Dodson's Boatyard, Stonington Harbor to Branford, CT, Bruce & Johnson Marina

Bob's Piece:

An early start and early finish.

Course: Stonington, CT to Branford, CT
Weather: sun and clouds, not many though
Seas: 2-4 feet on the nose, again
Distance Made Good:  42 miles (N), by GPS
Distance in the Water: 37 miles (N), the tide was with us
Departure Time:  0615
Arrival Time:  1230
Day: 13
Sea Days: 6


The day began early as we left Stonington at 6:15 AM in a flat calm with the sun just over the eastern horizon.  We watched the misty shores of  Fisher's Island and Connecticut from the flybridge while sipping hot tea and breakfasting on bananas and chocolate, mmmmmm.  Civilization is definably on the increase as we near New York City but at sea we only are aware of it by the increased development of shorefront mansions and summer estates.

VELOMER handles calm as well as high seas with similar ease, and she had a bit of both today as we encountered building seas later in the morning before our turn into Branford. 

I found the pesky leak today while underway.  It was a simple fix: tighten a hose clamp on the heat exchanger and all was well, no more leaking coolant.  Another good moment for confidence building as a cruising couple.

I am enjoying this time on VELOMER as much if not more than any other time in my life, and its just beginning.

PM's Perspective -- Don't Mess With My Head

Why is a boat's bathroom called the head?  Back when sailing vessels went out to sea for days or months or even years at a time, the bow or head of the boat contained two square openings or boxes one on either side of the boat just aft of the bow sprit.  Just large enough to squat upon, these openings were used as the ship's toilets for the common seaman (the captain had his own private accommodations).  I imagine they would also double as bidets in rough seas.  In any event, this is where the term came from.  Last fall when Bob and I attended Trawler Fest, we sat in on a workshop about the Great Loop that had a question and answer period during which one of the participants asked if in preparation for doing the Great Loop you should buy a boat with one head or two.  The presenter, without missing a beat, responded, "Definitely with two heads, because one is always not working." 

One of the special features about boat living is becoming ever so aware of your impact on the environment, including human waste.  The boat is self contained and anything that goes on the boat must come off the boat.  On land, a simple flush of the toilet involving pushing down a short lever washes away all -- waste and toilet paper and whatever else there may be.  Out of sight, out of mind.  On a boat, not so.  Velomer has two heads, one in the master suite and one in the V-berth.  Each head has a manual flush toilet meaning that next to the toilet bowl is a lever that gets pumped by hand and a two-position switch that pulls water from outside the boat into the bowl in one position and drains the bowl in the second position.  When the toilet is pumped, the contents of the bowl drains into the boat's holding tank.  Velomer's holding tank is located in the bilge and holds 40 gallons, not a whole lot of capacity when one considers that the average flush on land consumes 5 gallons of water.  However, on a boat one gallon per flush is more the average.  Some boats have an electric flush toilet, however, I understand that these tend to malfunction more often than manual, uses a lot of electricity, and is difficult and expensive to repair.

When we first looked at boats, one owner was telling us that they never put toilet paper in the head.  When  I heard that I thought, "Well what the hell do you do with it?  Put it in your purse and take it off board with you?"  What I have come to realize during my time as a boat live aboard is that toilet paper really gums up the holding tank works which you don't want to happen for obvious reasons -- that is, someone has to fix the situation and it might be you, and the job is not a pleasant one.  So, next to each head on Velomer is a small trash can lined with a supermarket plastic shopping bag ready to accept used toilet paper.  I must confess that it took me a while to train myself not to just drop the paper into the head and be done with it.  Earlier this summer, I made the mistake of doing just that.  I looked in the bowl with horror as I realized what I had done.  "Oh crap, what do I do now?"  I had two options.  One was to retrieve the paper, the other was to pump and hope for the best.  If I was to retrieve it, how was I going to do that?  I could go get a chop stick from the kitchen, scoop up the paper and throw everything out in the trash can.  I chose the easier way out and pumped and pumped some more thinking that the paper will just move on through.  Not so.  Those three little sheets made it through the piping to the holding tank but decided to wrap themselves around the holding tank float switch that indicates how full the tank is. As the person who looks after all these things, Bob realized that something was wrong.  Time for true confessions and I fessed up.  My hero had to remove the float switch from the holding tank and clean it off and reassembly the works.  We both had to deal with the odor which was pretty intense. 

