With mixed emotions, we have sold out boat! Sad to see her go, but her new owners, Mariana and Juan, are going to be amazing and we know they will take great care of her!

Posting on Kijiji

The main ad for our boat was on Kijiji. And you never really know what you are going to get. I’m always suspicious of any new contact wondering how legit they are.

• Within minutes, buyer 1, Denham sends us a message saying he’s interested. Looking for a boat to share some time with his two kids 9 and 13. Spoke briefly on the phone and planned for Sunday.
• Receive an e-mail from Kevin. Later receive an e-mail saying he’s just looking for friends to talk with.
• Received an e-mail from Mariana. She, and her husband, are looking for a sailboat. Husband has experience sailing and looking for a boat they can trailer to various destinations and not have to pay to keep it in the water.
• Received e-mail from David. Responded.
• Received e-mail Paul. Responded.
• Received an e-mail from Kevin (and his wife) are looking. Responded. Curious if it’s the same Kevin as before.

Getting boat ready for sale

We stored our boat at the the in-laws and stored all of the gear from inside the boat are here at home. We had to coordinate moving the boat back home to clean up and re-load all the gear. Things didn’t go smoothly.

Ice storm

Weather not cooperating this weekend, April 14.  Had to cancel retrieving the boat and cancel viewings for two people this weekend.

Good thing we cancelled, it was miserable.

Boat back at home and first viewing

We were able to get the boat back on Saturday April 21 early in the morning and squeezed it back, partially, into our car port and madly began the spring maintenance, starting with pulling off the shrink wrap.

It was amazing how well the shrink wrap protected the boat over the winter. We wanted to open it up and quickly wash off the thin layer of dust before our first potential buyers showed up to view the boat today. Didn’t get the motor maintenance completed, but just finished washing the deck as they pulled into our driveway.

They were super excited, Juan has experience sailing and Mariana is super excited about being on the boat. Later they texted us an offer that was lower than asking. Lori and I only discussed briefly and decided to not even bother countering their offer. We just wanted the boat to go to a new family that will take care of her.

Finish prepping the boat

Didn’t have time to complete the spring maintenance before, so finished up cleaning and scrubbing the outside and cockpit. Drained and refilled all the fluids from the motor.

Started up the motor for the first time, it took three quick tries but then sputtered into life. Let it idle for a bit and then shut it down. But then found the starting battery wouldn’t lift or lower the motor. It was nearing end of life. Didn’t want the new owners to have a bad experience so we went out and bought a brand new marine starting battery.

Boat Pick up day

Trying to coordinate the best time to get to Peterborough with time to stop in at Service Ontario to get their new trailer plates and transfer ownership was a bit tricky but arranged for Friday.

After getting new battery loaded, ran into a few snags while the new owners were here:

• Battery wouldn’t turn the motor. That was a bit awkward, it’s never done this before. Quickly found out I had connected the batteries incorrectly. Went back to an original picture of the connection and I was able to get it connected properly.
• Disconnecting the garden hose attached to the motor, not realizing it still is full of pressure, soaked my pants.
• Wind started to pick up and as we were putting on their new license plate, thunder and lightning. But it didn’t stop us, we continued to prep the boat and hooked it up to their truck.

It was sad to see the boat leave our family, but exciting to see the happy new owners and knowing they are going to be great owners and will have lots of great adventures.

UPDATE – The new owners have contacted us, several times, with updates (we love this). They’ve already cleaned the boat up and have done their own updates getting the boat ready for the season. Can’t wait to hear of their first sail!