survey says....

Our survey, which took 10 hours over 2 days ("thorough" is the word of the day if you plan to make such a huge purchase and want to know without a doubt that your future home will, in fact, float while you are living aboard it) turned up various issues on the boat we are under contract to buy. Some of them we knew about and some were a surprise (not the good kind, mind you!). We used a gentleman out of Green Bay, WI named Ben Miller (who I highly recommend. I am happy to pass along his contact info for those in the market for a survey.) and after lots of discussing with him and between us, we approached the seller/brokerage with our list of "issues". We fully expected they would fix at least the very minimum problems in order to move forward with the sea trial. Those issues were more safety and structural in nature and ABSOLUTELY HAD to be addressed before putting the boat in the water, mast up, sails on, etc. Surprise of surprises, they have agreed to fix almost all of the items on the list! We should hear back today or tomorrow about the schedule of the maintenance and when we can get her into the water to complete the sea trial. We are beyond excited with the response and are already making our own little "to do" list of things we want to upgrade once she is ours :-)

offer: accepted.

News, you guys! We are thrilled, though cautiously optimistic, to announce that our offer was accepted. Many steps are still between us and our dream boat but this is the first step in the right direction. Surveys and a sea trial will be scheduled beginning next week. More to come...

and we're off.

We JUST sent off our offer to the brokerage. We feel confident and excited about this huge decision. We'll keep you posted!

make 'em an offer....hopefully one they won't refuse.

You guys, this is stressful. We looked at the Union 36 again on Friday, toting along our laundry list of things to consider (the list Mr. Nigel Calder has in his book Cruising Handbook). On the way home we threw out concerns and ideas for upgrades, and of course next steps. This boat is slightly different than previous boats we've seen in that it's owned by a brokerage, not an individual. What does this mean, exactly? That's what we are trying to figure out. Actually, we feel it puts us in a good position. This particular brokerage is associated with a marina and has its own shop for repairs, upgrades, and just all around knowledgeable people. So we have the distinct comfort of knowing that any repairs necessary will be performed by professionals. The next steps: we'll make an offer, make sure the surveyor inspects the issues we feel the boat already needs fixed and hopefully they'll agree to fix them. We actually feel as if the boat is very well outfitted for our purposes. And in excellent condition. Fingers crossed!