Unless it's about which boat

First it was the Helene, a Ben Seaborn design. Constructed in 1957 (yes, that's a year before I was born), this wood constructed sloop was way ahead of her time. She had a deep *fin* keel, and looked like a time traveler from future. When we toured this boat we were amazed at her spaciousness, the quality of her workmanship, the cleanliness of her bilge. The glass decks helped. Sure there were some questions like, how do you finance and 52 year old wooden boat? Where do we moor a 52 foot boat? Can we handle her?

It was easy to go down the road of saying that, if all these questions could be answered (and I will be honest they have not entirely left my mind), that I'd take her in a New York minute.

All of that for 119K asking price.

Then we looked at a Hunter 42, the modern end of the spectrum. Sleek, roomy, more expensive at around 140K asking price, but none of the problems of an older wooden boat. Then again, she'd look like every other Hunter at the dock.






After that, a walk around a Hardin 45 had us seeing possibilities. Glass hull, wonderful inside teak bright work, immense inside layout. We were also impressed with her glass decks, the remasting in aluminum, and the spaciousness of the deck layout. We ended up rushing our process and actually put an offer on this boat but couldn't come to terms with the other broker/client. We ended up walking away. Touring that boat again at the Anachortes boat show, we confirmed some of our concerns about the boat along with the strengths. The Windfall is still on our radar.

And most recently, a Bob Perry designed Baba 40, located in Olympia, Washington. The boat was in great shape inside. The outside is the issue. The owner of this Baba has not been able to keep her up like he wanted. I'll be spending my time working on the exterior while we live inside. One big job is having to recalk the teak decks. Still the price is very good for this boat (about 45K under normal). So, if I don't go in blind and know what I'm getting, she might be a great boat. Bob Perry himself said so the other day on Sailing Anarchy. :)

This coming Saturday, we will be touring a Cascade 42, tied up in Tacoma.

And so it goes.