I've added the first of no doubt several articles to the permanent pages (links to the right)
The main article is all about Erbas
The second article is a discourse on my reasons for rejecting the stated date of the boat (1970) in favour of her being several years younger
PS. In theory, this blog should now be off Googles blogspot and running on sverbas.org.uk under Wordpress. Trouble is, try as I might, I'm not getting on very well with Wordpress! I'll have to put that to one side for now due to lack of time and stick with Blogger until I can spend more time learning my way around the Wordpress software
Sunday 29 September 2013
Sunday 8 September 2013
We Didn't Mean To Buy A Boat
(With due hat doffing to Arthur Ransome whose book title I have wilfully pagarised!)
It was a nice afternoon. We had nothing much to do. It seemed like a good idea at the time to have a look at one or two boats up for sale at Woodrolfe Brokerage just for future reference. Jane struggles to visualise spaces and layouts from photographs and we wanted to develop more of an understanding of what would suit us both when the time came, in a few years, to possibly change boats
Oh well, it didn't quite work out like that!
There were three boats of potential interest and one in particular appeared, from the look of her, to tick the major boxes. So we duly asked for the keys to "Erbas" and clambered aboard. We liked the cockpit. We liked the space on deck. We LOVED the main cabin! We liked the heads, we liked the forward cabin. I liked the toys, Jane liked the galley (yes, terribly conventional and a little bit sexist I know but there you go).
In short, we loved everything about her and suddenly what had started out as a casual look turned into a serious "can we buy this boat" discussion. I can honestly say that in more than 30 years together, I have never seen Jane so instantly enthusiastic about anything! It was very clear that she was smitten and would be very unhappy with any answer other than "yes dear, of course we'll buy it"!
Never the less, it was not a decision to make lightly. Finances are strictly constrained and a bigger boat with an inboard diesel could prove a very expensive proposition. Well aware of just how much we'd spent on Brigantia on a new engine, new sails, new instruments and so on, I was all too conscious of just how costly a mistake a bigger boat could be.
With the full details in hand and after a chat with the broker we sensibly (unusually for us) decided to spend the weekend on the Orwell as planned and think carefully about the decision. So we did that and then headed back to base on Sunday in order to go and talk serious turkey about buying "Erbas" on Monday!
Back at the brokers in Tollesbury on Monday morning, we met up with the owner of "Erbas" for a chat on board. We were duly impressed with the attention to detail - everything had been carefully documented with drawings and lists of all the systems, connections, equipment configurations and so on.
The only remaining questions now were ... can we raise the money and will the owner take our best offer?
The answer to the first question was a qualified yes. It meant taking out a substantial bank loan over a long period of time to keep our outgoings in the same ball park as our joint income! And to our relief and joy the vendor accepted our best offer without quibbling.
Of course, being a larger and more expensive boat the insurers insisted on a condition survey which was duly carried out for us by Toby from the Yacht Station. Apart from some rather high moisture readings on the hull there was nothing to worry about. I took, and take, the view that high moisture is not, of itself, something to worry about on an older boat if there is no evidence of any other structural problems with the hull. After some to-ing and fro-ing over the paperwork, we had insurance and could go ahead with the purchase.
On Saturday the 7th of September 2013, we became the proud new owners of "Erbas"
The adventure continues ...
It was a nice afternoon. We had nothing much to do. It seemed like a good idea at the time to have a look at one or two boats up for sale at Woodrolfe Brokerage just for future reference. Jane struggles to visualise spaces and layouts from photographs and we wanted to develop more of an understanding of what would suit us both when the time came, in a few years, to possibly change boats
Oh well, it didn't quite work out like that!
There were three boats of potential interest and one in particular appeared, from the look of her, to tick the major boxes. So we duly asked for the keys to "Erbas" and clambered aboard. We liked the cockpit. We liked the space on deck. We LOVED the main cabin! We liked the heads, we liked the forward cabin. I liked the toys, Jane liked the galley (yes, terribly conventional and a little bit sexist I know but there you go).
In short, we loved everything about her and suddenly what had started out as a casual look turned into a serious "can we buy this boat" discussion. I can honestly say that in more than 30 years together, I have never seen Jane so instantly enthusiastic about anything! It was very clear that she was smitten and would be very unhappy with any answer other than "yes dear, of course we'll buy it"!
Never the less, it was not a decision to make lightly. Finances are strictly constrained and a bigger boat with an inboard diesel could prove a very expensive proposition. Well aware of just how much we'd spent on Brigantia on a new engine, new sails, new instruments and so on, I was all too conscious of just how costly a mistake a bigger boat could be.
With the full details in hand and after a chat with the broker we sensibly (unusually for us) decided to spend the weekend on the Orwell as planned and think carefully about the decision. So we did that and then headed back to base on Sunday in order to go and talk serious turkey about buying "Erbas" on Monday!
Back at the brokers in Tollesbury on Monday morning, we met up with the owner of "Erbas" for a chat on board. We were duly impressed with the attention to detail - everything had been carefully documented with drawings and lists of all the systems, connections, equipment configurations and so on.
The only remaining questions now were ... can we raise the money and will the owner take our best offer?
The answer to the first question was a qualified yes. It meant taking out a substantial bank loan over a long period of time to keep our outgoings in the same ball park as our joint income! And to our relief and joy the vendor accepted our best offer without quibbling.
Of course, being a larger and more expensive boat the insurers insisted on a condition survey which was duly carried out for us by Toby from the Yacht Station. Apart from some rather high moisture readings on the hull there was nothing to worry about. I took, and take, the view that high moisture is not, of itself, something to worry about on an older boat if there is no evidence of any other structural problems with the hull. After some to-ing and fro-ing over the paperwork, we had insurance and could go ahead with the purchase.
On Saturday the 7th of September 2013, we became the proud new owners of "Erbas"
The adventure continues ...