Impetuous?

Are we Impetuous enough?

These are the photos that were online on yachtworld when Duncan came home with a glint in his eye and spring in his step.

Engine room was missing a certain something...

Galley looked basically sound if you don't need a cooker, sink, lights, doors, drawers or all that other stuff we think we need....

Hey but hang on, the galley has boxes of screws and jubilee clips so maybe...

Lovely Teak fit out.

We just love those windows... and hang on, isn't that shiny varnish there... slightly out of odds with the cracked gunwhales with holes peppered all along...

 

 

 

 



So we contacted the broker and here are some of the photos he sent.  Bit of a reality injection.  That's the blistered gel coat on the topsides.

Those great big light brown patches are where the previous owner has decided to fill where there had been a through hull fitting.

 The engine really was in 'bits' all over Terry the mechanic's shop.  Another daunting prospect, how could we even be sure it was all there?

 Duncan stretched out full length in the cockpit with all it's holes and cracked paint and just smiled.

We had to think long and hard about this before we got ourselves comitted, so we took off to go and see New Orleans. 

After a plate of Oysters and chips and a couple of cold beers we wrote out our estimate of the jobs, how much they might cost and how long they might take.

I'm looking forward to finding that scrap of paper, it's around here somewhere, and it'd be a real laugh.  I think it said something like; sanding, filling and painting the boat - 4 weeks; making a rudder - 3 weeks; build a new hatch -1 week...

We decided that we would make a very low offer on the already low asking price and see what happened.  We were both pretty excited about the boat but less so about the prospect of living in Texas while we did her up.  We realised that if we went to work back home and saved we could buy a boat in better initial condition however it wouldn't be quite like this, we really liked how sturdy and empty Impetuous was.

Our offer was initially rejected so we shrugged our shoulders and said 'oh well' hoping that may not be the end of it, a few hours later the owner had a change of heart and we were forwarding our deposit.   

That was February 2009.  We went home excited and with plans to save up and come back in the autumn.  We did not know how long the work on Impetuous was going to take so we got our American visas and came over the first time with an open ended plan.  We vaguely thought we might be able to slap on some kind of paint and put her back together and set off.  Over the months and years since we have learnt a lot about fibreglass and boats in general.  It has been sad each time when we have realised that we won't get in the water before the Texas weather becomes unbearable that visit, but at no point have we ever thought we were wasting our time.  The whole project is an investment in our future.  Needless to say we've learned a huge amount on our way and may do a few things differently given another go around.  The important thing is that our boat is definitely 'ours'.  We've put the effort in and know exactly what we've got.  We've been able to keep her simple and solid and therefore have just the boat that we want.