So now I have a rough idea of the kind of boat I’m looking for, the begging begins. How much is one of these things going to cost me anyway? I have little savings, having churned through anything mildly substantial living in Berlin & trying to get a job (trust me, don’t even try…).
Early indications look like I could probably get away with spending about 8000Euros, or roughly $9500USD. Or heck, in Australian dollars… (cringe!) about $15000. So how much do I actually have? Not even half. Right now I’m holding my glass of water to the sky (hey, we’re in a heatwave here) and saying ‘heres to dreaming’… I think this is going to become my most popular phrase.
I have have a rough price, and mind you that price is for just the bones of the boat. Chances are, this thing is going to require a major overhaul. All sails that come with boats of this vintage and price are marked as ’serviceable’. This I believe, means they are shit. More or less, they need a lot of work. A full sail inventory could cost upwards of $10,000AUD, so I will just to deal with ’serviceable’ at this stage. The majority of hulls in this bracket also call for a little osmosis treatment. Osmosis is the method I attempted to use for learning German. I don’t like osmosis, and niether will my boat. She’ll more than likely need a new gel-coat and antifouling. Ouch. I will have to persuade someone to help me on that, and I will try and do as much of the work as I can. We’ll see.
Now I need some gadgets. Johannes thinks all I need are some charts and a handheld GPS - He is probably right, but I don’t think I’m so brave. I need a windvane, solar panels, more than likely a wind-generator, batteries, VHF radio, depth sounder, etc etc. Radar alarm? The list could take up another entry.
So I have no idea how I will get all this. First I will negotiate a boat. I will attempt to muster a thousand or three off the price, and then hit them with the $xxxx now and $xxxx per month until she’s paid for, and I’ll pay the docking fees until then. Haha, I have no idea if this will work. I’ll keep you updated.
nick.
