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 We make a plan
We want to live in cramped quarters
and worry if our holding tanks are too
full or our water tanks are too empty. We want a
wardrobe limited to shorts and flip flops, and skin
that's wrinkled from too much sun and saltwater.
In short, we want
to be salty dogs, and thus when we retire in a few short
years we plan to sell everything attached to
dry land
and spend two years at sea doing the
Great Loop. This plan requires a boat.
When we hatched our plan we were already avid boaters
with a respectable Carver Mariner, but the
Carver was all wrong for what we had in mind.
My husband wanted some manly diesels and a pilothouse where he could captain the boat
without getting rained on. I wanted a boat with some elbow room
and a galley big enough to
 cook in--that is, a real kitchen
with an oven and cupboards and
decent counter space.
And
we wanted a stateroom for guests. And two bathrooms. And
plenty of storage. And a washer/dryer. And
room for the dog.
And we wanted this
perfect boat to cost less than the GDP of Brazil.
We drew up
our list of requirements
and assumed we'd
be making several
shopping expeditions to
Florida to find a boat with everything on our list. Little did we know it was right
under our noses all
along.
The perfect boat turned out to be Magnificent Obsession, a Bayliner 4550 that for a decade or more had lived
just two slips down from us at our
marina on Lake Lanier.
It was originally owned by an elderly
couple who only drove her to church
on Sundays (just kidding on the church part but they used
it very rarely and only during the week when lake traffic
was minimal), and was then sold to
a commercial
airline pilot who used it at most four or fives times a year.
 One Saturday morning in
July, 2008 the pilot hung a "for sale" sign on
the transom, and before the day was over we had checked her out. By the following Wednesday we
had signed on the dotted line.
We loved her classic
lines and spacious well designed floor plan but we
weren't feeling the love for the parts that hadn't
been updated in twenty years. Who's down for some stained
and faded blue carpet? Coppertone
appliances anyone? How about funky pink/blue upholstery
permeated with the delicate aroma of diesel fumes, or
some twenty year old gauges and obsolete,
inoperable navigation equipment?
Someone? Anyone? No? Maybe
its just
us then.
Let the renovations begin.
The links at top left tell the story that
begins with the day we fell in love with the ugliest
girl at the prom. She was ugly and smelly but she had
good bone structure and a nice personality--and lots and
lots of potential. Let us
begin.
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