I suppose I should take the long view here, and be happy that I got a good education for a mere $3K. I’m now much better equipped to contemplate potential ships, though I must admit that there is a strong sense of letdown along with the unavoidable “what-if” feeling. I’ll always wonder… Gypsy Spirit is…

It seems insane that I’m already out $3K on the “decision support” aspects of this project; I’ve paid for overall survey, haulout and audio gauge, rigging inspection, engine and power system audits, and oil analysis. This is rather a lot of expense, but hopefully, by hiring trusted experts, I am either saving myself from my…

The first truly traumatic experience with this boat that I don’t even own yet was a couple of days ago… the full survey with haulout. Alain Vilage was wonderful and a wealth of information, and he spent the day examining her from stem to stern. Late in the morning, it was time to cast off…

Before even acquiring the ship, I knew I had to have this bit of gizmology; it automates what I did for a couple of years with the maplets of local kayak jaunts aboard Bubba. In the photo, you can see my simple and expedient packaging job: I just nestled the hardware into a carved foam…

Tomorrow is perhaps the pivotal event in the acquisition (or avoidance) of this ship… a full-scale Condition & Valuation (C&V;) survey by Alain Vilage. It was a bit of a scramble getting to this point, as the fellow originally scheduled to do the survey turned out not to be a SAMS or NAMS member. While…

Historically, I have posted most of my news to the Microship live page, a place for ephemeral commentary and fleeting tidbits that really don’t need to be archived. But as a couple of readers have pointed out over the past couple of days, it’s time to start blogging about this new project. So this, along…

I am setting up a site for this new nautical substrate, since it diverges so thoroughly from the Microships… posting over there would approach cognitive dissonance! At the moment, I am still in the pre-acquisition phase, but well along. The ship has been selected, and I have already had the rigging and engine inspections done…