This is the tale of how one silly little problem might turn out to be a deal-breaker for our dream boat.

9.21

This week has been a mess of activity. Trying to find insurance, trying to find a marina, trying to figure out what we need for documentation – lots of trying, but nothing is getting complete.

The marina thing is my biggest source of stress right now. We’ve called everyone in the area, and no one can take us – there’s a waiting list here, a no live-aboard policy there, docks under construction at one place and a low bridge in between us and another place. Big problem.

This had been the least of my concerns, and now it’s becoming a problem with no solution. We’ve expanded our search, maybe we could keep the boat at a marina a couple hours away and only visiting on the weekends…but that’s going to be a bit financial hit, plus we’re practically guaranteed extra problems from boat neglect. The Charleston anchorage isn’t an option, the holding is notoriously poor, it’s full of abandoned boats, and we’d add a dinghy ride to our commute. Kyle has suggested that instead of a full-time slip, we could live on the transient docks, which is more expensive and also carries a huge level of uncertainty – if the transient dock fills up we could be kicked out and forced to move to a different marina’s transient dock with little warning, IF they have the space. I don’t feel comfortable with that level of uncertainty.

It feels insane, but we’re actually talking about letting the boat deal fall through because we cannot find a place to keep her.

9.23

We flew down to Florida today. The sea trial is tomorrow.

We’re feeling really low. I don’t know if we can make this work.

Things are such a mess right now. I think there’s a good chance we’ll have to pass on this boat. We don’t want to waste anyone’s time, but we’re going to attend the sea trial as planned. I think that the sea trial might make me more committed to finding a solution. I mean, there are no good solutions, but maybe I’ll feel more committed to making a bad solution work. We’ll see.