cutting the lines: the two boats debate

Several weeks ago, Mike and I had a good laugh over some friends who adopted a second puppy on a road trip. We had seen it coming and so got more amusement out of it than is probably warranted. Now they are having the “are two dogs too much?” debate. Mike and I are having a similar dilemma over our two “children”, who are much less furry but do require lots of space and maintenance.

Hanging out in the basement at our previous house. Miss having a walkout

Do we really need two boats?

Remember back in 2012, when we met a fellow sailor on the Sunfish forums who could solve some of our boat barriers? We were looking for a Sunfish and trailer, but because of our two-car garage, we were hoping to find a trailer that could serve many purposes, not just housing and hauling a little boat. At the time, we also had big dreams of owning two Sunfish so we could race, go on camping and sailing adventures, and basically have our own boat each. We’re competitive and a little territorial. Our forum friend had a boat he was selling and a shop class that could convert a foldable Harbor Freight trailer into a double-decker.

Before we could make the roadtrip to pick up the trailer, a boat and trailer popped up on Craigslist, and we jumped. The AMFlite 14 wooed us with its wooden splash guard, though its sail was ready to be retired. What to do with the trailer? Oh, we’d sell it, making this boat even cheaper. So, we bought it, and a couple weeks later hit the Interstate to grab the other boat and trailer.

Of course, what goes on in dreamland and what happens in real life rarely match up perfectly.

We stored the extra trailer at Mike’s parents’ cabin under the earnest belief we would sell it soon. As we were headed into winter, we decided to wait until spring to get a little more money. Then life happened. That spring, we put the house on the market and the last thing we wanted to juggle was Craigslist.

And then it was winter.

Now it’s prime time to sell the trailer and we have pictures taken, but we’ve been hesitating. While Woody and Blue wintered in the patio, they were fine and out of mind. But now that Woody’s on the trailer and Blue is kissing the garage wall, we have to ask ourselves: Should we sell a boat and trailer together? Do we really need two boats?

We’ve never sailed the boats together. We’ve sailed both, but on separate occasions. Usually whatever boat is on the trailer comes with us to the club, and then we use a club boat as well, if we want to sail alone. Or we just sail together on one boat. Despite our independent streaks, we get along on that little boat. We’ve only used the second trailer deck for when we moved and stored over winter. Mike also got a taste of Lasers at the end of last season and wants to use the club’s Laser more (and perhaps upgrade in the future).

For the past week, I’ve sold Old Blue in my head. She’s a good boat, but we tend to gravitate toward Woody (I think it’s the wood accent) and sail that one more. There’s a sense of relief of being down to one boat right now, even as Mike is planning out a hoist system in the garage. Plus, when we have kiddos, we might upgrade to a slightly bigger boat.

I worried I’d feel like we’re giving up, but it doesn’t feel that way. Just that we’re unburdening ourselves for the time being. We’ll never be able to add on storage at our new house and things will only get more complicated once there’s a little one to bring along on sailing adventures. At first, we’ll only be able to sail one person and one boat at a time while someone builds sand castles and feeds ducks on shore.

The advantage of owning two boats, of course, would be those times we want to sail on our neighborhood lake and race, but I just don’t see that happening much. Since we use the trailer so much for other things, double-decking just adds to the hassle. The other plus? If one breaks, sinks, or needs repair, there’s another in the wings. Is that potential worth the hassle?

We have someone interested in the boat but nothing firm. Tomorrow we'll grab the trailer while down at the cabin and then post on Craigslist and see what happens. There's not really much out on our local market right now, so it could be a fast sale or take awhile. We'll just be parking in the drive for awhile! Our garage is quickly becoming a workshop.

With the potential of selling, it was finally time to get the new sail out (that we got two Christmases ago, can you believe it?). Yeah, we've been lazy. It's just so much easier to take the already rigged white sail out and use that. Woody came with two sets of spars (I think it was Woody, anyway, it gets foggy), so we actually have 3 but have only used one these past two years, and someone had found a bag of sail rings at a garage sale, so we had everything we needed.

Almost. Couldn't find an S-hook to save my life, so Mike went out to find some at Lowe's. What he brought back were Serious S-Hooks that required quite a bit of force to get 1) opened up enough to slip through the grommet and 2) closed again so the sail stays attached.

We aren't positive the sail grommet is secured enough, so we might run a line through, so if it does slip, we can limp back to shore. I'm also a little iffy on whether I have the tension correct with the outhaul lines. The rigging manual didn't really specify if the sail needs to be tight, snug but not pulling, or with some give. I went the snug route and hope I'm not stretching the sail out. 

I also loosened the gooseneck and shifted it, because it was lined up exactly with a grommet. It wasn't until too late that I realized I moved it too far back (and tightened it), so that'll need adjustment before we take it out. To make sure everything is in order, we'll raise the sail in the driveway in light wind and make sure things seem to be sitting right. Also, I'll need a loose sail tie for one grommet, because it's right along the mainsheet cleat, which we didn't have on the other spars.

I also need to find the mast cap we bought ages ago to replace the busted one. It wanders around the house and turns up in the weirdest places. Obviously we have more gear and boat than we need!