How It all Began
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and starting on the first one.”
― Mark Twain
Joyce at the helm on "Joshua Dawn" enroute to Cape Breton from Magdelan Islands
I grew up on Prince Edward Island (Canada smallest Province) and have been sailing since I was a little boy. Dad and Mom always had boats either power or sail so my summers were spent on the water with family and friends. In 1979 I moved to Alberta like a lot of fellas at the time chasing the dream of jobs and money. I lived there for about five years and when the economy took a down turn so did the jobs and I was headed home to P.E.I. and the water that I had missed so much during my five land locked years. They say everything happens for a reason and my move home was no exception within a year I had meant Joyce and like the movie "she had me at Hello". We got married a year later in 1985 and even though Joyce hadn't been on too many boats in her youth we soon had a small family and a 16' day sailor made by Pace ship called "Celtic Ray". After sailing Celtic Ray with our two small kids into all of the reachable coves near home it was time for something bigger. $2500 later we were the proud owners of a 26' wooden Thunderbird sloop "Free bird". The Thunderbird was designed as a result of a competition sponsored by a plywood maker in BC. The idea was to design a boat that could be constructed of plywood and could be built in your backyard. These boats really caught on and were quite popular with many small fleets racing competitively. Free bird was in pretty rough shape and needed to be completely updated and re-painted etc... etc... I spent the winter in the sellers drive way working on her and by the time I was done she looked like a shiny new penny. The seller "Enos" a great Newfoundlander helped me through out the project and we became fast friends, Free bird was a terrific boat taking us further and further away. We didn't have standing headroom and no running water etc.. so it was like camping but on a boat, our backs were pretty sore after a week on the boat hunched over:) but we loved every minute. Our last summer with Free bird we logged over 30 trips and by now we had developed excellent DR and navigational skills. We weren't really financially ready to get a larger boat for another year or two, however after September 11th 2001 we decided that life was just too short and it was time. We purchased a Douglas 32 designed by Ted Brewer that was equipped with a new diesel and was going cheap (it also needed plenty of work:) I spent the winter and spring of 2002 working on "Joshua Dawn", which was tough because she was a 5 hour drive from the house and with one car I could only go up and work on Sundays (the kids had swimming lessons on Saturdays). I would get up at 0300 and get to the boat by 0800 and work until dark and get back home around 2200. The work paid off and by the time the weather started improving she was ready to go sailing. In 2005 we decided to spend the entire summer cruising on "Joshudawn" so the day that school finished we all jumped on board including our Jack Russell Terrior Shanty. Our kids Josh and Kate now 15 and 16 years old so this should be interesting:) We had a great summer and this experience sealed the deal for us and we decided that this was how we wanted to spend our retirement. Since that summer nine years ago, we have been slowly putting the peaces in place to realize our dream. We determined that we would need a bigger boat and a well thought out plan to get moving on to the next phase of our life. "Joshuadawn" was sold in 2007 and we took a break from boating and began working towards turning our dream into a reality (retirement afloat). Lots of decisions followed, what size and type of boat, keep the house vs. sell etc.. and after much discussion we decided to sell our house and use the equity to buy our dream boat. We also felt that maintaining a property or being a landlord while we cruised was not something that we wanted to deal with. We decided that a boat in the 45-50 foot range would offer lots of storage and room for systems water fuel etc..and would also be comfortable space for friends and family to come and visit without feeling too cramped.
Joshua Dawn On her Mooring in Prospect, NS
In order to narrow the field of boats we were looking at we visited the 2012 Annapolis Boat Show and were aboard a lot of boats in the size range we were looking at. Surprisingly some of our best information came from some wonderful Catalina owners whom we meant over lunch (they invited us to sit at their table). We chatted about our plans and they suggested we look closely at the Catalina 470 which they spoke very highly of its quality, standard oversized equipment, lead keel, layout and comfort. We also visited the Catalina Owners booth while at the show, (no other sail boat has an owners group like this (http://catalina.sailboatowners.com) which offer so many tips and helpful guides for all Catalina owners. After a some research we determined that the 470 looked like the ideal boat and decided to visit the factory in Largo Florida where they are built. We were very impressed with the production standards and quality of the boat as well as the people and staff who run the plant. This factory is one of the few production boat plants which survived the US economic down turn,.. and is one of the longest running production boat builders in the USA, Which is saying something.
Since boats can vary so much with price, options and conditions, We put together a simple spreadsheet with the things that we felt we really needed on the boat before we moved aboard and went crusing full time, we assigned a value to each of these items so when a new 470 came on the market, We would plug in the asking price to the spread sheet then go through the specs and add on the items from our must have column which would normalize the boats and give a personalized rating for them. So for example a spec would include a bow thruster, $12k, single side band $4k, a water maker $10k, a hard dodger and enclosure, $15k.... If a boat came on at $250 with no bow thruster it was now really 262k. A bit crazy but it kept me on track.
Finally in 2014 we were just about ready to sell the house and kick our plans into high gear. In preparation for the upcoming boat purchase we decided to turn our spring vacation to the Keys into a boat buying trip as well.
We decided then to use the local broker here that Scott knew and trusted, to further our search. Best decision we made for our boat purchase, especially when most of the boats that we were looking at were in the US). The process works the same as a house where the buyers broker and the sellers broker split the commission so there were no additional cost to us. The advantages of having your own broker are huge (they hold your deposit, they right up the offer with conditions, they assist in finding a good surveyor and boat yard to haul, they arrange the offer and counter offer, they re-negotiate after the survey finds a list of things that need to be correct either adjust price or fix the things you want fixed, they handle the sale and title search, they assist in finding transport for your new boat etc....)
