Where to start, at the beginning I guess?
It's all about a change of patterns.
Brenda and I are choosing to change ours.
We're going to live on a boat.
At the time of this writing I'm about a month into a major refit of what will be our new home.
This is the KAIAN as she looked about 5 years ago.
This is what she looked like when I found her by accident last November, sitting derilect in a storage yard on the coast in Washington state.
The previous owners had started - then abandoned, a restoration.
I loved her lines as soon as I saw her. What followed was a hasty negotiation on her sale, even though she wasn't for sale (timing as they say is everything).
I gotta back up here a little bit, it seem time is just a blur when I think back on this whole process.
I had been looking (read obsessing) about the boat that would be our future home for almost a year, ever since Brenda said yes to the idea.
It entailed hours upon hours scouring the Internet for possible candidates while at the same time disposing of all of out worldly possessions.
Yes, that means house, furniture, knick knacks, basically all of the stuff you carry into the house versus carry out.
The old saying that you don't know how much "STUFF" you have until you have to move it sooo true.
When we had finally sold the house, it was for real, now we were committed, or as some would put it, we should be committed.
I made the first trip to the west coast in late fall to scope out some boats. It was a bust, looked at half a dozen boats and none of them panned out.
A second trip in November proved just as disappointing, except for one chance circumstance.
While looking at another boat, I spotted the KAIAN sitting forlornly in the corner of the storage yard.
Before heading back to the airport for my flight home, I inquired at the marina office as to the situation regarding this boat, since it clearly looked unkept.
The office informed me that they had regular inquiries on the boat and that it was not for sale, however since they forwarded a monthly storage invoice to the owners, they could include my contact info, should he wish to reach me.
Fine, I thought, send him my email, and home I went.
At this point, I had only seen the boat from a quick walk around, I couldn't even determine what it was constructed of. My first guess was that it was a fairly good ferro-cement job.
A week after I was home, I received an email from the owner, she was indeed for sale, and she was an Ed Monk designed 62' aluminum motor sailor
I was HOOKED, I had to have this boat!
Negotiations proceeded and ended with a phone call. We now owned a boat.
Funds were transferred pending my survey, and back I went to WA.
Now I was able to spend a couple of days crawling through every nook and cranny of the KAIAN. She didn't disappoint me.
In the past I have demonstrated a knack for seeing a diamond in the rough, I felt that this vessel had the potential to be a wonderful home for us, given some vision and a lot sweat equity.
I came home, the papers were inked and the sale finalized. The KAIAN was officially ours.
What follows is an account of the process of turning a basic gutted hull into a floating home capable of transoceanic travel.
I realize some of what follows will make some reader's eyes glaze over, however there are those of you that will be with me during every skinned knuckle, or day of being covering in everything from bilge goo to aluminum oxide. Again please bear with me.
This is what she looked like when I found her by accident last November, sitting derilect in a storage yard on the coast in Washington state.
The previous owners had started - then abandoned, a restoration.
I loved her lines as soon as I saw her. What followed was a hasty negotiation on her sale, even though she wasn't for sale (timing as they say is everything).
I gotta back up here a little bit, it seem time is just a blur when I think back on this whole process.
I had been looking (read obsessing) about the boat that would be our future home for almost a year, ever since Brenda said yes to the idea.
It entailed hours upon hours scouring the Internet for possible candidates while at the same time disposing of all of out worldly possessions.
Yes, that means house, furniture, knick knacks, basically all of the stuff you carry into the house versus carry out.
The old saying that you don't know how much "STUFF" you have until you have to move it sooo true.
When we had finally sold the house, it was for real, now we were committed, or as some would put it, we should be committed.
I made the first trip to the west coast in late fall to scope out some boats. It was a bust, looked at half a dozen boats and none of them panned out.
A second trip in November proved just as disappointing, except for one chance circumstance.
While looking at another boat, I spotted the KAIAN sitting forlornly in the corner of the storage yard.
Before heading back to the airport for my flight home, I inquired at the marina office as to the situation regarding this boat, since it clearly looked unkept.
The office informed me that they had regular inquiries on the boat and that it was not for sale, however since they forwarded a monthly storage invoice to the owners, they could include my contact info, should he wish to reach me.
Fine, I thought, send him my email, and home I went.
At this point, I had only seen the boat from a quick walk around, I couldn't even determine what it was constructed of. My first guess was that it was a fairly good ferro-cement job.
A week after I was home, I received an email from the owner, she was indeed for sale, and she was an Ed Monk designed 62' aluminum motor sailor
I was HOOKED, I had to have this boat!
Negotiations proceeded and ended with a phone call. We now owned a boat.
Funds were transferred pending my survey, and back I went to WA.
Now I was able to spend a couple of days crawling through every nook and cranny of the KAIAN. She didn't disappoint me.
In the past I have demonstrated a knack for seeing a diamond in the rough, I felt that this vessel had the potential to be a wonderful home for us, given some vision and a lot sweat equity.
I came home, the papers were inked and the sale finalized. The KAIAN was officially ours.
What follows is an account of the process of turning a basic gutted hull into a floating home capable of transoceanic travel.
I realize some of what follows will make some reader's eyes glaze over, however there are those of you that will be with me during every skinned knuckle, or day of being covering in everything from bilge goo to aluminum oxide. Again please bear with me.
