Boat Surveys Contain Surprises!

Ok, so we had our boat hauled out of the water onto a covered slipway with power and lighting - a rare treat for owners of large boats - and engaged the services of a boat surveyor.  He spent a whole day going over the boat with a fine-toothed comb, lifting floorboards, opening cupboards and poking at bits of wood with a spike.  Needless to say that he came up with a long list of things that needed attention, urgent or otherwise, many of which had names that I had never even heard of before.  Who would have known that there were such things as futtock bolts, beam shelves and blakes valves?  Thankfully though, when I passed a copy of the survey report to our shipwright he was nonplussed and said that between us we could sort everything out.

Of course, once the dust had settled and we read through the report more closely we realised that there were words like 'unknown' and 'suspect' scattered liberally throughout.  This was to come back and bite us later.

Now it needs to be said that this entire project hinged on us selling our house in order to raise the necessary funds.  We imagined that it would take months to sell, having spoken with several estate agents and got a valuation on the property.  However, as luck would have it, a friend of a friend knew someone who was looking to buy, was in rented accommodation and had cash in the bank - no mortgages, no chain.  This seemed too good to be true, but true it turned out to be.  Within two months we had completed the sale of our house and purchase of our boat.  The only downside was that we were now homeless!  Add to that the fact that we had amassed so much 'stuff' over the years which we now needed to either get rid of or find a home for.  Downsizing is a challenge!!

Tomorrow the work starts.