Ch. 5: The One Where We Buy a Boat

Spring of 2022 went on.  We signed up with Behan and Jamie Gifford of Sailing Totem.  They offer consulting services to cruisers and would-be cruisers and I had heard about them on the Liveaboard Sailing Podcast.  They also own a Stevens 47 (the one I fell in love with), but that was TOTALLY A COINCIDENCE! We sent them listings of boats and talked pros and cons.  We just never really found anything we liked beyond the Stevens and the Taswell.  Any that we liked AND could afford anyway.

One day, Kim said “you know, maybe we should make an offer on Destiny…”  I was stunned.  In truth, I had been thinking about her every day.  But I kept it on the down-low.  We had decided at the beginning that we were going to find a boat that we BOTH loved.  We weren’t going to buy something one of us had to talk the other into.  In that spirit, when Kim expressed hesitation about Destiny, I let it go.  One of her main objections what that it seemed dark inside-closed off.

Me:  I thought you didn’t really like her.

Kim:  I know, but I was looking at her again and I think I’m coming around.

Me:  I thought you said she was too dark inside.

Kim:  I think it’s okay.

Me:  Emailing broker right now…

I went back to the listing.  She was still available AND the owner had dropped the price.  BONUS!!

We made an offer at the new asking price-it seemed fair and that way we would give ourselves negotiation room based on the survey.  It was immediately accepted.  We were under contract!

We scheduled the survey and booked a trip to Florida.

This seemed bit surreal.  I don’t really consider us impulsive people but in certain situations, we do act quickly.  Perhaps we are just “well-informed”?  Or dumb?  All I know is that when we were young and shopping for our very first home, we bought the second house we looked at and house shopped for exactly 2 days before making an offer.  Now, on our first boat, we looked at 5 boats over four days and bought the second boat we looked at.

Boat surveys are…fun. Sort of.  On the one hand, an expert is going over the boat.  On the other hand, they find things you don’t want to know.  Sometimes.  In our case, not so much.  The survey came back fairly clean.  The hull was in good shape and the systems overall were okay.  There were some issues with the electrical system, but nothing major.  The bigger issue, to me, was the “unknown”.  Even with two surveyors looking her over, I knew there were many things not getting a close look (insert foreshadowing here).  Destiny is a 37-year-old boat with an out-of-state owner.  She was re-powered in 2010 and after her 2020 “water intrusion event” she had a new fuel tank, new alternator, new wiring, and new batteries.  She also had new standing rigging installed at that time.  However, we knew she had original water tanks, plumbing, and chainplates.  She also had a ridiculously small 15 gallon holding tank.

The bottom line, for us, was that she was structurally sound older boat with a smattering of newer stuff.  She would need work but we felt that with the proper attention, she was the boat for us.  We accepted the survey, knocked a couple grand of the purchase price and signed on the dotted line.  She was ours.

HOLY ……..!