New Boat?

The plan was to make the P'cola trip a last hoorah. Trouble is, I had too much fun, even with the trials. 

And now a Hunter 19 has come on the market at a reasonable price. They are not very plentiful and they often run in the $6-7000 range. I've found one for less than $4k. It's 700 miles away, but, hey, you can't have everything. 

Robin and I looked at one 20 years ago. She liked it. It was just a bit too much money for the time, though it was only 10 years old. We bought the Macgregor 26S instead. 

It's water ballast with a swing keel like the Mac. Should be a little easier to launch and retrieve than a keeled boat, though the 18.5 is not too difficult. It also has a cutout transom which should make boarding from the water much easier (if Robin can even get up). 

Is it too late in our lives????? I don't know. We are both slowing down and Robin has never been fully sold on sailing (too many stories to add  as well!). But I have to try! I think I'll always wonder if I don't.

The seller is 75. He seems a little mixed up on his timeline. He says he bought it 5 years ago. I found the same boat in an ad from 10 years ago. In any case, he seems honest enough. 

Here are a few pics. The clean ones are from his earlier use and the previous Sailing Texas ad. The dirty ones are those he took a couple weeks ago. The boat has been in a barn, so he says, for a couple years. I'm assuming that means a covered barn. The boat could get dirty like this even in a barn.

If all works out, I'll go pick it up when the weather breaks. We're currently getting ready to get hit with a "polar vortex"!