This was a deal any aspiring sailor would admire, and by chance I had become part of. An abandoned sailboat was 'found' by a friend in an industrial lot, grown over by vegetation and tree branches. I loosely use the word 'found', as the owners of the business knew it was stored there, just as the previous owner knew where he left it; they just didn't know anyone else was interested in the abandoned vessel. The previous owner had fallen onto hard times, opting to store it on the property until things turned around for him. While hopefully they did get better, the boat became a historical remnant of his past (as many sailboats do). This is where I come in, or should I say stumble into the deal. There was actually 4 of us who were interested in salvaging the boat and making her seaworthy again. First, we had to actually get the boat. It took some tracking down, but the previous owner was found and agreed to sell the boat. Actually he didn't mind if we just took it since he was not planning on returning to the island. But, you must have a price on a sales agreement to be legal, which is needed to register the boat, so we purchased the boat for grand price of $1. Before you become too envious, take a look at the condition in the pictures below. The first few hours my illustrious yacht ownership was spent pumping out all of the stagnant water that had been inside the boat for who knows how many years. By the smell of the water, it had been in there for a lot longer than it should have been. We hiked in a battery to run an electric bilge pump, but also were taking turns with a manual pump while the electric pump was running. We ran down the battery, but eventually had the hull dry inside after a few trips back. A large tarp was put over it until the boat got moved to our makeshift boat yard, rented off a nearby construction company.
We all needed to pitch in (and it was going to take a lot more than a dollar to get that thing back in the water, at least if we wanted it to float that is). Just the crane and moving costs were a surprise to me, but at least it wasn't just one person paying for everything. There were not many things that didn't need to be repaired or replaced on the boat. I should probably add at this point there is no way I would have taken on a project like this on my own with so little knowledge of sailboats, boat repairs, or even sailing for that matter; but a couple guys in the partnership had over 30 years of sailing under their belt and had done major refits in the past. My inspiration was grounded in their abilities. Some of us had more time, money or skills than the others, with everyone contributing in various amounts.
There was A LOT of work needed to be done to get her back on the water. The refit took about 6 months and roughly $25,000 to complete.
It definitely looked like a different sailboat by the time we she was ready to go back in the water…!!!!
Like a transformation of a brokedown palace, the sailboat had shed its former abandoned self as an industrial scrapyard ornament to something that was back in the water... and actually floating! There were at least a few in disbelief of that.
Then the fun part after all the work- Actually getting out SAILING!
This was an incredible adventure out in the islands. We eventually sailed the boat to Tinian and Rota on a number of occasions. Another epic adventure in the rear-view mirror and always planning somthing new!
