Getting Ready - Day Two

Marina Jack's

Getting Ready-Day One

After a few hours sleep we were back at it cleaning and taking care of the items on the punch list.  One of the first priority was to finish the safety netting around the railing to keep the dogs and us on board. We did the same setup on Mer Soleil and it paid for itself many times.

As the years of neglect came off we were pleased with the shape of the vessel.  She is a great boat.  Vickie decided to try and restore the fenders rather than buying new ones.  I doubted they could be brought back to life. A few hours later she had them looking almost new. That saved us about $100 a piece.  We did have a disturbing note from the Generator Mechanic that the generator was not working. When we left he told us he was just making a few adjustments. He will be out in the morning to finish it up we were told

By about 1600 we wound it down for the day.We owed our self a break. There is a neat waterfront Tiki Bar called Oleary's at the Marina. There is a beach where people bring their Dinghy's in from the mooring fields for happy hour. Our new favorite place. It was not a late night and we both slept like a rock. We are home.

Picking up Sundollar

It seemed like a long two weeks since we closed on Sundollar. Numerous trips to West Marine as well as hardware store, Walmart and many others.  We were ready to go and Thursday after work we headed off for Marina Jack's in Sarasota with a car load of stuff and three dogs and a cat. We had originally planned to drive to Crystal River and spend the night, but when we arrived in Crystal River we were so exited that we just kept going. we arrived at the boat around 1130 at night. When we arrived we found that one of the air conditioner condensate pans was leaking and soaked the carpet in the galley.

We started tearing out carpet at midnight and throwing it on the dock. I am sure the dock hands were surprised the next morning.  One good thing underneath the carpet was teak flooring. After a few hours or work we passed out.

Getting Ready for the Trip

We are back in Panama City Beach we are going back down in two weeks to pick up the boat.  It is difficult dealing with contractors from a distance.  Fortunately the Dockmaster at Marina Jack's handled many of the contractors directly.  We are  trying to make sure we bring everything we will need with us so we can be ready for the trip back. We will spend three days working on the boat prior to departing. We have scheduled twelve days off for the trip. This will be our vacation as well.

After the Sale

Having Just closed on Sundollar Jorge left with a truckload of new electronics as well as soft goods for Sarasota.  The plan is to get with the contractors needed to get the boar ready for our cruise home. After three long days Sundollar had new Radar, VHF, and GPS. The boat is starting to come together. After arranging with the various companies that were going to work on the boat Jorge headed back to Panama City Beach. The boat was scheduled for haulout next week to repair a cutlass bearing found on survey.

The Search

After the sale of Mer Soleil we were have been looking for a new boat to replace her.  we wanted a boat that we could live aboard full time. It is so disappointing when dealing with brokers that they lie about the condition of the vessel. It is so disappointing when we actually see the vessel.  Do they think we wont realize the shape when we see it. Many were one bilge pump away from an artificial reef.  We made an offer on several boats but they didn't work out. Mostly due to owners not having a realistic idea of what the vessel was worth in the condition it was in. One vessel had about 2,000 blisters on the hell.

Sometimes things work out for a reason.  We reassessed what we were looking for and decided that the we would get another Gulfstar. Our previous boat was great and we really appreciated excellent design. During the Christmas holiday we traveled around Florida and looked at many boats. We were very interested in the Gulfstar 49 Motor yacht. We had two we were looking at when we looked at a Gulfstar 44. The same layout just two staterooms instead of  three. I don't think we want that much company. We also talked about    the added costs of the larger vessels as well as finding slips.  Like we said things work out for a reason.

We had looked at a Gulfstar 44 in Sarasota Florida called Sundollar.  At first we turned off by her condition, she had been neglected for many years due to her owners illness. None of the electronics were working the generator would not work and a whole list of items. Looking closer we realized the vessel and engines were solid and had many of the upgrades that made her stand out from the other Gulfstar 44's.


After a several weeks of negotiating and dealing with the broker and an unrealistic owner our offer was accepted.

The boat is located at Marina Jack's in Sarasota, Fl.

The survey went as expected with only a few unexpected items that came up. We had a punch list of what we had to get done.