As we have found, boat heads need regular maintenance to remain in top working order and relatively odor free.  The stench of human waste can really ruin a boat trip.  Harsh chemicals can erode the delicate piping from the head to the holding tank.  Some of the brand name odor inhibitors can be quite expensive, and I am cheap!  What we have learned is to pump the holding tank before it gets full to the point of maximum capacity (an obvious step!) and once a week to put in about one-half cup of the cheapest vegetable oil in each head to keep the pumping mechanism well oiled and about one-half cup white vinegar to control the odor.  So, if you happen to come aboard Velomer and use the head, if you smell salad dressing and see a chopstick, you'll know why.

Newport Yachting Center, Newport, RI to Stonington, CT

Bob's Story Continues...

Day 4 of cruising (day 10 of the trip):
Course: Pocasset Harbor, Cape Cod to Newport, RI
Distance Travelled: 50 miles
Time Underway: 6h50m
Weather: mix of sun and clouds
Wind: SSW, 10-15 knts
Seas: 2-4 feet on port quarter, building in the PM especially on turning into Newport Harbor at Breton Reef

We have been moving again after 6 days at Pocasset harbor getting the hydraulic steering leak on the flybridge fixed.  They had a great staff at Kingman Marina and if we had gotten the right parts in the first order (not their fault) we would have been out of there in 2 days, and so it goes.

After both of us were feeling anxious again about going to sea, we realized it was the delay that got us out of the momentum we had been gaining.  It is not our goal to travel every day but two or three days sitting and we get harbor bound.  We also realized moorings are a fine place to hang out.  Anchoring out does not appeal to us yet as we would miss interactions and getting into the little towns like Newport to walk around.  Our dinghy is deflated on the bow and will probably stay there until we get to Lake Champlain in August.

I have to mention the entrance to Newport.  As we were coming in to the harbor, we were twisted and slammed into a wave with a fairly violent jerk of the boat.  The autopilot shut down at that point.  I imagined some loose wire or perhaps a failure of the  entire system due to a broken critical linkage or a control bar bent out of alignment.  PM went down to the salon to see if she could rest the system by turning off the breaker- nothing.  I was hand steering in 4 foot seas, not fun with this boat but doable.  The steering was reacting with much less play than it had when the seals were bad, so that was good news.  After she returned to the flybridge holding on to several places at a time to keep her feet, she told me she had done as I asked but to no avail.  So we continued for a mile or so in heavy following seas, than PM jumped up to say she may not have hit the correct breaker after all.  She pulled herself along the handholds again to return to the breaker panel and in a moment the auto pilot was working again.  That was fun!

Newport was pricy. We took a slip at the Newport Yachting Center, where the  Boat Show is located each September. VELOMER held her own with the superyachts she nestled with for the night.  The 72 foot behemoth on the adjoining dock had her name in blue florescent light flashing on the bow.  Maybe this winter, we will have one of those nameplates installed.

As soon as we were secured to the floating dock, I asked if we were close to Salas's, a restaurant I had frequented often with Bill Walsh while we were stationed here in 1970-1971.  The dock boy sadly explained it had finally closed Spring a year ago.  He was amazed it had been here in the early 70's and said it was the only place left in Newport to get a good pasta meal reasonably priced, which for this town is any entrée under $25.  The town has changed a bit since I was last here, like a large dose of Viagra had spiked the city planning office.

One afternoon was consumed in Newport with a visit from PM's college buddy, Tony Stapleton, his lovely wife Jan and her son Nicky.  The next morning it was a treat to find a local Starbucks and breakfast at the Franklin Spa, on the corner of Franklin and Spring Streets.  Newport is not a small sleepy town any more.  Next visit, we will make for Jamestown or Wickford.  One can no longer take a bike across the Newport Bridge, and perhaps that's a good thing as I  have not had great success doing that in the past.


Day 5 of cruising (day 11 of the trip):
Course: Newport to Stonington
Distance Travelled: 42 miles
Time underway: 5h30m
Weather: fog early then clearing
Wind:  SSW 10-15
Seas: 2-4 until we entered the shadow of Block Island then 1-2

Leaving Newport after 10 AM allowed the fog to clear somewhat and we had a great passage down the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations coast to Stonington, passing Fisher's Island where my mother spent a year at Ethel Walkers School in the 1930's.  That was the year the original campus in Simsbury, CT burned down and the school moved to this isolated offshore Island.  And I thought Kent was isolated.  The young ladies of that generation were protected by shark infested and cold Atlantic waters.  It made  getting on and off the island a boat trip only and preferably a large boat. No pregnancies that year I am certain.

