A Pirate Looks at 30?

The Fluid World of Boat Transport

2011-02-16T07:50:00.000-08:00

So, today is the day Parlay gets picked up by the truck...or so I thought. At about 9:30 this morning, I get an e-mail from the transport company saying their driver for my truck didn't properly account for the weight of the boat he was moving and the truck and trailer broke...in Texas. I'm not real good at math (actually I am), but how is a truck that broke down in Texas yesterday supposed to make it to Rhode Island today?

Of course this set of a phone call frenzy to every shipper in the United States looking for someone who could pick up the boat on short notice, including a frantic call to the father-in-law to ask whether his Freightliner could tow a 70' trailer (the company I had originally contracted with, based in North Carolina, had a trailer but no truck). Of course the company that finally agreed to pick the boat up this week was the company I was referred to in the first place, mainly for their amazing customer service and competitive prices. I know, I should have used them the first time around. The folks at Able transport dispatched a driver from Virginia within about 30 minutes and said he would pick the boat up on Friday. Not only that, but he promised delivery before the end of next week (something the first company would not promise). What this means to the Mrs and I is that we actually to get to play on the boat in CA in two weeks.

Photo Tour of Parlay on the hard

2011-02-13T07:13:00.000-08:00

Our Yard - The Hinckley Yard

She is a "fat bottom girl" - our neighbor is only a foot shorter!

The front/back door

Transom with our new lettering

From the Transom looking foward

Compass

Looking through companionway

Galley

Forward Cabin

Aft Cabin

Galley from the aft cabin view

Refrigeration Thermostat (our newest system on the boat!)

Nav Station

Our new and seriously upgraded battery bank (added over 600 AH!)

Inverter/Charger - how I will be able to run my hairdryer underway (clearly important)

The newly installed freezer bin and refrigeration

Look at the ice in our freezer! (of course its also 22F outside so that helps)

Conor about to descend into the starboard locker (great spot for hide and seek)

Conor all the way in the locker (6'2 and it's roomy for him!)

Compressors for the newly installed refrigeration system

Practicing driving the boat...but something is missing...

Our front door but not for much longer...soon we will have saloon style entryway doors - thanks Kevin and Sandi!

Cockpit Table perfect for cocktails and dreams

The Galley and entryway ladder

More storage

My favorite part of the boat and most important...the liquor cabinet!

Our dining table (we don't even have one in our house in Newport...upgrade!)

Liquor Cabinet

Soggy Dollar Burgee

Margarita Burgee!

The owner's manual

Sink and the head

Shower

Conor on our starboard expanded sette (Parlay can sleep up to 7 people)

Some of our behind cushion storage

Dry Storage

Sink

Closin up the door

Our neighbors

The oldest boat in the yard

The Journey Begins

2011-02-07T14:18:00.000-08:00

A month ago my wife, Rebekah, and I purchased our 2002 Island Packet 350, Parlay which we intend to live aboard in San Diego and ultimately St Thomas, in the Virgin Islands. Initially, I had intended to begin a blog about our process when we started looking for our boat, but it continually got pushed back further and further. I hope to cover our search, identification, and purchase over the next several posts.

The single largest thing I was surprised about when buying our boat was the vast amount of cash it costs. Many people talk about how expensive a boat is and that the word stands for "bring on another thousand" or that a boat represents a hole in the water you simply throw all of your money into. I haven't found this to be the case at all. The boat itself has cost us relatively little. It's all the peripherals and nickel and dime expenses that really kill you.

Our boat was 100% financed, however we had about $20k saved for rainy day funds and adding refrigeration to our boat prior to moving aboard. The shocker to us was that you can't just add refrigeration. You have to upgrade your battery bank. In order to upgrade your battery bank, you have to add an inverter and upgrade the battery charger. All in all, it set us back about $12k. Extremely important to us, but still an expense much higher than we initially expected.

A second expense was simply transporting it to our destination (San Diego, CA) and getting it into the water. About $10k to ship (Navy was covering this cost for us), $600 for yard costs in Newport (crane services, etc). $4k for yard costs in San Diego (remove old bottom paint and paint on new bottom paint as Parlay was a fresh water boat before we bought her, stepping and rigging mast, crane services, etc)

The nickel and dime expenses I mentioned earlier were things like mooring lines, fenders, and life preservers. Completely unglamorous expenses, yet these small expenses added up to almost $1000 we hadn't initially budgeted for.

My goal for this blog is to update enough to be useful to the casual follower or even the family member, but not so frequently that useful information is lost in a sea of worthless words. About 3-4 times a week would be my guess at the beginning while a lot is going on and then much less frequently when we get settled in San Diego and into the daily grind of the 9-5 jobs. To date, Parlay has done nothing but cost us money, however we are extremely excited to move aboard next month and start our new life!