This season was trying. We had problems with the boat leaking, a hurricane, and the spreader falling apart once again. Most of the problems were covered in past posts. The season came about two weeks early for us and Lil Provo. We went to go sailing on Sunday the 9th of October. I arrived at the boat yard, found some idiot ran over the back corner of my dinghy cracking the fiberglass and breaking off the wood trim. The dinghy looked strong enough to get out to Lil Provo so we loaded her up and headed out for the boat. When we got about halfway there we noticed the spreader was apart, hanging, and the mast was woobling around. We had a cable holding it on three of the four sides, so I took one of my halyards and hooked it to the deck and then tightened it up to try to act as the cable. It seemed to work. In any case we did not go out and instead, we loaded up some of the things from Lil Provo into the dinghy to take home. We proceed back to the ramp and loaded the truck.
Before leaving, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at the HMS23 Pilothouse sailboat I had been admiring for the past year. I had contacted the owner and he offered her to me at a great price. I went to the office to get the key and returned to find Gary had already placed a ladder along side of her. I climbed in and opened the lock. When I open the cabin door expecting a nice cabin with six foot head room I was greeted with a cabin full of water. This boat has been sitting for 2 to 3 years. It means the motor has been underwater for some time now, plus the wiring. It would have been a great deal, but the flooded cabin made it a no deal. I'm not looking for any major projects and just want to sail.
This is the second time the grass looked greener on the other side of the fence. In both cases I look back and am thankful that I have a boat like Lil Provo.