So we have been here a day to catch up on housekeeping chores, laundry and maintenance.  I changed both Racor filters and purchased new spares.  Next time I will shut off the fuel before I open the filter; lesson learned today. VELOMER's 135 HP Perkins Diesel has run flawlessly.  She has not skipped a single beat in the rough seas we have encountered.

And tomorrow our travels continue.  We are 2 or 3 days, depending on course along the north shore or crossing to south shore of Long Island Sound, from New York and the passage through Hell's Gate.  Looking at the current and tide information in Eldridge, a passage catching the southwest ebb of 4.8 knts on Friday June 28 would be best at 2:32 AM or 3:00 PM. We will more probably try the mid afternoon time slot and make for Liberty landing that evening, but we are on a boat and plans change daily. Rain is forecast for 3 days starting Friday;  recall lesson # 3 : don't trust the weather forecast.

PM's Input -- More Back Story

When we purchased our boat, her name was Freedom.  Suitable enough but overused.  We wanted to have a boat name that was unique and reflected our particular situation.  We decided to document the boat which is a process to federally register boats flown under the US flag.  You can access the registry via the Internet and look up vessels by name.  When we accessed the registry, 17 vessels were named Freedom, so that name didn't work for us.  Seaborne was a name we considered but than again, that was already registered.  Every time we thought we came up with something original or clever, someone else had already been as original and clever.  "We're going to have to coin a new word if we are going to be unique about this," Bob observed.

PM loves Paris and things French, so we wanted the name to remind us of that.  We both thoroughly enjoy bicycling and spend a great deal of our time and energy engaging in that activity.  Bob loves the water as does PM but more reluctantly so.  Bob was the one who came up with the name VELOMER which is a combination of the French velo meaning bicycle and mer meaning sea, or bicycle of the sea.  Perfect!  Better yet, no vessel was registered under that name.  We found a boat lettering artist, Joe Tufts, who developed a wonderful graphic of a bicycle with an ocean wave as the front wheel.  Even better!  We had a boat, now we had a fitting name.

An observation on boat names -- a great many boats have female names many of which are the names of the wife of the boat owner.  One wise mariner told Bob that if you name your boat after a female, make it your daughter because she'll always be in your life. 

Bob's Story

So this is my perspective.  PM is writing a novel, I'm more into the here and now.  This has been more of a learning curve than I had imagined, as I was familiar with running and maintaining VELOMER and thought, naively, that living and traveling would be different only in the location change.  Well, it is a lot more.  Every day, we learn something new and hope to remember so the next time I do not feel so dumb.  Case in point occurred the second day as we approached the south end of the Annisquam Canal.  The bridge was down and I had to turn a 36 foot boat in a 40 foot canal with lots of rock along the shore.  So lesson learned:  always read the signage along the canal, although it was a small sign, or so I will recall.

So to make this more of a captain's log, I will make our location and daily courses the lead paragraph, except for this one.

Day 1:  Spring Point Marina, South Portland, Maine to Harbor Place Marina, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Distance run 47 miles; time: 7 hours; weather: clouds in the AM and wondrous sun in the PM; wind: light and out of the north; seas: 1-2 feet.

Day 2: Portsmouth to Constitution Marina, Boston

Distance run: 48 miles; time: 8 hours; weather: sunny and clear; wind: southwest, 10 knts; seas: 2-4 feet rollers.

Day 3: layover day in Boston

Day 4: Boston to Kingman Marine, Pocasset Harbor, east side of Buzzards Bay near the Cape Cod Canal.

Distance run: 41 miles to the western end of the canal then 7 miles through the canal and 5 miles to Pocasset; time: 8 hours to the east entrance where we waited 2 hours for the tide to turn, then 2 hours through the canal and into Kingman Marine- a long day; weather: sun and broken clouds; wind: southwest and building in the afternoon to 15-20 knts; seas: gentle swells to the canal, slight chop in the canal and then 4-6 foot steep sided seas for the run into Pocasset Harbor.  That was fun!

Day 5, Day 6, Day 7- layover at Kingman Marine awaiting replacement seals and gasket parts for the flybridge steering.

This layover at Kingman Marine has been a great place to hang.  Bob Roemer's suggestion of this place to get work done was spot on.  PM and I rode to Wood's Hole along the "Shinning Sea" bike path  yesterday and had intended to ride to Bourne and along the Cape Cod Canal bike path today, but, as often happens on boat life, we didn't do the plan,  perhaps tomorrow.   Today was spent doing brightwork and writing.  I love this life!

