We've found a boat!

Our second home! We have just had our offer accepted for this boat, so, barring serious problems with the survey and trials, we'll end up buying her in the next couple of months. This is a 47ft steel cruising boat, and it will become our home when we leave the UK in the autumn of 2007. Until then, we have lots of work to do to the boat, to train ourselves, and to keep earning the money to fund it all! 

She's a big, tall boat - a 'cutter' rig, meaning one mainsail behind the mast and two headsails in front, which reduces the loads from each sail. 

The last owner put a lot of effort into the outside of the boat - hull is very nicely painted and the teak decks are only 3 years old. A gentle clean will have these looking great. The sails are in pretty good condition and all the systems seem well thought out and strongly built. Down below, the boat needs quite a lot of work on the living accomodation, which we will get someone to do. 

The galley is large and airy, in the pilothouse area. The cupboards have seen better days though, and we plan to replace this with a similar layout and some more clever storage ideas. 

The saloon area is well laid out with a circular seating and table arrangement. We will need to create bookshelves and other homely storage here too. 

One of the best things about this boat is the pilothouse, which give a sheltered inside helm position. In my younger days, there was something heroic about sitting out in the driving wind and rain for 3 hours on a night watch, but now, a warm dry cabin with lots of fresh coffee has a certain appeal. 

The guest cabin, right up front, has a good sized double bed, and space to create much better storage. The area just behind and to the right of this picture will be remodelled to give a pilot berth / kids cabin.