She’s been on the market for a few months, and I am not giving up, but pretty much all the cool kids have come over to have a look, and I don’t know who’s left to pounce.
A former Marine came by to check her out as a project for Wounded Warriors. He had done a lot of research on this line and this vessel. It turns out the original design for S-28 Hull #1 was a gaff-rigged ketch. A very small one, if you ask me, but then I am not an expert, merely a fledgling sailing class girl with a sander.
You could go Laser on this rig, but with 8,900 pounds of ballast? 28’ LOA is too big to be small and too small to be big. I understand the design challenge. The line eventually achieved its most popular model with the Spencer 35, a larger cabin, and just more room for everyone. They sell for $40K and sail the ocean blue.
And how many sailors does it take to work a gaff-rigged ketch? This custom yacht was built for a married couple. As a sloop, it can be sailed by two. As a ketch, you’d pretty much have to take two additional adults on your vacation, and are we really going to sleep four in 28’ for an ocean crossing?
It seems better to have a party boat in the Puget Sound.
SO SAY WE ALL.
Another gentleman came to see her but with many tales of woeful luck in having his vessel attacked by what can only be called Pirates in the Puget Sound. He had her on a mooring ball in Port Townsend. They put a big gash on the rudder and sent her to shore. I saw photos of these very events. She was a handsome vessel. I hope he gets her fixed.
A gentleman down at the bar sent over a drink to help things along.
In the end, I needed to get out of Issaquah. It was just too suburban. Now I am back in the fun places, a mere bus ride away from the boat. You have no idea how long it takes to establish a studio apartment. I am convinced it is harder than a one-bedroom. You have to be very inventive about the use of space and get new furniture to make eighty square feet work for a competent adult dweller. You might as well be living aboard on land.
So, for the lack of something else to do, I am going to get some more stuff done, while also not too much. It doesn’t do to wear yourself out over a boat.
There’s always more with boats.
It’s not that I know what I’m doing. You have to learn.
Each vessel is different. There are pros and cons about everything. I know this old Spencer. That is part of why I kept things just the same. The thought of unknown leaks, things jammed in places I can’t reach, rot that seeps in and through thousands of dollars of slickness that looks good but isn’t, makes me, in the words of Hamlet, "rather bear those ills we have than fly to others that we know not of."
Light construction is a fundamental human activity, and I have acquired some nice tools over the course of these events.
At a certain point, it will not be worthwhile to sell because the lithium batteries cost more than the purchase price of the hull, but until then, I am entertaining offers that include a human showing up and not just a computer with a Zelle business account that involves me sending money offshore just to prime the pump!
This here's a cash ENTERPRISE.
Thus the boat is in a race of money, effort, and fun . . . against time and the market.
Next up: snaking out the drains with a drill.
And that hole thingie should have a $10 vent over it. It looks stupid with just a hole, even if it’s not fiberglassed over and painted. Or it could be taped until the project gets to it.
Oh, and why don’t I just pump out the bilge with the hand pump I already have instead of spending more money on a thing that works just as well but hasn’t been sitting there for two years?