The coffee at the little store, Latitude 41, ashore is great as we sample it each morning after showers.

We have been meeting really interesting people on this trip, family included.  The one common theme to most blogs about the loop trip is that the people are the most memorable, although for me, as much as I love meeting new people, especially boat people, the time at sea has been the highlight.

VELOMER runs beautifully all day even as we were tossed around in the rough seas exiting the Cape Cod Canal two days ago.  For those of you who recognize the passage out of the western end of the canal, it was a typical afternoon heading and very steep sided sea as the wind came out of the south west and blew up the gut of Buzzard's Bay: a wild ride for awhile, and we did it from the flybridge, 12 feet off the water.  The Monk is designed to handle much more violent seas than that but that ride was about as wild as PM would ever wish to see, or so she says now.  We had no casualties below except the TV and CD player did a flip off the shelf and landed right side up on the V berth and much of the interior dry food was rearranged on the cabin floor.  Every day, PM's confidence builds.  We even are talking positively about a crossing to the Bahamas next year.  And a big thank you to Winn Pillsbury for replacing the fuel tanks before we purchased VELOMER and polishing the diesel.  I 've been checking the Racor filters underway and they are staying clean and running at normal low pressure.  

All for this day, its getting to be time for Pinot on the flybridge perusing our spectacular surrounding and that is a priority

 

Sitting at Kingman Yacht Center, Pocasset Harbor, Cape Cod, MA

Day 7 of our adventure has us sitting at our mooring within Kingman Yacht Center in the very bucolic town of Pocasset waiting for the right parts to arrive from Teleflex to repair our fly bridge helm.  The helm has leaked hydraulic fluid since we bought the boat, but we never really paid a great deal of attention to the situation until our first day out when we noticed that the steering was not quite responding the way we would like.  We were able to circumvent the problem by using the auto pilot but decided it would probably be a good idea to have the steering apparatus in top working condition for our journey.  Based on information from brother-in-law Bob Roemer, Kingman Yacht Center can fix anything, so we pulled into port after a wild ride from the western terminus of the Cape Cod Canal on Monday. 

On Tuesday, Bob went to the service center with all the pamphlets he had on board about the helm.  Of course, the needed parts were not in stock and had to be ordered with delivery on Wednesday.  That day we did laundry and caught up on boat chores. On Wednesday, we took a bike ride on the Shining Sea Bikeway to Woods Hole, which should have been about a 12 mile ride each way.  However, par for the course, we got lost a few times.  In addition, on the return trip, we stopped at a street crossing where PM was crashed into by a young bike rider who didn't quite make the corner turn.  Fortunately, no one was hurt, but PM's bike suffered a bent beyond repair front wheel requiring a visit to Corner Cycle in Falmouth for a new wheel.  When we returned to the marina, we found out that the parts that arrived on Wednesday were the wrong parts and the correct parts ordered for delivery on Thursday.  So here it is Thursday.  The first delivery truck has arrived with no parts for the helm.  We await the second delivery truck which may or may not have the parts!

PM -- the Back Story

The plan for this adventure goes back at least five years.  After two years of searching for the perfect boat, we found what we wanted in a 1988 Monk 36 owned by Winn and Leslie Pillsbury that wasn't even actively on the market and obviously very well maintained.  Winn wouldn't provide us an asking price, just told us to make an offer.  We developed an offer based on an accepted offer we made on a 1986 Monk 36 which fell through due to the condition of the vessel plus increases based on the age and condition of Winn and Leslie's Monk.  Our developed offer was at the upper reaches of our budget.  We invited Winn and Leslie out to breakfast at the Front Room, a trendy restaurant in Monjoy Hill in Portland on a Saturday in mid March 2010.  At breakfast, Bob and Winn talked boats, Leslie and I talked price.  By  the end of breakfast we had delivered our offer.  Neither Winn nor Leslie showed any reaction one way or the other.  "We'll have to think about this and get back to you in a day," was all Winn said in response.  Bob and I picked up the tab for breakfast as a leveraging tactic.  We went home and waited.  On pins and needles.

