Our first season of chartering our two Morgan sailboats has come to a close. We are exhausted, astonished, and mostly…relieved.
The learning curve this season looked like the graph of a tech stock IPO—straight up.
Those of you who have read previous newsletters know that our season started off on the wrong foot with our new-to-us Morgan 384. We thought we were all dialed in on account of the new Beta diesel with only 37 hours on it.
We couldn’t have been more wrong.
But with some long days and the help of others (SAVE THE DAY JAY!), we got her off on her first charter by the skin of our teeth.
So, what have we learned this season?
1. Murphy’s Law is alive and well.
No matter how simple we tried to make things for our charterers—including a nine-page operator’s manual—things still got messed up or broken.
If it could go wrong, it did.
2. Every boat has a personality and the first season with a new-to-you boat is really an extended shakedown cruise.
You don’t really know a boat until you’ve lived with it.
Our biggest mistake was not sailing our new boat for a season before chartering her so we could understand her quirks, temperament, and joys.
But alas, our deal with the seller was that we would have her paid off after the first season of chartering.
A bit of a Catch-22.
3. The best upgrade is often the one you don’t install.
Especially if the existing thing works perfectly well.
Our Morgan 382 still has her original Perkins 4-108—so it’s more or less 46 years old, albeit with some updates and partial rebuilds along the way.
She worked like a charm this summer.
Knock wood.
In addition to the old engine, we have an old manual windlass. Works like a charm. And unless you’re Reacher or the Incredible Hulk, you’re not pulling the boat to the anchor like some folks tend to do with an electric windlass. (Don’t do this, we said. But I’m sure some people did!)
Manual: more work, but a lot less likely to give you any fuss.
Knock wood.
4. If you don’t know what that noise is, you will eventually find out.
This is a classic bugaboo for sailors. Right up there with the leak you can’t trace to its headwaters.
Eventually, the boat will reveal its secrets.
Usually at the least convenient possible moment—like in the middle of the night.
5. A good survey is worth every penny.
But a survey doesn’t mean you’re done learning about the boat.
It becomes a sort of “choose your own adventure,” with breadcrumbs leading you from one fix to another.
And another.
A bad survey can be costly in so many ways.
Ask us how we know… :)
6. Boat partnerships can be the bee’s knees.
It’s not for everyone. But it has been working for us—and with this crazy chartering gambit, at one point or another, each one of us reached for the ropes to tap out for a round.
We had each other’s backs. We got the job done.
We couldn’t have done it without each other—and Save the Day Jay.
No way. Not a chance.
The payoff: We’re all better friends for it.
The benefit we have is that I’ve known Josh since we were 8. Canadian Ken? I’ve known him for 26 years now—almost half my life.
Save the Day Jay? Well, it’s like he fell out of the sky and landed on our boat. He’s like all of us wrapped into one. And while he’s not a boat partner (he has his own ride), he’s one of the crew whether he likes it or not.
If anyone wants to have a conversation about how we make this partnership work, please let us know.
7. Sailors will fix almost anything with the right combination of stainless steel, hose clamps, and optimism.
This season we had to replace a bilge pump because the black-water tank was overfilled and pushed through a sending unit into the bilge—and said bilge pump burned out before it could empty the last deluge of black water.
Use your imagination as to how that went.
We fixed a windlass clutch. Used rip-stop sail tape to repair a genoa 20 minutes before charterers arrived to take the boat out for a week. Traced faulty wiring for the running lights (we still haven’t figured this one out). Sent a diver down to inspect keel damage after a grounding. Replaced a mushroom vent that was sheared off the deck by an errant jib sheet on day one of a charter—despite our having used that boat for five years without such an incident.
It goes on and on.
But BoatFools don’t quit.
Credit to Save the Day Jay for this line of inspiration—which he used just when I was asking Green Mountain Josh to throw me overboard with the anchor around my neck after a long day of shit breaking and nothing working the way it was intended…
We used everything and anything at our disposal to patch up our boats, solve problems, and get them back into service. We did NOT quit.
8. There is no such thing as “just a quick trip to Hamilton Marine.”
You go in for one $8 fitting and emerge $247 poorer.
This is obvious.
Like not grocery shopping on an empty stomach, it’s probably best to look at your bank account before heading into Hamilton.
9. The Maine boating community is the secret weapon.
The people you meet—and the people who will answer the phone when you’re standing in a boat wondering what the hell you’re looking at—are worth more than any piece of equipment.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
And when someone else makes that call to you, answer it.
10. We’re still learning.
Probably the most important lesson of all.
After all these years, there are still things that surprise us. Things we don’t know. Things we thought we knew but apparently didn’t.
The season ends. The boats get hauled. The sails get folded. And somehow the lists of things to fix get longer rather than shorter.
But somewhere between the first launch and the last sail, you learned something. About the boat. About sailing. Maybe even about yourself.
And by spring, you’ve forgotten half of it and are ready to do the whole damn thing all over again.
So, knowing what we know now, will we charter our boat(s) again next season?
Well, the three FOUR of us will sit down with a bottle of rum and figure it out. Maybe we’ll add another boat to the fleet. Maybe we’ll sell one. Maybe we’ll come up with an entirely new scheme that seemed like a good idea after the second glass.
It’s going to be a long winter of repairs, dreaming, and scheming.
The Market Update
I’ll keep this short.
If you have dry powder and have your eye on a boat, it is a buyer’s market like we’ve never seen.
There are deals to be had!
GET BUSY SAILING OR GET BUSY TRYING!
I’m guessing once the pain part diminishes, you will be looking for # 3and 4? Maybe Startups aren’t easy like pedaling your bike. First few sweeps are hard but once you’re moving. You don’t even know you have feet
Thanks for another great edition. First season was bound to be bumpy, but I am glad to hear you got through it! Looking forward to hearing about next seasons!