In The Beginning

With the survey completed and the boat hanging in the slings it did not take a marine engineer to see that the bottom had not been painted in a few years and although not as bad as we expected was indeed in need. We have received good feedback and recommendations for the yard here, Marsh Harbor Marina, so we decided to have them block the boat and paint the bottom and save us some money doing another haul out later. Since we had thrown this at them outside their already busy schedule and even brought another boat over with us for them to work on (another story), we were surprised when they said “no problem”. After a thorough power wash and blasting the prop, shaft and rudder of old paint and lots of marine growth, she was blocked and ready to be sanded, faired and painted.

The surveyor had rightly noted that the raw water intake seacock for the engine was probably the original, jammed open and had the handle broken off. This could be a nuisance at best and a serious problem under certain circumstances so replacing at this time is a no-brainer. As busy as the yard appeared, the owner offered to lend me the tools needed to remove the old thru-hull my self if I wanted. Since we had some time on our hands I agreed and went to work removing the 28 year old bronze valve. Needless to say it took about three times longer than I expected. Once removed the hole left in the hull was a fair bit larger than the new thru-hull so the yard had some glass work to do before the new valve could go back in. We noted on the sea trial on the way to the yard that the shifter seemed to want to hang in forward and you really had to pull hard to get it out of gear. Both the inside controls and the controls on the flybridge were taken apart, greased well and put back together. The shifter cable at the transmission was mounted on a steel bracket which was bent and once that was straightened and a little lubricant applied the shifter, although still a bit tight, worked much better. We will see how this works in time and determine if the cable will need to be replaced.


The previous owners had apparently never used the showers on board and there were no provisions made to use them. We decided to convert the small forward head to a shower, so a set up that would let us close off all four sides with a shower curtain and a replacement drain in the floor was installed. The existing drain was just a cover in the floor and drained straight down into the bilge. A replacement drain that can have a hose connected to it and a shower sump that would collect the water and pump it overboard would all need to be installed. So Much to do and so little money.

Another surprise after we hauled the boat was when the house batteries dropped to 6 and 9 volts once they were not being charged. We had the yard order us new batteries since that would be easier than us chasing all over town trying to find them. Over the years with our sailboat we had excellent results using 6volt golf cart batteries in place of our original 8Ds so we replaced the small deep cycles which were dead with pairs of Interstate E2200s which give us about 225 amp hours per pair. In the past we have received about 7 years of use on each pair. The battery box on the boat will not hold 4 of these batteries so we will need to build another box. This is deja vous all over again since we went through this when we bought the sailboat. The electrical will need some cleaning up and minor changes but perhaps it is just that I am a bit more anal than most.

We pulled into the yard one afternoon and there sat the fire extinguisher guy in front of our boat working on someone else’s. Another survey item was the out of date extinguishers including the halon system in the engine compartment. So we conveniently were able to get all of them taken care of. It is funny how things work out.




 

While we are dealing with all of this we are also trying to get the repairs done on the sailboat that we had to deliver to Beaufort, NC. It made for an interesting week and we found ourselves having to leave with the delivery boat before ours was finished. The yard assured us there would be no problem and they would take the boat back to our slip at Lady’s Island Marina when it was finished. Once the delivery is done and we get back we can begin renovations in earnest.

The Survey.

The survey was just completed on the new trawler today and all went well. We found a surveyor Named Bob Dolce from Hilton Head that is both experienced and very knowledgeable and has intimate knowledge of the Marine Trader line and has been familiar with the boats since they were first imported and sold. We were very fortunate to find him. He was able to immediately go to the usual potential problem areas and recognize the correct repairs and upgrades that have been done on the boat. He will also be able to best establish the correct value of the boat instead of just using the WAG method ( wild ass guess) that many surveyors use for older boats.


There were no surprises and things turned out pretty much as we expected. The boat is 28 years old and will need some of our special care and consideration but nothing drastic. Most of the needs are cosmetic and even those are not critical.









We can work on certain items at our leisure and still enjoy the boat. And of course we will be adding a lot of new equipment and posting our progress and how we did it. While the boat was hauled out for the survey we decided to go ahead and have the bottom painted, since it was in need. This is a radical change for us in boating style so we thought a radical change in name was also warranted. The new boats name is "Beach House". We thought it fitting after considering quite a few names. We will be setting up a new site for the new boat and will post it here when it is ready. It will be as great and informative as Sea Trek's and we plan to leave this site up for everyone to enjoy as long as folks continue to visit. There is still lots of good information here for those seeking it. We hope you all will enjoy and visit both sites.



Our boat delivery should start in the next couple of days and we plan to post our progress here also, so stay tuned.

A New Boat?

We have been looking for the next boat almost since the closing of Sea Trek. As a former Broker for many years and 35 years in the marine industry I should not be surprised by what we have seen but I still am. Boat owners trying to sell their boats yet they have pretty much abandoned them and they are for the most part in deplorable condition. The outsides are filthy and the interiors are dirty, moldy and smelly. And they really think someone is going to come along and pay tens of thousands of dollars for these disasters. Sometimes the photos on the listings look pretty good but the reality in person is quite the opposite. Over and over we ask ourselves "what are they thinking?" maybe the answer is, they are not.


But there is always the exception to the rule and we actually found it on about the second boat we looked at. It is also right at our back door here in Beaufort so the logistics will be easy. We have been to Charleston a couple of times and have just returned from a few days in Florida and in the end decided to put in an offer on a well kept Marine Trader that the owners bought to cruise but health reason changed those plans as it does in all too often cases. The offer has been accepted and we will next have to get through the survey process and do a sea trial. If all goes well we will close and begin moving on board by the end of the month.

We had planned to wait a few months before buying another boat and take a vacation from the lifestyle but once again our plans changed 180 degrees. It isn't the first time and it won't be the last for those of you following our adventures. But this will most assuredly be different and we look forward to a change of style and pace. Of course the necessarily upgrades and outfitting will begin in earnest after we get aboard. We feel it only respectful of Sea Trek to begin a new site dedicated to the new boat once all of the formalities are over. We know from past experience that anything can happen during the survey process, but we are hopeful, especially since there is a survey on the boat only two years old.

In the mean time we have a boat to deliver from Beaufort,SC to Beaufort, NC and we will be heading north this weekend. The boat needs to be in Beaufort by the 13th to be hauled out and placed in storage until it is sold. It is interesting that this boat, which is a Caliber 38 belonged to our long time friends, who sold it and bought a trawler and the now, new owners, became friends and we are doing the delivery for them since they are now selling the boat. Confusing isn't it? We will post as we move north to keep everyone up to date on out progress and when we return to Beaufort, SC we will have the survey and sea trial done on the new boat.