The Boat

I’m not sure anything else happened in the last couple of days more exciting than the boat. It still doesn’t feel real to me. I’ll share the whole tale with you. In the dredges of the week last week I got a phone call and a series of text messages from my father, Big T. It was during the workday so I figured something was up. Then I got a rare text from Jacko. Now I knew something was up. I called the T-man back and he told me his sister (my aunt) was selling their boat. It is a sixteen foot aluminum on a trailer with a twenty five horse power motor. At the price she was asking, I was interested. I called Jacko to ask his opinion of it, as a boat owner. He said it needed some work and the motor was an unknown but thought I should pursue it. I called my aunt and told her I was interested. She said I needed to look at it first before I did anything but she wouldn’t bother posting it anywhere. As it happens, my Mom drives by there daily so she stopped and took some video for me. Obviously, I wasn’t able to drive up there and see it during a global pandemic. On Sunday they went back and FaceTimed me and took a lot of pictures at my behest. An hour later I called my aunt and uncle and agreed to buy the boat.

The information was trickling in. They’d owned it for years. He lent it to his kids from a previous marriage for a year and they’d beaten it up a bit. It hadn’t run in the last four years. It had been left uncovered, exposed to the elements. The trailer might need new tires. They weren’t sure about the wiring or the winch. Lots of unknowns. I would have to get it serviced and put some TLC in for sure. That is where I left it. That I was in and I’d bring them a cheque when I got to go up there. Then I got a call from my parents this morning. They wanted me to wire them the money and they would write a cheque and pick the boat up today. This was unexpected but interesting to me. We executed that plan, another uncle helped by lending a hitch. He is also a boat owner and shared his opinion with me too, his positive opinion. The tires only needed a bit of air. They were mostly sunk into the soft earth, not flat. The trailer lights worked fine too. In the end, the biggest unknown remains the motor but all accounts have it as “in good shape.” The good part is that it is a very common motor so any fixes should be reasonable unless it’s major. The Big T says he’ll clean it up and vacuum it out for me, even offered to bring it somewhere for service. I’m feeling like I bought him a bit at this point. He did haul it to the farm for me and it’s safely in the garage.

The next steps are to complete the paperwork to officially transfer it to me. I will have to look into insurance likely. I’ll need to get a more appropriate plate for the trailer and try to get it in to be looked at. Lots of work ahead but it’s exciting that I’m now a boat owner. I have some schemes for upgrading it to. But for now I’ll focus on updating you, on it.