I flew home and set everything into motion. Garage sale, Craigslist posting, runs to Father Joe’s for donations, and of course telling all of our family and friends that we bought a boat!!

As promised, we have FINALLY built a website for all of our blog posts and pictures so everyone can follow us on our amazing adventures. Be sure to click around and let us know what you think! Stay tuned for the next post with more tidbits about our journey across the country :)