My Plan

So, I'm in the market for a boat...

Well, maybe not, but I'd like to be. I get these crazy notions from time to time. This time, it's to find an old boat sitting in the back of a boatyard somewhere; something that needs a lot of work. My plan is to make an offer and take it off the hands of its grateful owner - I'd say three or four hundred dollars is about where my budget lies.

This may sound like insanity. But apparently there are lots of people who have taken this approach. I am sure I'm underestimating the cost in both time and money to make the boat usable. Oh, and the cost in my wife's patience. I'll be redeemed when we sail off into the sunset together. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself...

Part of the problem is that I don't live near the coast. I do live close enough to a lake, but how far can you go in a lake? Besides, a boat big enough to sail around the world is a little too big for my lake, I'm sure. So I'm torn: find a smaller boat to work on; find a bigger boat and plan to either sell it or transport it; or wait? (I know, I could just move to the coast - believe me, I'm tempted.)

When I dream about this boat, I look forward to the time when I can leave some of this life behind. I like my job and I don't mind going to work, but I'll be happy when my only task for the day is to make it a hundred miles. There's a fair amount of stress in my life - I think most of the things that stress me won't really apply on the water. I wouldn't say there's much in my life to leave behind, but there are some things I won't miss.

ha! I'm getting ahead of myself again. I think that this looking ahead has given me a rosy outlook on what might be required. Then again, I'm pretty sure that nothing gets accomplished by people that sit and think of all the reasons why they can't.

I realize that the percentage of people that move aboard a sailboat and spend their days sailing wherever they want to go is small. But quite a few people do do it. So why not us? We're pretty smart. We're resourceful. We're motivated. My guess is that resourcefulness and motivation are the biggest things. Anyone can find money, somehow. It's kinda hard to figure out how to be self-sufficient.

Anyway, the more I think about this, the more I like it. Maybe tomorrow I'll start cruising the marinas.