Launch day

Sojourner was launched today.  Unfortunately,  things didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped.  After being on the hard for several weeks, her starter battery was dead and the house batteries appear to also not have any life. 

Luckily, I brought along a battery charger which was able to get the house battery going.  Although, the diesel started, there was now very little water coming out of the exhaust outlet.  After checking the water pump,  I could see that the impeller was damaged so I took it out and went to West Marine to get a new one.  I actually got a spare as well.  After installing that, there was still little if any discharge out of the exhaust. 

What to do?  I began disconnecting hoses that were on the suction side of the engine thinking that there might be an air lock.  Each one was disconnected and blown into.  Then each was primed with water.  Still only a few drops of water came out.  The final hose to be disconnected and checked was an unlikely one: going from the heat exchanger to the exhaust.  After disconnecting it and opening the sea cock, water came out.  I reconnected the hose and then started the engine which resulted in a stream of water coming out of the exhaust outlet.  There appears to have been an airlock on the discharge side of the engine.  I am not sure how that occurred but being on the hard for several weeks probably was the culprit. 

After letting the engine run for about a half hour,  I was able to cast off lines and head towards the marina where Sojourner would be docked.  It was a beautiful day to be on the water.  Everything went well for the trip, including getting the feel for the boat as we maneuvered under the draw bridge and out into Charleston Harbor. 

It is most definitely different having a full keeled boat.  She turns well and getting into the slip bow first was not a problem.  I can see that the most difficult for her will be going in reverse.  We were able to get her to her destination.  Every day is a learning experience.

Getting ready to launch

Finally, after several weeks in the boat yard at Ross Marine, Sojourner was ready to launch. I added quite a bit of new things to the original work order, so I was prepared for a heftier bill. The boat looked gorgeous, and it was worth every penny to me to get her to this point.

I am going to post some photos of the resulting work so you can see what I mean.

At the boat yard

I decided after the survey to have Sojourner pulled out on the travel lift and put at Ross Marine which is a full service boat yard on Johns Island.

It was obvious from the survey that she needed to have her bottom painted. I also chose to have her boot strip repainted and the water line to be raised in the stern.
Another item that I wanted added was a sheer stripe added. It had to be the one for Cape Dory that I was lucky enough to locate on the Cape Dory Owner's Site. That is one awesome site by the way. Every project has been detailed so I will often refer to what has been done over there often.

As far as problems, there were some blisters on the starboard side of the rudder. Those had to be ground out and filled. And there was a small area on the bottom of the keel that needed to be repaired.

I wanted her somewhat oxidized hull compounded, waxed and buffed. And I also wanted to add a name decal on the stern and have her home port indicated as Charleston, SC since she is a documented boat.

Ross Marine was great to work with. They really bent over backwards to make sure I was happy with their work. I can't say enough good things about the people there.

What to do when you decide to buy

I didn't know what the procedures were for buying a boat. For example, I knew that I had to get a surveyor. I also picked the best surveyor that I could get. But I didn't realize that there was a down payment to give to the broker. That was no problem but it was a bit like buying a house. So I followed that model which I knew quite a bit about.

I wanted to do a sea trial for the boat, but all that consisted of was powering the boat to the boat yard where the survey occurred. The sails were raised at the dock. There was no sea trial by actually taking the boat out for a sail. That was a bit surprising to me. It seemed like buying a car without driving it. But everyone seemed to think that motoring was okay and raising the sails at the dock to inspect their quality was satisfactory.

The most important aspect of buying is to get a good surveyor. Capt. Neal Haynes of Bluewater Surveys is awesome. One of the things that I didn't do was to have a diesel mechanic give the engine the once over. But I did have an oil analysis done which indicated no problems with metal contaminants in the oil. The engine, a Perkins 4.108, appeared to be in good shape even with 1250 hours on it.

It is also good to read some books about surveying. One of the ones that I bought was Inspecting the Aging Sailboat by Don Casey. It let me know what to look for and gave me some ideas of what I might be facing. I also followed Capt. Haynes around when he did the survey. I learned a lot from that. It was money well worth spending and provided me with lots of knowledge about the boat.

