in for the winter.

This post is oh, about a month overdue. Apologies for that! Life has been hectic, shall we say?

At the end of last month, we took the trek back down to Larsen Marine to have Interlude pulled for the winter. Why did we go alllll the way back down to Waukegan to have the boat pulled when there is a lovely facility for boat storage just across the marina, you ask? Well, Interlude is having some work done over the winter. When we had the survey done, the major issues were major, yes, but nothing to keep us from enjoying her for the remainder of the season, and after all the waiting we'd done to finally own her, we weren't exactly happy at the prospect of having to wait 6-7 months to get a feel for her. As part of our storage agreement, Larsen would pull her out, do all the engine winterizing and then have her repairs done, hopefully by year end, at which point, we'd be able to begin doing our little projects on her. Here's hoping January, February, and March are mild months!

Josh's mom and dad drove up on Thursday night so we could be aboard her bright and early Friday. We left a car at Larsen and one at the marina in Racine and sailed, or rather motored down all day Friday. I was down with some seasickness, which is the second time it's happened on Interlude and I think the trick is to have a full to the brim stomach. I'll do more experimenting in the spring, otherwise it could be an uncomfortable life :( We got to Larsen around 5:30 and docked with the greatest of ease (a skill we are working on. 36' is a whole lotta boat to dock!). Josh's mom and I drove up to Racine to get the second car while Josh and his dad unloaded the boat, took down the sails and got her a little closer to ready for winterizing. According to Paul, Josh's dad, taking down the sails was a pain, so we've got that to look forward to when we launch in the spring.

Saturday, Josh and his dad went back and winterized some of the systems. They drained the water tank and filled it with "pink stuff", basically antifreeze, emptied the sump and filled it with more pink stuff and did more work to get the other systems prepared for the cold. I should have been there, but Josh said it was tight quarters with the two of them, let alone four of us. And hopefully we'll only have to do the winterizing bit one more winter after this!

So Interlude is by now out of the water, her bottom cleaned, engine flushed, and she's probably in the shop. We haven't had any updates on the progress but once we do, we'll go up and check on the workmanship of the repairs and start planning our projects. 

serena

That might be her name.
Over the past few weekends, we have been looking at boats. We've looked before but never with such purpose. What's different? We're closer than we ever have been to casting off. Really. I know I said that along time ago, but this time it's true.
We've probably seen a few dozen boats. So many, in fact, that they all seem to blur together into some sort of mega-boat, à la Megatron—a boat with super powers that transforms into a jack-knife AND segway. Or not. What has actually happened is that we've narrowed down the field to two. Probably just one, but as Josh is doing his left-brained thing, I can't definitively say it's "the one".
Her name is Serena—a name I can happily live with, since changing a boat name is considered bad luck—and she's a 38' Morgan 382. Built in 1978, she was part of the second iteration of Morgan 38's that were built (the first being Morgan 38—designed and build in the late 60s by Charley Morgan, the second, third and fourth—382, 383 and 384 designed by Ted Brewer in the late 70s then redesigned in 1980 and 1983 under those numbers, respectively). Yes, she's at the top end of our size range (initially we said 32 to 36') but no matter. As she's only 2 feet over, the cost differential is minor. Serena has plenty of bells and whistles that make her attractive to us including: an almost new motor (something like 350 hours which is all but unheard of in a boat in her price range and size), auto pilot, lots of new deck hardware including self-tailing winches, newer sails, new boom, and new Harken battcar main sail system.
She also has some deficits which would require upgrades. Josh wants a chart plotter, she has no bow roller which would mean manually pulling up the anchor (not fun, from what I hear), and most importantly to me, she has no stove or oven. While it's not a deal breaker, it will require some work to install. We'll have to devise a locker storage set-up for the propane which could be a challenge. We will also definitely have to paint the bottom. She's solely been a fresh water boat and does not have sufficient bottom paint to deal with the saltiness in the caribbean.
I'm hoping we can get down to see her on more time this weekend and walk over her and do a literal floor plan of what we would do and how much said upgrades would cost if she were our boat. That way, we know where to start for an offer. Fingers crossed and I'll keep you posted.