Both of us had our concerns about what our next step would be if the offer wasn't accepted.  However, we took the strategy that we shouldn't pay tolls on bridges we don't have to cross and just waited.  We tried to keep ourselves occupied so we wouldn't obsess.  I did laundry, grocery shopped, made soup.  Bob took the car to the carwash, worked on the snow blower, read.  We deliberately avoided each other for fear of starting "what if" conversations.  We jumped every time the phone rang.  Finally, the call came.  "We accept your offer."  There is an old adage among mariners that the happiest days in a boat owner's life is the day one purchases a boat and the day one sells a boat.  Both Winn and Bob were happy mariners.

Arrangements were made for payment, transfer of ownership, registration, insurance, and finally launching in mid May.  Bob and I were on the boat as the transport truck slowly trailered the Monk from its winter storage location, along the street, through the parking area, down the ramp and into the water.  I was struck by how huge the boat was.  As the boat floated on the water and glided off the trailer I couldn't help but think, "What have we gotten ourselves into?"  Bob, on the other hand, was all smiles and giddy at the prospect of owning a boat large enough to live aboard and travel long distances.  Winn jumped aboard and showed us a few basics of the boat.  The engine required multiple attempts to turn over before it started to hum.  Winn suggested we take a short tour of Portland Harbor before we parked the boat at our slip in Port Harbor Marina.  Up on the fly bridge, Winn showed Bob the particulars of upper helm as we went out to Portland Headlight and back.  I watched the process without paying very much attention, being aware only of how high I was off the water, how rocky/rolly the boat was, and asking myself if I was really cut out to do this.

That summer we were primarily weekend boaters taking only day trips with just two overnight ventures.  At this point I was still working full time and we still lived in a house with a big yard that required attention.  Bob was also working as a boat launch driver for the summer.  Our next task was to extract ourselves from our land based life which took another two years.  During this time frame, I arranged for the transfer of the operations of my business to the staff and we tried to sell our house.  The housing market stilled suffered greatly from the impact of the Great Recession and despite all our broker's efforts, we didn't even receive one offer after a year on the market.  Fortunately, we were able to find renters who insisted that they sign a lease for a three year term.  From our perspective, this was ideal!

We originally thought we would start the trip last summer but during the prior winter Bob fell on ice and ruptured a disc requiring surgery.  Although he was well enough to do the trip by summertime, the thought that something could happen to Bob that could incapacitate him left PM with a very sinking feeling.  "I just don't feel competent enough to get up back to land," PM decided.  "I'm just not ready to go."  Bob was okay with this decision as he felt he could use the time to get even stronger as well as learn more about the boat and diesel engines as well.  Last September, we both attended Trawler University in Baltimore sponsored by Passage Maker Magazine.  PM took the two day intensive women at the helm course and Bob took the diesel engine course. Feeling much more confident, 2013 was the summer we were going to finally start. 

Departure date was set at Monday, June 10 from Port Harbor Marine in South Portland, Maine.  Two days prior, the weather reports for Monday predicted high winds and rough seas and heavy rain for Tuesday and Wednesday.  We pushed the start date to Thursday, June 12.  On Monday, the weather was ideal -- not a cloud in the sky, no wind, no rough water.  It did indeed rain on Tuesday and Wednesday and the forecast for Thursday started to look dismal.  Friday wasn't looking so good and news reports forewarned of a potential derecho forming and hitting the east coast between New York and Washington DC which had the potential to greatly impact sea activity in New England.  In any event, we decided to delay departure to Saturday or even Sunday when weather was predicted to be fair.

We awoke on Thursday to ideal boating conditions.  Clear blue cloudless sky, calm seas, gentle winds.  "That's it, we're leaving Friday no matter what the weather forecast," PM declared.  We were beginning to realize that the weather forecast gave the worst case scenario which rarely developed.  "We can always turn around and come back if it gets really hairy outside Portland Harbor."  So the decision was made.  We were leaving Friday.  Friday we awoke to a very overcast sky, but the seas and winds were calm.  We left the dock by 8:30 AM headed for Portsmouth, NH.  Beyond Portland Headlight, seas and winds remained favorable.  We were on our way!

The Adventure Begins- PM's Story

The seed for our Velomer adventure was planted back in the summer of 2008 when the Amidons, Guyots and Chasteens rented a canal boat and toured the Erie Canal for a week.  The six of us had a great time cruising the waters, riding our bikes along the canal path, exploring upstate New York, and of course visiting the local wineries.  During this trip PM mentioned to Bob, "I think I could do this for a while," referring to living aboard a boat.  That was all the encouragement Bob needed to pick up the football and run with it so to speak.

