Called Out

Nothing like a whirlwind romance.

After barely 5 months,

we reluctantly said goodbye to our faithful whaler nicknamed Whabamp.

It was a tough call.

I asked the kids,

and they had a profound NO.

Unknowingly we went on our last cruise a couple weeks before.

Which only made the decision tougher to make.

On the positives -

a long day used a couple gallons of fuel,

kids could trailer it better than me,

super fun

and light enough to move on land solo.

And it was just becoming a non-project!

The negatives were more mental.

It seemed a little tight with all of us,

but for our light duty use really wasn't.

It was rough but acceptably rough.

Easy to use with no headaches watching the kids bump the docks.

Ok those weren't really negatives...

The trigger was the dreaded boat trap.

I had found another whaler,

a bigger one.

And the only way to get it was to let this one go.

The craigslist ad was up less than 12 hours.

The new owner Joe didn't mind the banged up hull.

It's new life would be as a work boat,

as he's a marine refrigeration mechanic.

Here's the similar 13 foot whaler used as a dive boat.

Packed little work skiff!

I doubt it'll look like this,

but hopefully we'll see it on the water.

It's easy to recognize with the jack-plate bracket and tiller seat.

He'll have fun pull starting that zuke!

The new whaler is the 16+ foot model,

and holey chit is it rough.

Badly pocked gelcoat, stripped interior, dead outboard.

I almost passed on it,

until the seller Hana made the deal too sweet.

Definitely exposes my continual problem of getting roached out projects!

This time the wife came with,

and saw first-hand my thought process.

Bummer was the flat tire,

the bigger bummer was the stripped lug studs.

I'll have to pick it up at a later date.

If you look closely,

You'll see the gelcoat problem.

Gonna be a fun one!

Really I can't wait to start.

We scored planks of 12" mahogany for the interior

and a bunch of stainless plate for the outboard bracket.

Beer sketches always help.

Now to clear out some space for it to come home.

TP