Lessons learned

If you have a boat or are buying a boat in south Florida, especially around FLL, get ready for a shock. There is a sort of a "marine industry mafia" attitude here. Everybody in a long chain of suppliers, contractors and the boatyard have to receive their kickbacks. You can find your own contractors, but if the boatyard does not like them or they aren't paying off the proper people, they won't be working on your boat. In a nutshell, after about 3 or 4 people get their $300 or more, a little job that should have cost $1000 will end up costing 2x or 3x as much. If the boat is in the shape to run and you need a fair amount of work, take it north to either Stuart Florida or even Savannah. The trip will save you thousands. Anyway, for the good news, I got the 21kw generator taken out yesterday and I am putting in a 10kw genset. Shielded, it will be quiet and will burn much less fuel. Well, as we press on, it is time for the plumbing and air conditioning. I'll let you know how I get screwed on that:)
Have a tropical day!

Ahhhhhh paradise:)

In this case, paradise means powerwashing the bilges. I do not know if you have ever had the indescribably joyous experience of cleaning the bilges of a steel hulled boat but, when and if you do, I will be overjoyed to get a slime by slime email about it:) BTW, since I am supposed to offer some tiny bit of information that may help future cruisers, if you do powerwash your bilges, DO NOT pump them out with the onboard pumps. Use a portable 110 pump and just run a hose overboard. If you try to pump all that crap out with the onboard pumps, when you are done, you might as well throw them away, and they are not cheap. Thus ends the reading of the gospel of the day:)
This really is a lot of fun. Sally and I live in a tiny motorhome with a Basset and a Beagle. The shower and bathroom are about 100 yds away but, one of the benefits of being a guy is you can just pee off the boat:)
Tomorrow, two people that we called are coming over to see about some work on the boat. We got tired of all these contractors in FLL trying to sell us top of the line, overpriced stuff so Sally called the Captain of a boat that she knows in Oregon who has quite a rep around FLL and he gave us some numbers to call. His wife told Sally to "Use our name like a gun". It turns out that works pretty well. So now we should start making real progress. Well, I guess I will go out and start cutting angle iron out of the place that used to be the galley. Have a tropical day:)

Moving along

Guys are taking apart the engines sent them to the machine shop. I am sanding and varnishing and throwing out old wood. The head is being moved to the forward compartment. As mentioned earlier, all of the electronics have shown up. Garmin 740GPSMAP, Radar, Sirius and XM satellite wx attenena and the converter for the whole package. I am supposed to be getting cap rails and a new wheelhouse, but no one seems to be in a hurry.
Here is a little info about Yanmar. Yanmar makes good engines, I would call them slightly above middle of the road, but wait til you need parts and accessories. Yeah, it is a drawback. I have to get 2 new instrument consoles, the ones that show RPM's, Temp, etc. Guess what, $1150 each. I literally looked at them and said "are you f**king s**ting me?" So, when and if you get a boat and have a chance to power it, look into replacement parts and accesories later on.
Andy, one of the few guys I really like, was supposed to show up today to work on the A/C and plumbing, as usual, no sight of him. I don't mean that is usual for him, I mean it is usual for everyone. As it happens, these guys have projects in marinas all over south Florida, apparently, mine is not high up on the priority list.
Oh well, just roll with it:) In the mean time, I need to get the electric and plumbing done so I can put in the floor and hatches, at which point we should be able to start moving stuff on the boat.
Have a tropical day:) John

Finally started

It has taken a loooooong time to get this far. From the idea, to the decision, to the actual action, but, it all became worth it today. Since we finally made it to Florida it has been non-stop work unloading and moving stuff. Getting the doggies used to living in a small motorhome has been a chore but soon you slip into a routine. After unloading, the area around the MH looked like a bunch of gypsies lived here so this morning a guy here at the marina came and we loaded up about half the stuff and put it in a mini storage unit about a mile from here that I rented.  He is intimately familar with this boat and is going to help a lot. Sadie Basset has developed an inordinate interest in water so night before last when I took her out to potty, she went right up to the edge of the wall. I was afraid she would dive in so I was trying to grab her collar when she tripped me in, unfortunately I was talking on the cell phone at the time so guess who has to get another one:)
Today I moved the boat to the wall right next to the MH, it is literally 12 feet from us which will make it very easy to work on. I was impressed. Driving a 26,000lb steel hull 40ft boat is not quite the same as a 16ft runabout:) Plus I had to back it in and the space between the wall and the boat in front only left about a foot on each end. I managed to get it in there but it took about 5 tries and 30 mins.
I will send some pics and a new update tomorrow. Have a great day.

Getting closer

Tonight I am in Meridian, MS.  Hoping to get to Dads house in South GA tomorrow. Visit for a couple of days then down to the boat.

New town

Tonight I am in Childress Tx. Zachary A. Taylor the Beagle and Sadie Basset have decided that this trip is not quite as fun as they thought it would be:) Oh well, it will all be worth it when I am laying on the boat:)

Gallop NM

As we all know, nothing goes exactly according to plan. The Motorhome with all of our stuff broke down in Gallop. We have been here for 9 days but the new engine is supposed to be ready this afternoon. I will find out shortly. BTW, anyone ever eat tacobell for a few days in a row?

