Deja Vu

Some of you may recall that last fall I drove 500 miles (one way) to purchase a new-to-me tow vehicle and came back empty-handed. Well, it's happened again! This time I drove 700 miles (one way) to purchase the Hunter 19 that I've mentioned (see January 17, 2025 post). I came back empty-handed again!

Wednesday I drove out to Independence, MO, what turned into a 12 hour drive. I arrived and the seller had the boat in his driveway.

Let me give you the back-story. We've been working on this deal since last fall. We just never could work out a time that suited us both for me to drive out: weather, schedules, doctors, etc. I had agreed to purchase with no deposit required.

In our discussions, and after he sent me current photos, it was revealed that the boat was not in "excellent" condition as advertised. He commented that someone had included that in his ads without his permission and told him he could sell his boat quickly. I guess he used some kind of service. (I've actually had people contact me recently offering to help me sell my boat.)

The boat was supposedly in a barn for a couple years. To make this long story short, the boat turned out to be in fair condition at best and the motor would not start. Sticker on the boat was dated 2020 and trailer tag was 2019. Sails were limp as rags, halyards dry-rotted, gelcoat chalked very badly and the boat was beyond filthy. He had power washed the exterior which helped the appearance a little, but still... The price was pretty good for Hunter 19's as I'd seen on others, but it still didn't make up for the condition. I made him a low-ball offer, he countered but I declined. Though I had given him my word that I was good for the purchase, I felt he had been less than forthcoming and I do not feel guilty for backing out of the deal.

In the sellers defense, he did tell me the boat wasn't excellent and sent current pics. However, he waited until I was on the way to even try to start the motor (after who knows exactly how long it was sitting). 

Made the return trip yesterday in 13 hours with a couple brief stops.

The highlight of the trip was the bridges and rivers. I crossed the Ohio River on I-24 and at Cairo, IL; crossed the Mississippi on I-64 and at Cape Girardeau (and at Cairo twice just to say I did it); crossed the Missouri River 4 times (twice out and twice back). Lots of construction along the way, especially on bridges.

Oh, well - 1400 miles, 25 hours driving, $200 in gas, 2 days lost at church and no boat. Guess you could say I'm still in the market for a pocket cruiser. Buyer supposed to take delivery of the 18.5 next Saturday. If for some reason that deal falls through, I won't be too disappointed.

Edit: here are a few pics of bridges and rivers, etc.

Cape Girardeau bridge over Mississippi River

headed back into Illinois from Cape Girardeau.

entering KY on I-24

KOA camping in Oak Grove, MO

entering IL on I-24 after crossing Ohio River

entering MO on I-64 at St. Louis - you recognize the landmark

I-24 bridge over Ohio River

and here's the river

I-64 bridge over the Missouri River headed back to St. Louis

and the river looking back westward

Mississippi River just north of Cairo from the scenic overlook

the river from the roadway near overlook

Ft. Defiance and the observation tower at the confluence of the two great rivers

muddy Ohio River from left and Mississippi River from the right

looking back up the Ohio River bridge at Cairo

looking back up the Mississippi River at the bridge at Fort Defiance

crossing the Ohio River at Cairo headed for KY

river bottom

a view of the great Mississippi River just before entering Wicliffe and KY

entering KY from Cairo, IL

Lake Lanier May 2-3, 2025

It's not Cedar Key but... I did get to a rendezvous Friday and Saturday (one of these days I hope to get to Cedar Key and sail with CB and Urchin II).

There are a couple sailors who belong to the well-known DCA (Dinghy Cruising Association), Adam Rhinehart from Winder, GA and Don Silsbe from Tryon, SC, who are organizing a southeast chapter of the DCA. They held their 2nd rendezvous Fri-Sunday on Lake Lanier. As most of you know, I do not typically sail on Sundays except on a very rare occasion; but this was close enough, a mere 100 miles away, that I felt like I could make the gathering on Friday and Saturday. Besides, my wife was out of town - hehe (cats away - mice will play).

So I loaded up and cut out on Friday morning with an ETA of 1:30 p.m. Don's ETA was the same. The elephant in the room was an ugly forecast: line of showers after line of showers. Intrepid as we are, we decided to go ahead with the rendezvous.

On the way I got caught in a downpour. I stopped underneath a funeral home portico for a bit to see if it would pass.

This was taken about 1:00. The blue dot is our destination.

I decided, sheesh, this is a boat made to live in the water, just go. So I continued. Don, who was coming from the north barely saw a sprinkle. By the time I arrived at the ramp, the rain was about done (for the time).

Don had had time to launch since he didn't stop. I arrived just as he was finishing and launched immediately. He towed me around a couple points to a beach where the guys had reserved a campsite.

Here's a map of Old Federal Campground. We had site 61 reserved. The ramp is near site #1.

It was mid-afternoon by the time we got everything set up. The sky looked safe enough, so we decided to go for a sail. We originally had plans to make some stops on the lake, hit some shoreside restaurants, sleep aboard, etc; but with the fronts coming through opted to stay close to camp. The wind was favorable for some good sailing. Don took some pics of me and I took some of him.

That's my Calendar Islands Yawl 16 and his Core Sound 17, Windependent. Don's a retired engineer and "semi-pro" boat builder. He didn't build this CS though. He found a good deal online and restored this one. He's 2/3 through the project. A very nice boat.

At 15'6" and 17' respectively, we carry almost the exact same amount of sail. We kept up with each other stride for stride.

While we were out, the sky got angrier. When the lightning started, we headed for shore.

Little did we know, a tornado hit the lake about the same time we were out. The local tv station reported it. Here's a screen shot from their FB page.

Adam, who sadly was not able to come due to contracting strep throat, reported to us that the tornado was about 10 miles north of us. Whew! That's still a little scary.

Bill, a third member of our party showed up about 7:30. He joined our camp, but decided to launch the next morning.

Shortly after dark the wind picked up and we went to our tents about 9:45. We were only 50 yards from the bathhouse and I had every intention of going there should anything serious develop. Here's the radar about 10:00 which is when the rain started.

The rain was a bit intense but only lasted about 30 minutes. I sat up in my beach chair and read 'til 11:00. Hit the sack and rested better than I usually do in a tent.

We were up at 7-ish. We knocked around waiting for some wind. Don took his boat back around to the ramp, Bill launched his little Holder dinghy, which he picked up and was refurbishing, and they returned to the beach.

I loaded up my boat since I was going to be leaving at some point in the day. We attempted to sail but there wasn't much wind at all. I decided to take out and to my surprise the other two did as well.

I drove through a little rain on the way home. Everything was wet so I left my boat uncovered. Later that evening another gully-washer came through. My boat wound up with 3"+ of water in the bottom!

Sunday afternoon I took the plug out. It took 15 minutes to drain it. It wasn't until Monday that I was able to dry everything out, get everything put away and cover the boat.

It was nice to be out though and meet some fellow sailors. If I ever retire, I plan to do some more rendezvous.