Farewell, old tub.

MapisM

MapisM

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Soooo, after 17 years spent together, of which the last 8 or so actually LIVING together, for several months every summer, I just finalized the sale of my old tub.
She will remain based in CF, because her new owners are some good friends who like to spend most of the summer in their beautiful home in the island. And I'm sure she will be well cared and loved, if some amazing wooden stuff that this friend of mine made for his home is anything to go by.
So, it's great to see her going in very good hands, and knowing that we will have other opportunities to cruise again on her in good company is a very nice feeling indeed.

But boys, are we (also swmbo!) sad.
The old tub has been our one and only wooden boat, after several plastic vessels - and before the next one.
And while that has a lot to see with our reasons for returning (or should I say downgrading?) to plastic again, I believe that nothing afloat can make you feel at home as much as a wooden vessel can.

Bottom line, if I should give one single suggestion to anyone considering to buy a wooden boat, that's bound to be "forget it".
BUT, those who will NOT follow my suggestion might actually not regret that at all. :encouragement:
 
MapisM said:
Soooo, after 17 years spent together, of which the last 8 or so actually LIVING together, for several months every summer, I just finalized the sale of my old tub.
She will remain based in CF, because her new owners are some good friends who like to spend most of the summer in their beautiful home in the island. And I'm sure she will be well cared and loved, if some amazing wooden stuff that this friend of mine made for his home is anything to go by.
So, it's great to see her going in very good hands, and knowing that we will have other opportunities to cruise again on her in good company is a very nice feeling indeed.

But boys, are we (also swmbo!) sad.
The old tub has been our one and only wooden boat, after several plastic vessels - and before the next one.
And while that has a lot to see with our reasons for returning (or should I say downgrading?) to plastic again, I believe that nothing afloat can make you feel at home as much as a wooden vessel can.

Bottom line, if I should give one single suggestion to anyone considering to buy a wooden boat, that's bound to be "forget it".
BUT, those who will NOT follow my suggestion might actually not regret that at all. :encouragement:
Click to expand...

Congratulations and commiserations at the same time. At least you can now focus 100% on the "new tub"!
 
So much for the saying that the best days of boat ownership is the day you buy and the day you sell! I must admit to giving my last boat a fond kiss farewell when I sold her, a very sad day indeed for me.
 
But boys, are we (also swmbo!) sad.
The old tub has been our one and only wooden boat, after several plastic vessels - and before the next one.
And while that has a lot to see with our reasons for returning (or should I say downgrading?) to plastic again, I believe that nothing afloat can make you feel at home as much as a wooden vessel can
Read more at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?478986-Farewell-old-tub#fR6WAxYJZtLo3C1y.99
Click to expand...

Ive had a similar experience having spent 15 years on and off on a steel boat. I have a little plastic grp 25' cat, and its such a horrid material that it totally spoils a fantastic little boat.

Did you see my post on Van der Valk alloy/steel semi-d boats?

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...0kts-low-power-aluminium-steel-semi-d-designs
 
rustybarge said:
I have a little plastic grp 25' cat, and its such a horrid material that it totally spoils a fantastic little boat.
Click to expand...
I sympathize with your view.
As the old saying goes, "if God wanted there to be fiberglass boats, he would have planted fiberglass trees".

Otoh, steel? Alu? Steel+alu? Thanks, but no thanks.
I considered the purchase of a steel trawler for a while, and Jeff Leishman can say what he wants, but I'd rather cross oceans with a decent steel boat than with an excellent fiberglass boat.

That said, if we are talking of a vessel which is not just meant for miles crunching, but also/mostly as a place to live in, only timber is, quite simply, in another league.
Imho, in this respect the differences between steel/alu/GRP/whatever are just hair splitting, compared with the gap between any of those and wood.
 
MapisM said:
I sympathize with your view.
As the old saying goes, "if God wanted there to be fiberglass boats, he would have planted fiberglass trees".

Otoh, steel? Alu? Steel+alu? Thanks, but no thanks.
I considered the purchase of a steel trawler for a while, and Jeff Leishman can say what he wants, but I'd rather cross oceans with a decent steel boat than with an excellent fiberglass boat.

That said, if we are talking of a vessel which is not just meant for miles crunching, but also/mostly as a place to live in, only timber is, quite simply, in another league.
Imho, in this respect the differences between steel/alu/GRP/whatever are just hair splitting, compared with the gap between any of those and wood.
Click to expand...

This a beautiful wooden /epoxy boat that has all the advantages of wood without the hitches: http://www.yachtworld.co.uk/boats/2000/Devlin-Sockeye-42'-Trawler-2722005/United-States#.WR9RmIrTWBY
 
We just completed the sale of our beloved Breaking Bad and she is now someone else's charge; a sad day indeed, nothing good about it.
The prospect of a new boat and more adventure to come sweetens the pill of course - but there are a lot of memories in that lump of plastic.
 
A thread like this isn't complete without a nice photo to remind you.

IMG_7555_Small_zpsqcb9nlda.jpg
 
Hi P,

I know the feeling well. Swmbo has cried each time we've handed over a boat to the new owner. It's the memories of good times onboard and the thought of loosing them with the boat that cause the sadness. If it's any consolation, i've found that the memories of good occations onboard stay clear in the mind even if the details of past vessels start to fade away.

Following Hurricanes example, here's a clip of her and certainly memories that will not fade away from our minds.

 
Wow folks, I'm touched. Many thanks for the tributes, also on behalf of the old tub.
She never bothered learning to speak EN, let alone reading the forum, but I'll tell her about your comments - I'm sure she will appreciate! :cool:
 
She's certainly a lovely boat......but, just think of those days you wood be tied up with remedial work.

Now you'll be out on the new girl instead......surely that wood be better?
 
Actually, I can't remember to have been unable to use the old tub due to unpredicted remedial work - most of what she needs is just regular, constant care.
Not that this makes timber boats maintenance less demanding, anyway!

And yes, in principle the hope is that the new girl will be easier in this respect.
Not at the moment, though... She's currently sheltered with several refitting works going on.
Mostly things already planned, but some are taking longer than expected, and some others were added in between, along the lines of "while we are at that..." :rolleyes:
Ain't that funny? With boats, you make plans (both in terms of time and costs), and eventually you always change them - only in one direction, needless to say!

Apropos, apologies to everybody for not having posted a proper "New Toy" thread, as other folks recently did.
Aside from having been (and still being) pretty busy, any pic I could take now would only show a mess just about everywhere...
Will do as soon as she'll hit the water again - hopefully before the end of the summer...! :p
 
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