Ok, Ok, hear me out! Yes, I have acquired another boat. Against all the advice given to me by every single person in my life. They’re probably right, based on their previous experience of putting up with my shit the last time. But, I’m determined to make this one work this time.
Hindsight as they say is 20/20 and looking back on my last project I probably should have followed the advice given to me. I thought I knew better (and I still do) and just went ahead and did my own thing and look where that go me… Abso-fucking-lutely nowhere. You’re probably thinking how did he get here again? Well I can best answer that by rewinding back to about 3 months ago.
It’s been around 8 years since I had the first boat, and about 5 years since that particular boat met its maker. That’s not stopped me from checking eBay sporadically to see if I could find another boat that would meet all my requirements. What were those requirements? Well…
- Does it float?
- Would I be able to live on it eventually?
Um, that about covers the requirements, granted not as comprehensive as it should have been but this is me. A very simple man.
Back in July I was perusing the aisles of eBay as usual and I saw this beaut, bidding was at £150, it was on water and more importantly it was a little more local to me than the previous boat. So, I contacted the seller and arranged a viewing for the following day. I went to the boat yard, had a quick look around the boat and had a quick chat with the owner of the boat yard. He was willing to take it off of eBay and negotiate a price of £500 there and then. I was still undecided and told him as much and I’d go home to have a think about it and continue watching the auction.
On the way home I was trying to talk myself out of it, hearing the voices of friends and family in my head:
What the fuck are you going to do with another boat? Look what happened last time!
You know nothing about boats! Look what happened last time!
Can you afford the storage and work that will be needed on it? Look what happened last time!
Even I had my doubts, what the hell was I doing? I’m next to fucking useless when it comes to anything practical, especially if it involves working with tools and my hands. I got home, went to the the listing and started to dream. That could be my boat, what if I never had the opportunity to own a boat again?
I called the owner of the boat yard again and arranged a second viewing of the boat. This time though, I paid more attention to the smaller details of the boat. Looked at the monstrosity of the shed on the stern, and there and then decided there was no way I would be capable of fixing this boat.
For the second time in two days I was trying to convince myself that this was going to be a massively bad idea. By the time I got home I’d made the decision to at least put a ridiculously low bid on the boat and if I didn’t win the boat it wasn’t meant to be and if I did win the boat I’d deal with the consequences later. I was turning 50 in a few months and thought, “Fuck it, no regrets, let’s just fucking do it and see what happens”.
I’ve been watching boats on eBay for years and consider myself to be quite knowledgeable about how much the boat would eventually go for. I estimated around it’d go for around £1000 even though it was now only sitting at £250 with a day to go until the end of the auction. I put my bid in. I chose £400 as my absolute uppermost bid, never expecting to get anywhere near owning it.
But alas dear reader, we’ve been here before haven’t we? Me, not expecting to win an auction, me unexpectedly winning said auction, me owning a boat that I have no bloody clue about. Again. The boat hit the heady heights of £360. Fuck my fucking life!
The very next weekend I drove down to the boat, arranged to meet the boat yard owner and we discussed mooring etc. The terms were agreeable, and we even discussed what the cost would be if I eventually got the boat sorted and wanted to live on it.
The thinking behind this was thus: I can either fix it up and live on it, which is way cheaper than any mortgage or rent, or I can get it fixed up, move it to an even more picturesque location and Air BnB it out. Or something. Mooring fees are £120 a month. Not bad, actually cheaper than the last boat and this one is actually on water!
I’ve done a bit of research on the boat based on the markings. The boat is a Relcraft 23 – Sapphire. As yet I have not been able to find the HIN (Hull Identification Number) and there’s no indication on the boat whatsoever of what its name is/was. Again. Deja-fucking-Vu!
I’ve actually found a picture of the boat previous to when it arrived at the boat yard:
I’m sure you’ll agree it was it a much better state before it arrived at the boat yard. Whatever the previous owner was thinking I have no idea but I can tell you this much, he was certainly deluded based on this advert:
£5000? I hope that was a typo! Look at the state of it!
Anyway, as you can imagine I have already had a few adventures on the boat, which I will get around to documenting at some point soon!
Oh! What did my family and friends think of my purchase? Well, I kept it top secret until a few days before my 50th birthday and clandestinely admitted to having a boat in a birthday message I posted on Facebook. I felt really bad about hiding it from everyone at first, but it was a necessary evil. I “think” they’re fine with it, but I’m sure they have their doubts. We’ll see.