Saturday, August 22, 2009

I did it! Found and purchased the Perfect Sailboat Project- Hurley 22 Twin Keel



First allow me to say, mea aculpa for my long absence.
I was studying for the MCATs. Now I am a bit older then your average medical school applicant which I think is an asset. When you are 20, you might think that standardized tests are worth crying over, when you are 31, they are only worth laughing over.

Also, I feared I was turning into one of those people who will always pine for a boat and a fair wind, but never actually get there.

I am not writing to bore you dear readers about MCATs, nor my own neurosis however. Happily I am here to report that it has happened; I have purchased the perfect sailboat project! She is a 1966 twin-keel hurley 22' (sail number 44). H22s continue to be popular. They have a sail anywhere (and everywhere), seaworthy reputation on par with that of a folkboat or perhaps Flicka. She displaces roughly 3900 lbs, with half of this in her twin keels.

My H22 is happily floating on her mooring as we speak, which means that she does in fact float. Still though she is a definitely a project (Oh boy is she!) requiring some major updating. That said, she is, in general pretty sound to the best of my knowledge.

She came named Emmanuel so perhaps I should refer to the boat as he... alright, he then (at least until a rename).

So, how did this acquisition transpire?

In my never ending quest for a boat, I stumbled across the following website about a gentleman who crossed the Pacific in a Vivacity 20': http://minibluewatersailing.com/article2.cfm

I began researching these and their smaller sister, the Alacrity 19': http://www.geocities.com/jenku/specs.html.

Because both boats were built by Hurley, I eventually wound up at the Hurley Owners Association website, where I discovered the Hurley 18', Hurley 20, and the Hurley 22'.

Around this same time, there was both a Hurley 22 and an Alacrity for sale near me. The Alacrity was a good $700 more than the Hurley 22, not as seaworthy, and probably a bit small for my family of three.

On the otherhand, I knew I would be single handing, and the Alacrity can be trailered by anything including my 4 cylinder truck, easily launched and retrieved etc., while the H22 would be a bit more challenging.

From week to week I flip-flopped between the two, while trying to sort out my finances in order to make a purchase. Then I decided on the Alacrity-- I figured, keep it simple. However, the Alacrity wasn't simple-- it was being sold through a charity company, which meant they would hold title for three years-- lots of wierd strings attached. It had an untested diesel engine. The trailer "appeared" to be in good condition according to the seller, but had not been inspected, and of course there was the extra $700.00 to contend with.

Enter the H22. My wife is tired of the back-and-forth. She keeps saying, "you want the Hurley, why don't you just get it already?!?" A friend of mine offers me his V-8 Toyota Tacoma with 9500lbs towing capacity to bring it back home. Enough already! I decide at the last moment to buy the Hurley.

The boat was located three hours south of me. It's former owner was a nice guy, but he knew I was hooked on his boat and wouldn't really budge on the price. I'm also not much of a negotiator. We settled on $1950 for the boat, trailer, trailer extension, mainsail, working jib, genoa and drifter (all pretty old except the drifter) and various sundries (flare gun, some epoxy paint, a dc spot light... pretty much anything he'd throw in). H22s are designed with a head, sink, three berths (a quarter berth, side berth and v-berth). The boat seems spacious for its size to me.

Driving back through the green mountains boat in tow, it started to rain. I was pretty worried about hydroplaning and suffice to say, my heart was in my throat the entire ride. Still, seeing my new H22 rolling along behind me, it was really a happy moment.

I kept Emmanuel in a friends yard for the first two weeks, cleaning him up, sorting through equipment, and trying to convince enough friends to help me raise the mast and launch him. This turned out to be a pretty comical event which lasted two days and involved a brief encounter with the state police, but I will save that for my next entry.

You may recall that in my first ever entry I made a general plan in the form of I list.
The first item on that list was:

1) Buy an inexpensive (less than $3000) project sailboat 25’-30’.

A year or so later I can proudly say, "Done!"