She's SOLD!!

After bringing Tango home we got serious with trying to sell Knotty.  We had her listed for a couple of months and had a couple of inquiries, but nothing really serious – at least we hadn’t had anyone come and look at her.  We were considering sailing her up to Annapolis, where we felt she would get more visibility from potential buyers. The only downside with that is that we’d have to list her with a broker and we were hoping to avoid doing that.  It would benefit the buyer more, as they could get  her for a better price than going through a broker, but it would also help us because then we wouldn’t have to sail her to Annapolis.  Logistically, it was just easier.  We finally got a call from a couple in PA, who, after a few emails/calls back and forth with J, said they wanted to come see her in person – YAY!! 

So a couple of weeks before the 4^th of July, J and I spend a few days getting the last few things moved off of Knotty and cleaning her up for her big day!  It was pretty bizarre, to see her go from being our home, to looking (and even smelling) like the day we bought her.  The weekend before the 4^th, S&C came to see Knotty.  Immediately, J and I both really liked them.  There was just something about them and after talking with them and showing them the boat, we felt like we had known them for years.  C is very much like me when it comes to sailing (don’t care for the 20 degree plus angle of heel) as well as a few other little idiosyncrasies (which was nice to find in someone else, hah!) and S is very much like J –  prefers to do his own maintenance, tracks it meticulously, and, when out sailing, won’t turn on the iron genny unless he absolutely has to J  The showing went very well and while we knew they would be looking at other boats that weekend as well, we really hoped we’d get a call back on Knotty. 

Now fast forward a week or so, J had touched base with S on our way up to Maine.  Just wanted to see how things went and let him know that we really enjoyed meeting them and if they were still interested, to let us know.  We really liked them and felt that if they bought Knotty that that she would be going to a really great home and, laugh all you want, but that was really important to us.  It’s funny sometimes to think how attached you can become to an inanimate object, but Knotty was our home and she kept us safe and, more so for me, if it wasn’t for this boat, I wouldn’t love this lifestyle and I wouldn’t be looking to sail around the world in a few years.  She was a great boat and part of my heartbreak of selling her was the uncertainty of who would be her new owners.  We wanted someone who would sail her like she should be sailed - not keep her in the slip solely for use as a floating condo and to have sundowners once in a while - and who would maintain her as she should be maintained. 

After a couple of weeks and emails back and forth, Knotty was at the top of their list, but her price was just a little too high for their budget. After some discussion, we decided J would offer S the same price as we would have given our friends, P&S (they too were considering buying her but it wasn’t the right time for them).  Funny, the email back said “you have a deal”.  Talk about a huge relief!!  Not only relief, but a sense of contentment – contentment in knowing she was going to a good home.  We had offered two prices, one to take her as she is or another for us to haul her, paint her bottom, wax and buff her sides, replace her zincs and install a replacement fan for her main salon.   They chose the latter, so after getting back from Maine, we had a busy week and weekend ahead of us.  

We hauled her out and were extremely pleased with the condition of her bottom. She had been in the water almost two years, and looking at the remaining paint and minimal growth – you’d have never guessed. 

22months and paint looked better than we expected!

We had some barnacles, but not nearly as bad as we thought they would be. The paint was still holding up well and we definitely could have gotten another year out of it.  Just goes to show that diving on her a couple of times a year really does make a difference.  The paint we used, and used on her again this time as well, was Interlux Micron Extra.  It is an ablative paint in order to stay “active”, old paint must slough off showing new copper rich paint underneath.  Sailing her helped, but we think the real difference in the condition of the paint was J diving on her.  Come time to paint Tango, depending on how well the Pettit Trinidad SR works out (a hard paint), we may go back to using the Interlux Micron Extra.  

We cleaned and prepped her bottom, then put on two coats of paint, J waxed and buffed her top sides. We treated her waterline with ON/OFF, which, while toxic stuff, definitely gets rid of the slime mustache.  It didn’t help as much on the areas with built up scum, so I had to go back and treat that with some bleach, but she looks great!! 

Knotty with a freshly painted bottom - we LOVED the dark blue!

The last few things to be done (install the new fan, change out zincs, pull and clean the prop, and replace the impeller) is all being done this week to get ready Knotty’s final departure from our Marina on Friday.  S & C will be down to finalize the paper work and then be back on Friday when they and J will sail Knotty up the Chesapeake to her new home in Rock Hall, MD.  I had to be in San Diego this week, so I’ll meet them on Sunday for a celebratory dinner and what I hope (for me) won’t be too hard of a goodbye.

Fast forward and this is J, with S&C sailing Knotty into the Severn River ...  This is when, standing on USNA grounds, that I said a tearful goodbye...  Later, they took the H2O taxi into Ego Alley where I met them for lunch.