Luckily, the survey revealed that Sojourner basically needed some cosmetic work done. The canvas on the dodger and the mainsail cover were reaching the end of their life. The deck needs a coat of non-skid. The swaged fittings need to be replaced with mechanical fittings. Not much else was problematic at survey. So it was a deal, and I proceeded to accept the yacht.

Closing went smoothly. And finally she is mine!

Purchasing

I had no idea about the process of purchasing a boat. I thought that you would get to "test" drive the boat. I knew that she would have to be surveyed. But I wasn't sure about the order of things.

So luckily, the first number I called was that of Capt. Neal Haynes of Blue Water Surveys. He was a Godsend because he not only walked me through the process, but he talked plainly to me about the reality of what might be wrong with a boat her age. I am glad that he didn't sugarcoat anything. I needed to hear that she might not be the one for me. I read the book on Inspecting the Aging Sailboat by Don Casey. I was beginning to see all that could possibly be wrong.

When the survey date came around, I was prepared. I followed Neal as he did his inspection. I didn't go up the mast with him. But could see from his comments that this boat had no major problems. He was actually impressed by her!

There were a few blisters on the starboard side of her rudder but none on her hull. There were some other obvious cosmetic work that needed to be done such as new non-skid put on her decks. Her dodger and mainsail cover were worn. Her bottom was in need of new paint. But there were no major issues! I was thrilled.

The last hurdle was to get the results of the oil test that Neal had sent away to be completed by a lab. When he called me to tell me that those results were fine, I knew that Sojourner would be my boat. The owners, Jeff and Jodi Wager, have been great to work with and were ever so patient about questions and the purchasing process. Glen Appelbaum of Ashley Yachts was gracious as well.

I cannot say enough good things about Capt. Haynes though as he not only invited me to his home to discuss the results of the survey with him and his wife, he did the most comprehensive survey one could imagine. If you are buying a boat, this is the man. I have heard him called, "Neal the Deal Breaker", but for me his eagle eye didn't miss a thing. I would highly recommend him.

So the closing process went well. She was now mine.

Next, I'll write about the trip to the boat yard where the survey was done and progress on work there.

How it started

I had been thinking about getting a bigger boat for about a year. My Catalina 22, Compass Rose, is much beloved. She is my first sailboat and has been faithful. I've enjoyed sailing her around Charleston Harbor, on excursions to Capers Inlet, and to Morris Island for four day weekends.

But the ability to move about and cook in a 22 foot boat is limited. Plus, I was beginning to yearn to sail along the coast to some other locations. Nothing too far, say Beaufort or Georgetown. I simply didn't think that it was a good idea to do this is a 22 foot boat.

So I began to look on Yachtworld and to compile a list of my top ten dream boats. I knew that I wanted a sturdy, blue water boat that would be able to do the type of coastal cruising that I dreamed about. As I perused the Yachtworld listings and did more reading, I began to see that some of my top ten boats were not going to be what I wanted. There was either too much teak exteriorly, especially on the deck, or the boats were just too expensive. I began to narrow my choices quite a bit. Shannon, Allied Princess, Cape Dory, and Island Packet were my top picks.

I also started narrowing my search to those boats that I could look at near Charleston. One that kept getting my eye was a 36 foot Cape Dory at City Marina. She was located at the same marina where I went most Wednesday evenings to row with the team. So I decided to give the broker a call.

He met me at the marina after my row, and that was when I first set foot on Sojourner. I liked her immediately. She was beautiful to me. So much room and such beautiful wood work. And nothing that I could see suggested any major problems.


I kept thinking about her, although I continued to look at other listings of boats. But I kept coming back to Sojourner. So after I retired in May 2010, I began to get serious. I just had a feeling that she was the boat for me.

So I talked to her owner, Jeff Wager and decided after listening to the history of the boat and the great care she had been given, to make an offer. More in the next post about purchasing.