I’d like to say there’s plan, and broadly speaking there is. I want it to look the same or similar to the picture on this post. Bearing in mind my complete lack of any type of skills, it’s safe to say it probably won’t. Ideally I’d like it done up well enough to be able to live on it it at least semi-permanently, and I’d love for it to actually work.
But we’re a long, long way off from that and I guess that dictates what my priorities are. There’s getting the boat ready to live on comfortably and there’s getting the boat fitted out with all the appropriate kit in order to sail her. Those are two completely separate projects, but I have to keep both in mind when working on either of them.
Even then, those two projects need to separated out into smaller projects, and those smaller projects broken down even further into sub-projects. The list is bloody endless. Again I emphasise my complete lack of skills when it comes to all this blokey shit. Take into consideration my undiagnosed ADHD (It’s a thing I swear!) a sprinkling of OCD and my complete lack of patience and it’s potentially a recipe for disaster. Just off the top of my head I can think of the following:
- Electrics
- Navigation
- Plumbing
- Powertrain
Personally I think getting all the cut out holes, bolt holes, scratches and structural damage topside repaired should be the first thing I tackle. If not for anthing but getting the boat sealed off from the elements which would make life that little bit easier, and make the boat look less like something that’s been used in an illegal Channel crossing.
I’m already bored of bailing water out of the bloody thing. Once that’s sorted I can then move to the cabin, safe in the knowledge it should stay dry. I can then concetrate on the cabin. It needs sanding, painting, and there is some structural stuff that needs looking at. The bilge in particular, some of the fibreglass has started to lift and needs fixing so the floorboards can sit level.
Once the “shell” of the boat is mostly sorted, the boat needs to come out of the water for a while. There’s no point trying to install counters, tables and beds whilst the boat is on the water, they’ll never get installed level. Trust me, because the boat is so light on the water it rocks from side to side depending where you are in the cabin. I’ve come a cropper a few times and it’s not pleasant falling into filthy water in the bilge.
The primary reason for the boat to come out of the water though is to repair and restore the hull. It’s taken some damage over the years, it needs cleaning and it definitely needs repainting. Happily after a conversation with the boat yard owner I know they have a trailer on which to store the boat once it’s out of the water.
That’s the plan for now. I’m in the process of building a to-do list of all the things I know need work. It’s pretty fucking scary how big that list is right now, and that’s just based on the things I know.
Apart from having to acquire the skills to do all of the above I also need to start learning the other boring but important stuff like navigation, marine law, and how to actually pilot the bloody thing. The RYA provides courses and I’ve been looking at those and I’m planning on starting those in the winter.
To be fair and probably a surprise to anyone reading this, I do actually have experience piloting a motorboat. It was a day trip to the Norfolk Broads, we took a boat out for the day. It didn’t end well. Whilst trying to reverse the boat into the berth I was instructed to slow down, and instead of putting the boat into forward gear I slammed it into reverse. Say no more.
Yeah, I’ll be fine on the high seas won’t I?