Closing Time....

March 16, 2012

Finally, we close on our dream boat today after a hectic month of delays, years of planning and dreaming, and a 2 year search for a sailboat that had everything we were looking for. After negotiating and agreeing on a deal around the new year, I flew out to socal in late Jan. for the sea trial, surveys, and to close the deal if everything went well.

As we first laid eyes on her

Welcome to boating:

sea trial - everything pretty much OK, sailed well in light winds, raising the mainsail proved tricky due to heavy friction on the halyard and a winch that was literally falling off the mast.

next day, engine survey, rigging survey. Rigger showed up with his helper and we had to rebuild the mainsail winch that was falling off the mast so he could hoist his helper up the stick. winch got rebuilt, but then the sheave for the halyard is frozen. Explains the difficulty raising the main the day before. same deal with the mizzen. Other than that, standing rigging and spars are satisfactory. Mechanic that did the engine survey was nice and knowledgeable enough, and found a few issues with the engine, all small stuff, and thought it was in good shape.

Short haul for survey

Next day: Engine breaks a piston connecting rod on the way to our short haul out for survey. Yay. at least it happened before we closed and not in the middle of the pacific. Surveyor likes the hull and the overall build, but as usual with a boat this age (1978) there's a nice to do list when he is done.

Engine: not pretty

When we return to the slip, the PO(previous owner) gets a mechanic to tear into the engine to find out what the issue is. Best guess is the connecting rod without completely tearing the engine apart. Looks like an injector jammed open and the #1 cylinder was trying to run faster than the rest of the engine and consequently broke the rod. Mechanic points out that the fuel filters haven't been changed in like 6 years. Nice. PO wants to just repair the rod(a band-aid on head wound fix), which in the end, would amount to about half the costs of a total overhaul . the Broker (god bless his patience) and I try to explain this to him, and after re-negotiating the price, I agree to take possession as is, knowing that I have to tear out and rebuild/re-power the engine. We set a date for closing the following week, ANNNND? Whammo, issue with the title. Yay. Apparently the PO had a loan when they bought her 17 years ago, paid it off, but the lender never sent the satisfaction of mortgage to the Coast Guard. Yay. The Title company thinks it should be resolved in a week or so. At this point my father has flown out with the plans that we would get her ready and get her out of Cali. Couple of weeks go by with no change, got to send dad home so he doesn't go stir crazy, Samantha comes out in his stead, (sorry pop, but this is definitely trading up). Couple more weeks and finally everything gels and we have a closing date.....again.

So here we go, closing day. Crappy drizzly weather and 3 foot seas are our conditions. About par for the way things have been going with this deal.

Rick's magic Bayliner (that's the PO, not Rick)

Since the engine is half torn apart I found a local salt to tow us out 3 miles for an offshore delivery. So my guy shows up in a 14' beat to crap Bayliner with even more beat to crap outboard (at least it's not the original Force) that has got to be 40 years old. The broker and I exchange curious glances, shrug, smile and I comment that at least it's running, which is more than I can say about Discovery's engine. Turns out my guy Rick knew what he was doing, and that 14 footer had no problem pushing our 32,000lb dead weight. Coming back in? Not so much. Outboard dies. We think that the 3' seas and tossing about stirred up the gunk in his gas tank and fouled the fuel lines. Rick does mention that he hasn't change the water separator in awhile. Fun. PO incessantly asked me to call vessel assist since technically it is our vessel now, (and conveniently enough we would foot the bill). At this point I'm losing patience with him and comment (almost under my breath) to my wife that I might toss him overboard, and I know the broker is exhausted from dealing with this guy. In all fairness the real PO is an 83 year old man who was a complete class act and gentleman. His son is the one dealing with the sale and the one I am referring to as the PO. Rick, calm as a cucumber, hops onto discovery, says "we've got good wind, it IS a sailboat, lets pop a sail and sail in." I'm liking this guy more and more. so we tow in our tow boat, and when we get in the breakwater where it's calm, he gets his engine running, and I ask him to run the PO (more like PITA at this point) and the broker back to the marina so they can get to the bank. Meanwhile my wife and I sail Discovery for the first time, alone. Ahhhh, she's ours, were on our way to our new slip and it's finally happening. Rick returns and we have an enjoyable ride to our new marina while getting to know each other, he's a live aboard on a 35' sailboat. I knew I liked him for a reason. Rick gets us in our slip, the real PO meets us there and says a tearful goodbye, and she's ours!

First sail together

New berth

Now, back to Florida to get rid of most of our stuff, pack what we want and drive back with the dog.......oh boy