# Getting Started



## fourdegreesc (Nov 22, 2009)

Well, I'm now in my second attempt for a cruising sailboat. The first was a disastrous Peason Vanguard. Nothing wrong with the boat, but I tried living on it and working on it at the same time. No way. And no more plastic either.

Last month I finalized the purchase of a 30 ft George Bueller designed steel cutter. The workmanship seems spot on. I operate steel hull cargo vessels for a living, so I'm pretty confident in that judgement. She's a handful in close quarters because of her weight and the somewhat small engine. It's a 16-18-20 (I've read different numbers) Hp Duetz single cylinder, air cooled beastie (that has to go!). The boat weighs 18000 I'm told, and that's a whole lot of "hard to start, hard to stop".

The cutter rig is something new to me, but I really like it. The sails are practically new; the boat was launched in 2004. The bowsprit adds 6 or 7 feet that I have to pay for at the dock, but I'm hoping it will be worth it when the wind dies down. There is a honkin' big winch forward, an ABI double acting manual windlass. ABI is no longer in business and I need to free up the clutch. Windlasses are too often neglected, I know from work, so I hope I can free it up without destroying the friction disc.

I was afraid the cabin would be too small in a 30 foot boat but not this one. It's cavernous, partly because it has no bulkheads. I really like the cabin layout.

It has a kerosene heater and stove top, both of which are now officially for sale. They are Taylors model 079K and 28K respectively. I'll consider trades for diesel units, though I doubt anyone would want to trade away diesel for kerosene.

The boat is in Hernando Beach, FL now, where I bought it and the seller was kind enough to let me keep it behind his house until I can move it. I think he didn't want to see it sell, though he practically gave it away ($10K!!!). For a boat ready to set sail, I certainly can't complain. I'm a little batty for being so picky about the engine and Kerosene, but for a less picky guy the boat is ready to go anywhere.

The boat is going to Pensacola in January, where I'll put the finishing touches on the boat and my sailing skills. I'll shipyard the boat next fall/winter to make the major changes. In the mean time I'm building some components - one is a dive compressor, airconditioner, and watermaker auxilliary unit (no two of which will operate at the same time). The other is the main engine. If you have the skills it's way cheaper to marinize your own diesel, and I have a college educated marine engineer who works for me shipboard.

Ah, I also need to address the name. Right now the boat has a state registration and so has no official name, but someone did paint

KONG
Skull Island

on the back. The builder, I'm told, liked that name because the boat is big and heavily built. The trouble is that when you leave the states, she's not that big and beefy. "There are aluminum boats; there are steel boats; and then there are american boats" referring of course to plastic boats. I'm open to suggestions or your thoughts on these possibilities.

Randall Stevens - the made up person in Shawshank Redemption who made off with all the money.

Bamboozle - my engineer says it might tip people off when I arrive, but he says they're entitled to fair warning about me. I like it because a native spanish speaker will pronounce it funny. It makes me giggle...

Mariposo - a slang spanish word (mariposa).

Quetzalcoatl - the Aztec god of wind, a feathered serpent, related to the hummingbird. I really like this one, but as my friend says, when you're on the radio you don't want the other guy saying, "Who?!?!", espectially if you're in trouble.... it won't fit in some AIS windows for vessel name... (and I know there's a whole cult of Quetzacoatl and it wasn't just the god of wind, and technically not even that, since a lesser god, Ehecatl, was THE god of wind (tm), but his boss got a lot of cred for it, so there.)

Anyway, weigh in if you like. And if you're in Pensacola drop me an email and we'll go shake the sails out.

-dennis


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## Ajax_MD (Nov 24, 2009)

Pictures?


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## landmineop (Sep 2, 2010)

Is she presently available ?


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