Summer boat deals

I woke up early and made the mistake of checking Craigslist to see if there were any good sailboat deals out there. It's the middle of summer, just about the time whe some people get serious about selling heir old boats.

Even though I'd pretty much decided to take the Oday 19 south one more year, that doesn't keep me from looking. There are a few nice little boats for sale for low low prices. How much longer boats in sail away condition are going to sell for less than the salvage value of the lead in their keels is anybody's guess.

August is an interesting month for northern boaters. People who upgraded to bigger boats are getting around to selling their old boats. By now it's occured to some people that the summer is half over, their boat has not been in the water and it probably won't be. Who wants to register a boat for half a season? In another month people will have to think seriously about winter boat storage. When that happens the market will be flooded with boats.

Even a 22 foot boat would be a nice upgrade: cooking inside the cabin instead of out in the cockpit, sitting head room, and maybe the ability to use the potty without reorganizing the whole boat. We could even squeeze in a visitor or two for the night. It's still too small a boat to interest "serious" coastal crusiers, but since we've cruised in a 19 foot boat, it's all good.

A boat that size has a bit more room, but it's still cheap to spend the night in a marina. Of course, shoal draft is a must. For the way I sail a swing keel has more advantages than disadvantages. There's an awful lot of shallow water off the coast of Florida.

In other news my buddy and I finally got around to working on the broken spring on my homemade trailer for my little 12 foot boat. My buddy has a cutting torch that make quick work of rusty bolts and brackets. We searched through his extensive collection of trailer parts but could not find a bolt on replacement. He was willing to install some heavy duty springs, but they were way too stiff for my little boat. It would be like having a straight welded axel. So sometime later this week I'll stop in on the local spring shop and see what those guys can do for me.

Just to round out the day my lovely wife and I took our granddaughter for a sail around the lake a few times. There's more to boats than buying and fixing them.

-Sixbears