We sold our boat 2 weeks after we listed it on 2 cruising boards. We got less than we wanted but it was in Samoa. It was ready to sail to Tonga, I had worked on her for 6 months fixing tsunami damage and damage from sitting for 22 months. We thought we had a boat picked out in Hawaii, we had looked at it twice. We shipped all of our personal gear via USPS to Honolulu. We must of had stars in our eyes when we looked at it the first 2 times, it was like what the heck was I thinking. So, we shipped all of our stuff to Florida. We had picked out a boat that showed excellent on the net. Not! It was in bad shape and no amount of work was going to fix a crummy layup job or the K-Mart cabinets.

Then we rented a car and looked at boats from Miami to Buffalo to new Massachusetts . Some of these boats were represented as "ready to cruise" "just add groceries". Yeah right, it's just how you described your adventure. We were getting disgusted and we were sorry that we sold Joint Adventure. I don't care what people say about Catalinas, JA was ready to rock and was in much better shape than many of the boats we looked at. We saw a Southern Cross that was ready to go but it was too small. There would have been no point in selling JA.

We picked this Mason boat while she was under shrink wrap, they guy wouldn't uncover her without an offer. Sure enough it had been smashed into the docks, destroyed the bow rail, scrapes down the starboard side etc. So then we negotiated the price and got a survey, no suprises there. Then we had a rainstorm come barreling through the day before we were to sign papers and that boat was wet inside from stern to stem. We pulled out and drove some more. We made 2 more offers on boats that we liked (not at the same time) and then we discovered they were cored to the spine of the keel, not just to the waterline. So we were really glad when they turned our offers down. I was sweating bullets. So we made a really low offer on the Mason and we've been bleeding boat bucks ever since we bought her.

The thing is she is going to be worth it. She has a 2007 Yanmar 50hp with PSS shaft seal, new prop, shaft ect. We're getting a new rig, new chainplates, new Quatum sails, new paint up to the toerail. We put all ne seacocks in too. It needs the teak deck caulked, and a bunch of cruising gear. We have already fixed the water leaks in the hatches and we have new gaskets for the ports. She has 14 opening ports, 3 hatches, and 5 dorade vents. She will breath so much better than JA while at anchor. She has 6"10" headroom in most places and 6'7" in the low places. I never bump my head. Great shower in it too. Being cutter rigged is going to be great as we are getting older now and just dumping the the genny and running a stay sail will be great at night in the tradewinds. I suspect she will sail as good as JA on most points of sail and not quite as good to weather. I suspect running off the wind with that full keel will be a Cadilliac ride compared to the IOR fin keeled deal.