Slight Delay

Well, I am all packed up, but unfortunately The A/C compressor on the motorhome went out. The parts are in but it will be tomorrow before it is fixed. It's always something, but really, when you aren't on a schedule, what is one more day:) Keeping an eye on that hurricane.
John

This is getting exciting

Even Zachary A. Taylor the beagle is getting antsy:) The drive to FLL probably will not be all that fun, but just knowing it is starting makes it worth it. Can't wait to get to the boat. I will post pics.

Time to go

Preferably before Michelle Bachman is elected president:)
Got all the stuff packed up and sold most of the other stuff. Leaving to outfit the boat at the end of July.

So now I have the boat

While I whittle down my belongings and tend to the logistical problems of moving everything from Utah to Ft. Lauderdale, I decided on the flooring. It comes under a lot of name brands like Trex but I am going to use a brand called Latitudes. Now what I need is something for the walls. This being a steel hulled boat, any ideas?

We have a boat

Nice boat. What we have is a 40 ft boat with no interior. But awesome diesel engines and a 30kw genset. Pack up your stuff boys and girls, we are going on a trip:) The boat is in Fort Lauderdale in a nice marina. I am trying to figure out how to make it livable. It will take some money and vision but this is the boat. Pictures are coming up.

Getting close to visiting

13 Days and counting.. Thursday the 5th and I am on my way to meet tug. The interior should be good by the end of July or the 1st of August. Sea trials for a month then Bon Voyage:)
In the mean time, I am not bored. I am unpacking and repacking belongings. It is absolutely amazing at the amount of crap you do not need and just gets in your way:)

The money part:)

Yep, you need some. I just bought tickets from Las Vegas to Ft. Lauderdale, where I will need a hotel room and a rental car, just to look at the boat. Going down on the 5th and coming back on the 7th. This is starting to get exciting. I will put up some pics of the visit. In the mean time, I am unpacking stored boxes and whittling down what I need to take. I have 4 boxes at any given time in my living room, as they get full, I tape them up and move on. One says "storage", another "boat", yet another "garage sale", and finally, "ex-girlfriends stuff" (that is most of it:). It is somewhat fascinating at the amount of useless crap you collect over 30 years. So I have developed a rule that is working well. If I have not seen it or used it in the last two years, I probably don't need it:) There are are exceptions to the "rule", one of them is tools. Oh yeah, on a boat, you will eventually need every one of them, plus a few that you don't have:) I highly suspect that after I am done, I will need to get rid of even more stuff. Boat living is all about max storage and minimalizing your life. Only exactly what you need. The boat need parts and oil. I do not need my high school baseball trophy, Actually, I don't have a high school baseball trophy, but if I did, it would not be coming along:) As technology improves, this gets easier. I like to read. But these days instead of loading 500lbs of books on the boat, I can download them and read them on a Kindle, or whatever is in vogue by september. That space for 75 or 100 books can now be used for something else. Probably beer and rum:) Fishing, snorkling and diving in the Bahamas in Sept. Come on down.

"The Boat"

Well, this happened a little quicker than I expected:)
I got an email from a really nice guy in Ft. Lauderdale this morning making me an offer on his boat. There is a picture of it on my profile. It is a 38 foot Benford steel hull tug. The entire hull and deck have just been completed. The owner was going to use this boat to go to the Bahamas but unfortunately he had a traffic accident in Nassau which prohibits this. Everything is completely new or redone on the boat except that it has no interior. The entire inside is stripped and empty. The steel bulkheads are primed with red lead and white epoxy. What is left is outfitting the interior. The teak flooring has already been cut but not installed to facilitate running electrical and plumbing. I get to design the interior to my specs. How cool is that?
I will send pics from beginning to end as work progresses if this works out. The best thing you can do is not to rush into a boat. I have been looking for 6 months and this just fell into my lap. Time to get to work if I want to be gone by September.

You have to start somewhere:)

First, you have to be comitted to going. Becoming an ex-pat is a process. You can't be one of those brainwashed americans who runs around waving little flags on sticks shouting "we're number one" when rationally you realize that you really need to get the hell out.
So, let's move on:) I am in the process of finding "THE" boat.  If you are doing this, you have probably already figured out that finding one online is a waste of time. I don't want to shock anyone, but people lie. Yes, I know, it is difficult to believe, but they do, especially salespeople. There are about 200,000 boats online for sale at any given time, 95% of them are offered by brokers. Other than "it" and "the", don't believe a word. The only way to actually find your boat is to go lay hands on it. Crawl all over it. Inspect every millimeter. Pay particular attention to the electrical and plumbing. How many hours on the engine(s) and genset? Gas, Diesel, Sail? (If you don't know why this is important, you don't need a boat:) Most cosmetic work is inconsequential although it does reflect the attitude towards maintenance that the previous owner had. This blog is designed to update people on the pitfalls you might encounter. I will try to keep you updated a few times a week. As I go through the process, I hope it is informative for you.
John