Normally, when one moves into a land
based dwelling, it is stripped bare of everything that does not
uniquely belong to that dwelling. This is my third boat and I have
found that not to be true for boats.
My first boat, Chatelaine, did come to
me pretty much stripped bare. In fact, the previous owner removed
some equipment after I made my offer – most notable, gorgeous clock
and barometer set that had adorned the bulkhead forward of the
dinette table.
My next boat, Laelia, came with a
confusing wealth of miscellaneous stuff ranging from junk to
surprisingly valuable things. Lots of extra lines, blocks, and a
plethora of bottles of liquids devoted to maintaining the appearance
of the boat. Lots of duplicates – several bottles of clear plastic
cleaner, fiberglass cleaner, metal polish, etc. It wasn't all that
hard to understand since the previous owners were not buying another
boat.
When I sold Laelia, I left everything
that was specific to her – spare parts for the wind vane, hoses,
engine parts, etc. Although I had no intention of buying another
boat, I took with me all the optional extra parts. I figured that
eventually I would get around to selling off the items I took with
me. Had I known what lay ahead, I might not have left behind quite as
much gear as I did.
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| The move-in begins |
The day after I signed documents to
purchase Ayala, my daughter, Lane, helped me move two loads of boxes
in her 4Runner. That's not a lot of stuff but it left the cabin
stacked full of things I was bringing aboard. I've taken the approach
of first putting away my clothes in drawers and locker space that
obviously is intended for clothes storage. Then came the galley. I
need to be able to find my food and cook it. That, too, is pretty
obvious.
Then comes the hard part. A cruising
boat needs a lot of “stuff” to keep it going reliably. If
something breaks when the boat is well away from a marine supply
store, it ranges from inconvenient to fatal if the needed replacement
part is not aboard. I had brought assorted blocks and shackles, wire,
ham radio equipment, etc, but given Ayala's utilization of storage
space, I expected no problem finding room for my equipment.
Understand that Ayala was designed to
be a serious cruising boat. That means that there is very little
unusable volume in the interior. Although she has nearly identical
length and beam (width), Laelia had not nearly the storage space. The
builders had put her together in a way that left significant amounts
of volume inaccessible or unusable for storage of gear.
Ayala is replete with drawers,
cabinets, lockers, removable panels under the seat cushions as well
as space under the cockpit. I had spent the better part of the week
before I closed the deal on Ayala living aboard, doing some cleanup
and poking through storage areas. I realized that there was a lot of
items left aboard but I only pulled things out of storage if I needed
to see the condition of the boat – evidence of leaks or rot.
After stowing clothes and galley gear,
I started hauling stuff out of all the remaining storage spaces. I
was dumbfound at the results. If I were to put a replacement value on
the items I have found, it would run well over $1000. I found
shackles and blocks. I found power tools – multiple circular
sanders, a heat gun, and one as yet unidentified power tool. I found
spools of wire, light bulbs of all descriptions, connectors for
wiring, a charger that takes solar panel output and charges 12v
batteries, small inverters for converting 12v DC to 120v AC. All good
things to have but, given that I also had all of my gear left to
stow, it has gotten to the point that each time I open a new storage
area and find it full, I almost wish it was empty instead – almost.
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| At the end of day two |
All of this is a long essay to designed
to inform the reader that the move in process is going slowly. But,
it is progressing. By the second night, I had pretty much put away my
clothes and galley items (see right). When I initially put everything aboard, I could hardly walk from one end of
the boat to the other. Two days later, there is nothing on
the cabin sole (floor) to obstruct my peregrinations. However, there
still is precious little space to sit in.
In the first euphoric hours after I
signed the papers to make Ayala mine, I thought I might be able to
throw everything aboard, cast off and head south. I had visions of
rejoining friends in La Paz and spending sunny, warm days getting
Ayala cleaned up, varnished and ship shape. Hah! Not a chance! I will
be doing good to be in shape to sail in less than a month. Not only
do I have to finish moving in and getting ready to go to sea, I have
to wait for paperwork to catch up with me. It takes the Coast Guard
about six weeks to process the documentation and get a copy to me.
Then I have to deal with the foreign government paperwork – visas,
permits, etc. All told, that may make the idea of going foreign any
time soon a pipe dream.
Once again, patience is required –
not always what I do best.
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