Saturday, October 21, 2006

Had the survey done on the 19th

Well, I finally coughed up the dough to get the Allied surveyed on the 19th. I wound up working with one of the very best surveyors in Texas, Mike Firestone. I highly recommend him. He is one of the only surveyors who makes going up the rigging a standard part of his procedure. Not to mention he truly leaves no system untested. Apparently the brokers don't like him much because he doesn't do anything to help them sell boats. That's the kind of recommendation I like to hear. The title link will take you to the boat page where the survey has been posted along with two new links of pictures. The first link takes you to the pictures Mike took during the survey. The second are my own.

Getting the boat surveyed wasn't really the experience I thought it was going to be. Things went very well, but it turns out to be a difficult process spending 9 hours doing nothing but finding fault with something I've already started envisioning myself owning. At the end of the day I was ready to scrap the whole deal. Oddly enough, after sleeping on it and reading the report things seemed much better. I've still got the same concerns about the boat I had going into the survey, including the high engine hours, and a few new ones like the rusty fuel tank.

I think at the end of the day this is still my boat. For the money I am not going to find something that will be this comfortable to live aboard. She really has been well maintained even though she does have some age on her. She is pretty down below and roomy enough for two and a couple of dogs. I think with some elbow grease and time I can have her up to speed for a round the world rally. I'll see if I can get the seller to knock off a few thousand based on the new findings from the survey. I'll need every penny if I want to get this boat upgraded like I want it. I am still incredibly nervous about having enough money to outfit the boat and have anything remaining to go cruising on, but I won't know until I try. Worse case scenario, I buy a sextant and go as is.

Considering I am 1K into this know I really do want to get the spreadsheet up and running that I'll use to track all the expenses for the boat and the cruise. I think putting real numbers together for this will be informative for myself and for someone else looking to undertake such a trip.

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