Boat #1 was a private sale in Knoxville, Tenn. we drove straight through from Nova Scotia to Knoxville in 24 hours. Our viewing was set up for the next morning and prior to that I had asked the owner a ton of questions. The boat was pitched as being meticulously maintained! In reality, however, the boat had been in a hurricane, needed to be painted, the radar arch was bent, and the deck was cracked on both sides, the boat was not well cared for) but it was a good learning experience. When you are making this big a purchase its best to see the boat first hand We took lots of pictures from lockers, engine, bilge you name it, and from these you can see things later that you may have missed by zooming in on specific areas. It was a great eye opener.
Boat #2 was in Mobile Alabama. We had our local broker set up a viewing with the listing agent) This boat was much better with a $100k in recent upgrades due to a near by lightening strike. All electronics were replaced a new genset, a new genoa but no bow thruster and the wood inside was a little tired and faded, it had spent a lot of time in the Texas sun but all in all one to keep on our list.
After Mobile we had a brief interlude and were lucky enough to get out sailing on a 470 in Pensacola Beach. During our research I had become quite interested in a 470 that was on the market and looked great, to my dismay it was taken off the market before we were really ready to buy. I was able to track the owner down through the owners group and sent an email inquiring on the status of the boat. The owner had a change of plans and Him and his Wife had decided to not sell and go cruising we were very happy for them. When the owner found out we were going to be in Mobile looking at a 470 He gave us an invite to go sailing with them in Pensacola Beach (how nice is that). It was our 1st time sailing on a 470 and watching Tim getting in and out of his slip and how the boat tracked and handled further confirmed that this was the boat for us. This sail with these great people on their beautiful 470 was the highlight of our vacation (we were on cloud nine and knew that the 470n was the boat for us).
Boat #3 was in Palm Beach Gardens Fl,. Again I had our local broker set up the viewing with the listing agent) this boat was very well cared for and in great shape inside and out, however it was original everything , sails,electronics and no thruster, so we felt the price was too high based on the options but it sayed on our list. We were so excited about the boats we had seen and actually sailing a 470 we cut our vacation short and came back home so that we could finish preparing the house and get it on the market.
Since boats can vary so much with price, options and conditions, We put together a simple spreadsheet with the things that we felt we really needed on the boat before we moved aboard and went crusing full time, we assigned a value to each of these items so when a new 470 came on the market, We would plug in the asking price to the spread sheet then go through the specs and add on the items from our must have column which would normalize the boats and give a personalized rating for them. So for example a spec would include a bow thruster, $12k, single side band $4k, a water maker $10k, a hard dodger and enclosure, $15k.... If a boat came on at $250 with no bow thruster it was now really 262k. A bit crazy but it kept me on track.
Finally in 2014 we were just about ready to sell the house and kick our plans into high gear. In preparation for the upcoming boat purchase we decided to turn our spring vacation to the Keys into a boat buying trip as well.
We decided then to use the local broker here that Scott knew and trusted, to further our search. Best decision we made for our boat purchase, especially when most of the boats that we were looking at were in the US). The process works the same as a house where the buyers broker and the sellers broker split the commission so there were no additional cost to us. The advantages of having your own broker are huge (they hold your deposit, they right up the offer with conditions, they assist in finding a good surveyor and boat yard to haul, they arrange the offer and counter offer, they re-negotiate after the survey finds a list of things that need to be correct either adjust price or fix the things you want fixed, they handle the sale and title search, they assist in finding transport for your new boat etc....)
Boat #1 was a private sale in Knoxville, Tenn. we drove straight through from Nova Scotia to Knoxville in 24 hours. Our viewing was set up for the next morning and prior to that I had asked the owner a ton of questions. The boat was pitched as being meticulously maintained! In reality, however, the boat had been in a hurricane, needed to be painted, the radar arch was bent, and the deck was cracked on both sides, the boat was not well cared for) but it was a good learning experience. When you are making this big a purchase its best to see the boat first hand We took lots of pictures from lockers, engine, bilge you name it, and from these you can see things later that you may have missed by zooming in on specific areas. It was a great eye opener.
Boat #2 was in Mobile Alabama. We had our local broker set up a viewing with the listing agent) This boat was much better with a $100k in recent upgrades due to a near by lightening strike. All electronics were replaced a new genset, a new genoa but no bow thruster and the wood inside was a little tired and faded, it had spent a lot of time in the Texas sun but all in all one to keep on our list.
After Mobile we had a brief interlude and were lucky enough to get out sailing on a 470 in Pensacola Beach. During our research I had become quite interested in a 470 that was on the market and looked great, to my dismay it was taken off the market before we were really ready to buy. I was able to track the owner down through the owners group and sent an email inquiring on the status of the boat. The owner had a change of plans and Him and his Wife had decided to not sell and go cruising we were very happy for them. When the owner found out we were going to be in Mobile looking at a 470 He gave us an invite to go sailing with them in Pensacola Beach (how nice is that). It was our 1st time sailing on a 470 and watching Tim getting in and out of his slip and how the boat tracked and handled further confirmed that this was the boat for us. This sail with these great people on their beautiful 470 was the highlight of our vacation (we were on cloud nine and knew that the 470n was the boat for us).
Boat #3 was in Palm Beach Gardens Fl,. Again I had our local broker set up the viewing with the listing agent) this boat was very well cared for and in great shape inside and out, however it was original everything , sails,electronics and no thruster, so we felt the price was too high based on the options but it sayed on our list. We were so excited about the boats we had seen and actually sailing a 470 we cut our vacation short and came back home so that we could finish preparing the house and get it on the market.
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