Discussions started and decisions made.  "I don't want to be outside the sight of land," PM declared.  "Not a problem," Bob replied.  "We'll do the Great Loop."  This was a boat trip that circumnavigates the eastern United States that Bob had learned about while reading one of his many boating magazines.  Bob has been around boats all his life and loved being on a boat.  PM almost drowned at the tender age of nine and although was willing to go on a boat never really warmed up to the idea of living on a boat.

Step number one of the process was finding a suitable boat.  Bob wanted a Grand Banks.  PM wanted a boat that floats as well as one that had an adequate amount of amenities that made for comfortable living such as a full functional kitchen, dishwasher, washer/dryer, water desalinator, at least two bedrooms and two bathrooms, and maybe even a hot tub.  So we started to look at Grand Banks. The first several boats we looked at were very nice and had some of the features PM was looking for, but the price tags were way more than we could ever imagine spending on a boat.  So we decided that perhaps we should look at boats that we could afford versus ones with all the bells and whistles that PM wanted. Unfortunately the Grand Banks that we looked at within our price range needed so much work we knew they weren't for us, particularly since neither of us are overly handy.

One evening while having dinner at some friend's house, the other couple at the table said that if we were looking a Grand Banks, we should also consider a Monk.  We had never heard of a Monk before and were told that Edwin Monk worked for Grand Banks for a number of years and then started his own boat building company that improved on the design such as a more pronounced bow flare and an engine redesign.  The husband of the couple mentioned that a 1986 Monk 36 was for sale at the Rumery Boatyard in Biddeford that we could take a look at. 

We called the broker and set up an appointment to view the boat.  Of course, it was the middle of winter and we had to crawl under the plastic shrink wrap to view the vessel, but it was love at first sight!  PM was a happy camper as the boat had the two bedrooms and two baths, a full kitchen, the island queen bed, a remarkable amount of closet space.  The wood walls and floors of the interior gave a warmth that was charming.  We found the boat of our dreams and put in an offer contingent on a marine survey.  Our excitement mounted.  Bob met the surveyor at the boat several days later for the inspection.  During the inspection, the surveyor poked and prodded the various boat parts and when he came to the fuel tanks said, "Oh, here's a deal killer!" Bob's heart sank.  Both fuel tanks were rusted through at the top.  In addition, the teak decking exhibited signs of rot, electronics ancient, and stern thruster unresponsive.  It was not pretty.  The full survey report listed numerous items needing addressing and gave an estimated cost of repairing all.  If we paid full price the total would put us way over budget.  We had a lot to think about.

Meanwhile, as the dream started to take shape, PM decided that she should probably take a boating course and found one at the local community college taught by the USCG Auxiliary.  During the course, one of the instructors was someone PM knew professionally who asked her why she was taking the course.  She told our tale of woe.  The instructor, Winn Pillsbury, told PM that if the boat deal fell through to give him a call as he and his wife owned a 1988 Monk 36 that they might be willing to sell.  He had just replaced the fuel tanks and the 1988 Monk had fiberglass decks.

We made a counter offer on the 1986 Monk that took the needed repairs and our budget into consideration.  This offer was flatly refused.  Bob started to get a little crazy.  "We've been looking for a boat for almost two years now.  We should just get the boat for what the owner wants and make the repairs!"  PM, the financially responsible party, replied, "Over my dead body! Let's talk to Winn about his boat."  Winn showed us his boat which had everything in it that we liked about the 1986 Monk and didn't need extensive repairs.  "How much do you want for your boat?" I asked.  "Make me an offer," Winn replied.  "I know how much I paid for it and I know how much I put into replacing the tanks and all the other work.  So make me an offer."

At this point we felt very ill at ease.  If we offered too little, Winn may be insulted and decide not to sell.  If we offered too much, we would pay more than the boat was worth.  "Something is worth only what someone is willing to pay for it," Bob waxed philosophically.  "So what's it worth?" asked PM.  "Whatever Winn wants," Bob replied.  We decided that perhaps PM was the better party to do the negotiating.  After a tense 24-hour period of cogitating and some heated discussions, we decided to start with our original offer on the 1986 Monk which we felt was the market value for a functioning vessel, added a chunk for each of the two years newer of the 1988 Monk, added another chunk for the fiberglass deck, a third chunk for the recently replaced fuel tanks, and a final chunk for the updated electronics.  We were at an amount at the upper reaches of our budget but still within budget.  "What if they don't accept our offer?" asked Bob.  "We'll deal with that if and when it happens," PM replied.