I really do love that name. It’s a small town about a half hour north-west of Portland, and the name makes me smile.
We were up fairly early, found a fabulous boulangerie a block from our hotel and enjoyed an excellent coffee and pastry, enjoyed the crisp morning air as the sun came up and left a gold glow on an impressive old bank building. Then it was retrieve the truck and head for Scappoose.
The marina is on the river, and the river was lined with floating homes. There are so many floating homes in the Portland area. The broker we met here told us that there are more floating homes in Portland than anywhere else in the US. And all the ones we saw were really fabulous.
But we weren’t here to look at float homes. We were here to see a boat. Hopefully “the” boat.
We were a bit early, and the broker was a lot late, so we drove up the side road to see if we could see the boat from shore. We found it. And it looked pretty great from across the narrow channel.
We were really hopeful.
At about ten minutes past our meeting time, I texted the broker but received no response. We figured he was just running late. The morning was chilly, but it was sunny and peaceful along the river bank.
After a half hour, I called and left a voicemail. I received a very apologetic text and phone call…it was his birthday and he’d lost track of time with out of town family celebrating his day. He was on his way.
Eventually he arrived and we chatted down the dock to the boat. He was again very apologetic as he pulled on a pair of heated gloves. It wasn’t “that” cold. Then he said he’d recently been diagnosed with ALS. Shit, that’s a crappy card to be dealt at 53. He said it was slow progressing though, and he had lots of time, just not as much as he’d expected. No kidding. We talked a bit about shifting perspectives when things hit you or those you care about. Lately I’ve felt that perspective shift, but I couldn’t imagine how his life is changing.
We arrived at the boat and it didn’t look quite as great up close. The hull was good, just had some algae growth on it. The dock and the topsides were slick with frost and we all stepped carefully so as to not go for an unintended swim in the river.
And then the disappointment started to set in. There were some gelcoat pits that had exposed the underlying fibreglass. The teak strips on the cockpit floor and seats were weirdly eroded and the finishing staples were all pushing up. There were some cracks in the benches and around one of the steering station structures. The canvas was in excellent shaper= though.
Inside there was condensation on surfaces, all of the vinyl wall covering had peeled from the hull, hatches were swollen shut, the upholstery was cracked and flaking, and the window coverings were missing hooks and hanging askew. One of the doors to one of the heads opened easily, but then I had to put my entire body weight against the edge and push it towards the hinges to get it to close again. There was no heater or stor-dry to keep the air even slightly warmed. The sails are original, and there are no backups. It’s doubtful they’d ever been taken off and cleaned or checked. There was no tender or motor.
The owner lives in LA and clearly the boat just sits outside of the week or few weeks that he comes up to use it. It was badly neglected. The price was OK, but the amount of work it needs…..we don’t want a project boat. Small projects, like refinishing a table…sure. But a whole interior? And that topside? This was not the boat for us. Sadly.
We thanked him and headed off towards home. Disappointed and feeling a bit dejected. Along the way we started thinking about the other two again.
There is no way the Marlow would fit in the slip we have, and a 50′ boat with an almost 15′ beam is a LOT of boat to maneuver.
But are we being overly picky on the Jeanneau? Maybe. The price is right, and it comes in enough under budget that we could still have a completely new frame and canvas installed, buy a new dinghy motor, and probably get a full complement of new sails and be close to or just over the somewhat arbitrary budget we set.
But we also don’t want to feel desperate.
It’s the end of January, there will be more boats int eh next month or two, but there will also be more buyers and I also don’t want to be in a bidding war.
Back to the thinking….