The grass is always greener...on the other boat

Jason K · Post by **Jason K** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 1:19 pm

The grass growing on this boat is greener than my lawn.

If he leaves it alone, it will probably be a great duck blind by next fall.

feetup · Post by **feetup** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:41 pm

I'll bet the cockpit drains are plugged as well. I saw a Catalina the other day with the water in the cockpit right up to within a half inch of the companionway sill. It rained all the rest of that day and night too!
I am not sure I understand the thought processes that are involved here. If maintaining a boat is too costly or too time consuming, or perhaps distastful than why own a boat? In these cases it seems like even going down to check once in a while is too much of a bother.
Maybe I'm going to stir up a wasps nest here, but I was under the impression that owning a boat was synonymous with maintaining it, or at least opening your wallet to get someone with greater skills to maintain it for you. To my mind keeping the old girl looking and working good is a fairly substantial part of the joy I get out of owning a sailboat. Like my good wife, she ain't young, but she cleans up real good, and she's a joy to look at and to be around when she shines.

Feetup

jpmathieu · Post by **jpmathieu** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 4:47 pm

The grass growing on this boat is greener than my lawn

.

Break out the lawnmower, although it might to tough keeping control of one in this situation, maybe a weedwacker would be more appropriate.

Jason K · Post by **Jason K** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 4:55 pm

I am not sure I understand the thought processes that are involved here. If maintaining a boat is too costly or too time consuming, or perhaps distasteful than why own a boat? In these cases it seems like even going down to check once in a while is too much of a bother.

I completely agree. The inner row of slips in my marina is a disgraceful collection of derelict boats - some of which could be very nice. This includes a Cape Dory 30 that is tied up so poorly (and has been since at least September) that it bumps against the equally neglected boat in the next slip over!

I "saved" an Edie & Duff Stonehorse two weeks ago that's on the same pier as the Cape Dory. The boat has a single cockpit scupper that drains from the back of the cockpit. It is connected from the cockpit scupper to the transom mounted drain hole via a rubber hose. I believe that the hose is leaking.

I noticed that the boat was getting lower and lower in the water as I have been doing small projects on my boat recently. I've spent a lot of early mornings in the marina and I could see the boat was settling down on her stern quite a bit.

I called the marina owners and they were thoroughly uninterested. So, I found the Yahoo Stonehorse group and sent an email to an owner in Lafayette (about 2.5 hours away). It turns out that this boat is indeed his and he gave me the lock combination. I went out to the boat that evening and the water was about an inch below the galley counter. I called him from the boat and told him that I would meet him at the boat early the next morning if he would like help pumping it out. It turns out this is his first boat and he is a little over his head. I asked him to pick up the largest bilge pump he could find at WalMart and 15 feet of hose, which he did. It took a 2000 gph pump about three hours to pump the boat out. Though I'm sure the pump wasn't operating at full efficiency, there was a LOT of water in the boat. It is now sitting at least 10 inches higher at the stern.

The boat, by the way, is very neat. I volunteered "free sailing lessons" and I can't wait to go out on it. They are cutter rigged sloops and are supposed to be a dream to sail. The staysail has a wishbone spar and, although it's just dyed dacron, the tanbark sails really give the boat a classic look.

I should say that the owner is a real nice guy that genuinely cares about the boat. He's trying to learn the thrills (and responsibilities) of boat ownership. This was a poignant lesson, I'm sure.

Here's the Stonehorse:

Post by **Tim** » Wed Feb 07, 2007 5:55 pm

I love those Stone Horses. Cool little boats. There's a good-looking one on a trailer a few towns over from here that I have been keeping an eye on.

rshowarth · Post by **rshowarth** » Thu Feb 08, 2007 5:53 am

There was one on the hard in Falmouth this summer.

Here is one on e-bay now. Unfortunately only one poor photograph posted.

Stone Horse