Bat-nuts crazy

Oil based paint is wonderful stuff; hard, durable, waterproof ... but it can take seemingly forever to dry. Such was the case with the coat laid over Kintala's battery box repair as it took 30 some hours for it to cure. Cure it did though so this afternoon saw two new AGM batteries installed; an 8D as the house battery and a group 31 for starting. (Yes, this is a bit small for a cruising boat house bank, but Kintala's pinched stern makes it a tight fit for batteries. Someday we may try to add to her capacity, but it will take some major work.) So confident was I that the last hurdle to leaving the dock had been cleared that I actually told a couple of people we would be on the hook tomorrow night, even if just a short distance away.

Silly me.

There are only two instruments in Kintala that hint at battery condition, analog both, one volt meter and one amp meter. The volt meter works with either battery. The amp meter, after the battery change, doesn't work at all. Well, that's not entirely true. Sometimes the needle twitches with a load, sometimes it actually deflects backwards, mostly though it just lays there. Normally one would assume something got hooked up wrong with the battery change but a careful review, including the use of pictures taken before the work, shows that all is as it should be in ye 'ol battery box. (And yes, it is possible that the amp meter died a few days ago and simply went unnoticed.) Best guess is that this 30 year old gauge has called it quits.

I freely admit to flying many an airplane many a mile with much worse problems than a dead amp meter. This alone would be no reason to delay departing if there was a compelling reason to depart. But there isn't. Critical or not this is a thing that needs fixed. We can fix it more easily here than hanging on a hook somewhere. And there is another concern. Prying open Kintala's electrical system is likely to result in a whole new can of whup-ass spilling all over my shoes. Best if a dock and a parts house is nearby when it does.

And that would be the cool headed, rational, experienced operations manager in me speaking. But that guy was forced into retirement a few months ago. The me that has been taking a 12 hour beating nearly every day since is about to go absolutely bat-nuts crazy. A couple of days ago, while trying to sort out the nav station, Deb found paperwork detailing damage the boat suffered when struck by a water spout while living in TX. (Paperwork that was not given to us with all of the other paperwork offered for review when we bought the boat.) The list of things "repaired" is almost word for word the things we have had to fix again; rudder, skeg, steering, toe rail leaks, damage to the forward deck, and standing rigging ... more than $20,000 worth. The truth is, had we known about this damage history we would have walked, nay RAN, away from this boat and never looked back.

I bought a pig in a poke, and now it is the only home I have. Grinding out whatever grinding remains before we feel confident enough to take this thing off the dock is the only choice left. I have been well and truly suckered by a marine industry that knew a mark when they saw one. The only hope now is that I am a good enough mechanic to pull this off and, so far, the jury is out on that one. Even if I think I can fix this thing, Deb has to be convinced that I have for, in no way, do we head out until she is happy to do so.

If we can't get there I have no idea what happens next. For now the cruising dream lays on the far side of a nightmare boat. For any trying to follow our path to a life on the water allow me to offer these few hard-earned bits of advice about buying used boats:

If you get the slightest hint of weirdness from either buyer or seller's broker ... run.

If you can't track down and talk with every owner the boat has ever known ... run.

If any broker or previous owner tells you even the slightest, smallest thing that you know to be untrue, if they misrepresent the boat in any way at all ... run faster.

Your surveyor is an idiot.

The boat is worth less than half of what the current owner wants for it. You probably can't get it for that price, but go in knowing anything you pay over that is - one way or the other - going to come directly out of your hide.

If possible, do not make an offer until after the survey and sea trial. There are going to be so many things wrong with a "good" boat that it will astound you, and all of them will be harder and more expensive to fix than anyone will admit.

Walk away from any potential boat for any reason and never regret it. There will be another one around the corner to look at.

A boat is just a machine; a collection of fiberglass and metal, wire and tubes, ropes and sails. It has no soul, no emotions, no intentions, no loyalty, and no guilt; it is just a tool you need if you want to go cruising. You are going to invest more money than you think and more time than you have; investing emotions as well will only make it worse.

(I, sadly, have failed at this last one ... I absolutely hate this boat. But it is the only boat, and now the only choice, I have.)

Go into any boat deal with the sure knowledge that someone is trying to bugger you silly and that they have had a lot of practice. Standing between you and your dream is a whole industry of miscreants, hustlers, charlatans, thieves and assorted low-lifes. Navigating past them will be the most dangerous part of your journey.

I hope you make a better job of it than I did.